Free Agency opens at 9 p.m. PST tonight, and the Lakers have enough cap space to offer two max contracts. They’re expected to pursue some of the bigger names this summer, including Hassan Whiteside, Al Horford, Mike Conley, and Chandler Parsons. While they can offer big money to the ‘big fish’, they will attempt to sign lower level players to fill out a thin roster. Marc Berman of the New York Post will recruit Knicks power forward Derrick Williams.
Last summer’s free agency was hardly a Jackson bonanza and now he has to fiddle with his own free agents. Jackson wants to re-sign Lance Thomas, Kevin Seraphin and Williams. Williams will be recruited by at least the Lakers and Suns, according to a source.
Williams had a strong start to the season in 2015, but ultimately fizzled out as the year progressed. Thought of as a stretch four, Williams would create more of a logjam on a Lakers roster already clogged at the power forward position.
The Lakers have taken a chance on players with ‘untapped potential’ in the past (cough Wes Johnson cough), so the news of them recruiting Williams isn’t totally shocking. If anything, Los Angeles could be taking a flyer on a guy who hasn’t quite lived up to the hype behind his draft slot.
