Despite the beginning of the NBA free agency period being nearly three weeks old, the Los Angeles Lakers remain active in their search to fill out the available slots on their roster.
The Lakers met with 2011 NBA MVP Derrick Rose on Thursday and the team is awaiting a decision that is expected to come this weekend. Rose is also reportedly considering signing with the Cleveland Cavaliers or making a return to the Chicago Bulls.
If Rose decides to stay out East, the Lakers have their eyes on a player that head coach Luke Walton is very familiar with. According to Brad Turner of the Los Angeles Times, the Lakers have recently shown interest in former Golden State Warriors guard Ian Clark.
This is not the first report of the Lakers’ interest in Clark. They have made it clear that they want to add experience to the backcourt behind Lonzo Ball, and with the market for guards drying up in a hurry, the Lakers might be able to snag Clark for cheap.
Clark, 26, would add a solid, young player familiar with Walton and the type of offensive system he wants to run with the Lakers. While it can be argued that Clark benefitted greatly by playing around supremely talented players with the Warriors, he still provided quality bench production in Golden State, averaging 6.8 points in 14.8 minutes per game last season on 48.7 percent shooting and 37.4 percent from three.
***UPDATE***
Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News reports that the Lakers met with Clark on Thursday. This is the first report of the team meeting with Clark to discuss a potential deal.
I'm told the Lakers also met with free-agent guard Ian Clark today.
— Mark Medina (@MarkG_Medina) July 21, 2017
The Lakers have extremely little salary cap space left to offer, but can use their $4.3 million room exception to offer Clark.
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