While the Lakers have made no news on the free agency front, they have been busy making trades. According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, they were close to another as they attempted to trade for the Celtics’ Avery Bradley:
The Los Angeles Lakers and LA Clippers were aggressive suitors for Bradley in the past 24 hours, league sources said.
The Celtics needed to clear up some space in order to sign Gordon Hayward to a max contract.
Bradley and his expiring deal fit the Lakers mantra perfectly. He would have allowed the team to retain plenty of salary cap space for 2018 when they hope to sign two star free agents. Meanwhile, he would have provided both much-needed defense and much-needed shooting.
Bradley was instead traded to the Pistons in exchange for Marcus Morris. That could, in turn, have major implications for the Los Angeles Lakers.
With Bradley in tow, the Pistons have rescinded their qualifying offer for Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, making him an unrestricted free agent. The Lakers reportedly have strong interest in the shooting guard, so long as he is willing to take a one-year deal. Whether a deal will actually come out of that remains to be seen, but the Lakers continue to be active in finding a starting caliber guard to pair with Lonzo Ball in the backcourt.
