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The Los Angeles Lakers entered free agency this summer with lots of cap space and little desire to offer anything more than a short-term, one-year deal. Fortunately for them, the perfect player for the situation fell into their lap in the form of Kentavious Caldwell-Pope.
However, prior to landing Pope, the Lakers were rumored to have interest in wingman Andre Iguodala, an interest that has been reported again recently in a bit more detail.
According to Chris Haynes of ESPN, the Lakers offered Iguodala a $20 million, one year deal at 12:01 on the first night of free agency.
Los Angeles had significant cap space and a desperate need for veteran leadership to help guide its young core, including Lonzo Ball and Brandon Ingram. The call lasted about 20 minutes, sources said, but the Lakers were optimistic and offered a one-year deal in the $20 million-plus range.
Iguodala eventually returned to Golden State on a multi-year deal and, in the end, the Lakers were never a serious contender to land Iggy. However, the fact Lakers pursued Iguodala as priority number one at the start of free agency signals a noticeable change in the regime considering the first call in 2016 was to (trigger warning) Timofey Mozgov.
The Lakers handicapped themselves with the desire to maintain maximum cap space for the summer of 2018 for the chase of max free agents like LeBron James and Paul George. Whether or not that is the right move will only be determined next summer, but turning down the chance at a player like Iguodala to chase superstars could be the type of move that backfires and sets the team back once again.
