According to Adrain Wojnarowski of ESPN, sources told him that the Los Angeles Lakers were interested in signing former New York Knicks’ center Enes Kanter before Kanter eventually signed with the Portland Trail Blazers on Wednesday.
Blazers beat a crowded field for Kanter, including the Lakers, per sources. Kanter is an important addition for Blazers, where he'll play a good share of minutes. Portland signed Kanter to a $70M offer sheet in 2015, which OKC matched. https://t.co/1Qdd1Ff43G
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) February 13, 2019
As mentioned in Wojnarowski’s tweet, Portland previously got Kanter paid by signing him to a 70 million dollar offer sheet in 2015, before the Oklahoma City Thunder eventually matched. Kanter has 70 million reasons to thank Portland, and signing with them for the rest of the season is a start.
Kanter would have been a horrible signing for the Lakers. Not because he is necessarily a bad player, but due to the circumstances in which the Lakers made room for a player like him. The Lakers essentially traded their starting center and an offensive role player to the Clippers for an offensive role player and an open roster spot. Had the Lakers used their open roster spot to sign an older/worse Ivica Zubac, a lot of fans would really start to question whether or not the front office has any clue what they are doing.
However, the Lakers were saved from themselves and Kanter will likely be happy in Portland.
