Lakers Rumors: Seven dark horse free agents to pursue this summer
By Keith Rivas
Avery Bradley
The great news for the Lakers over the summer is that if they want a talented defender who can also score, they don’t need to necessarily go the older route. Avery Bradley was traded to Detroit by Boston last July, and since then, he’s been impressive.
His last year in Boston was his best in terms of scoring, as he recorded 16.3 points per game. This year has so far given him his second best scoring after, hovering around 15 and a half points per night, and that should tell the Lakers a little bit more about what they’re getting.
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Not to bring up Jordan Clarkson again, but whether or not he’s on the team at this point decides an awful lot about what kind of guards they’ll be looking at on the market. Bradley would be an excellent pickup, perhaps the best out of the dark horse candidates on this list at the two guard position.
It would give the Lakers someone who’s been in the league longer than someone like Caldwell-Pope, while still giving them excellent defense to make things work. Coming into the summer, Bradley will be coming off of an $8 million year. This isn’t the cheapest route, as something in the range of what was discussed earlier with someone like Elfrid Payton.
However, Bradley does give them the most bang for their buck at shooting guard if they really wanted to bring in a new face. I say that if the talks with Bradley ever formulate and get serious, what the Lakers should offer him is a two year deal worth $10 million.
Gives him more money than what he was previously making and gets the Lakers out of thinking that KCP is really their answer to replace D’Angelo Russell next to Lonzo Ball.
Bradley is one of those guys in the league that plays with a lot of heart, and I do believe that adding him would also help seriously change the laid back demeanor of Lonzo Ball.