With the draft in the rearview mirror, the weekend has signaled the change in focus to free agency. Officially, things get underway on Tuesday. Unofficially, the rumors are coming in hot and fast.
With a slew of rumors coming in quick and fast, here’s a roundup of a handful of them from Sunday.
Helping Nuggets with Cam Johnson trade?
The Lakers’ cap space can become really an asset for the Lakers to help teams get out of cap hell, but how much appetite would they have if the team they help is a Western Conference foe?
On Sunday, Michael Scotto
of HoopsHype reported that the Lakers are among the teams interested in Cam Johnson, the Nuggets sharpshooter expected to be moved this offseason.
Meanwhile, as the Nuggets navigate getting below the second apron, sharpshooting forward Cam Johnson has drawn trade interest from several teams, including the Los Angeles Lakers, Boston Celtics, Miami Heat, Los Angeles Clippers, and Orlando Magic, league sources told HoopsHype. The 30-year-old forward shot career-highs from the field (.480) and beyond the arc (.430), and is on an expiring $23.06 million contract for the upcoming season.
Denver is attempting to shed salary to keep Peyton Watson — more on him later — and Johnson’s large salary is perhaps the easiest to trade as an expiring contract. However, that’s a lot of money for the Lakers to take onto the books, even if they have cap space.
Would they prefer to take on Johnson’s salary, or simply go after Watson?
Chasing Peyton Watson
The Lakers and Watson have been linked for some time. As one of the top wings on the market, albeit as a restricted free agent, it makes sense why the Lakers would go after him.
However, as Marc Stein recently reported on his Substack, it would take a pretty big offer to lure him away from the Nuggets.
The same most certainly goes for Denver and Peyton Watson. The Nuggets have been signaling for months that they plan to match any offer sheet for Watson … to the point that sources say it would take an offer sheet in the $30 million range in order for Denver to balk at re-signing him.
The Lakers and Bulls are two teams that have been mentioned as potential Watson suitors going back to February’s trade deadline.
The Lakers have the potential to create that much cap space, but are they willing to assign that much space to an offer sheet for multiple days?
Watson fills a need and is a young player. There are lots of pros for signing him. But to lure away a free agent from their incumbent team, they’ll have to overpay. Is Watson worth overpaying for?
Role player free agents
Not every free agent the Lakers are linked with is a standout player. LA has done well in recent years to hit on the role players or undervalued free agents on the market.
This season, they have been linked to a pair of players via Scotto’s aforementioned piece, first being Dean Wade from the Cavs.
Cleveland Cavaliers forward Dean Wade is expected to have various suitors in free agency, including the Cavaliers, Philadelphia 76ers, Los Angeles Lakers, San Antonio Spurs, Phoenix Suns, Detroit Pistons, and Portland Trail Blazers, league sources told HoopsHype.
Last season in Cleveland, Wade averaged 5.8 points and 4.2 rebounds per game. He shot 43.9% from the field and 36.2% from the 3-point line.
Along those same lines, the Lakers have also reportedly expressed interest in Jock Landale as well.
Jock Landale has become an intriguing stretch-five heading into free agency, shooting 38.8 percent from 3-point range over the past two seasons with the Memphis Grizzlies and Atlanta Hawks.
Landale, 30, is expected to have a strong market, including interest from the Hawks, Chicago Bulls, Los Angeles Lakers, Los Angeles Clippers, Philadelphia 76ers, and Cleveland Cavaliers, league sources told HoopsHype. Expect the Australian center to command offers north of the bi-annual exception in free agency.
Landale averaged 10.6 points across 27 games, to go along with the 38.8% 3-point shooting mentioned by Scotto. He also grabbed 5.7 rebounds per game.
Neither would be a big addition to the roster, but both could have potential roles with the team.
You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude or on Bluesky at @jacobrude.bsky.social.
