Lakers WAIVING a Player to Sign Another Ball-Handler without Luka/AR a MUST? | Lakers BEST Options!

Welcome back everyone. Today's show is

brought to you by Prospects. And with

the Lakers right now, I think we can

point to an obvious problem. That being

the fact that without Luca Donic and

Austin Reeves, who they played their

first game without last night, getting

beat by the tanking Dallas Mavericks, a

team that had a 14game losing streak on

their own home court before the game

last night. Yeah, it didn't go too well

for them. I mean, beyond LeBron James,

they had very little shot creation or

ball handling ability. Yes, LeBron

played well with 30 points, 15 assists,

and nine rebounds, but a depart from

him, not much went right for their team.

Neither offensively or defensively.

After LeBron, they've tried to go with

guys like Luke Canard, Jake the Rabia, a

little bit of both Bronnie and Kobe

Bulkin off the bench to be their

secondary ball handler and secondary

playmaker. And simply put, it didn't

work out for them. Luke Canard played

decently well. I'm not going to go

against that one. If he made a few more

shots, then they actually might have won

this game. But if not for LeBron and

Luke Canard, pretty much nobody else

could do anything. Neither in regard to

playmaking, shot creation, or simply

initiating the offense. And it obviously

was a problem for their team. And with

that in mind here, could the Lakers

maybe go out and find a replacement,

wave somebody on their current team, and

then pick somebody up off the free agent

market that is playup eligible? Well,

yes, they actually could. At this point,

I think every option has to be on the

table. Even with the update that Luca

Donuch is trying to come back, is

seeking treatment in Europe that

hopefully will bring him back quicker

than expected. Even with that in mind

here, if the Lakers are going to have a

chance for when Luca may or may not come

back, they probably have to get some

help. Help that's not currently on their

team. I mean, Marcus Smart could

definitely help, but he's currently

hurt, may or may not be back soon, and

may or may not be fully healthy before

the postseason comes around. So, if

they're going to maintain a top three

seed, let alone even not fall to the

fifth seed, they might have to find

another playmaking and shot creation

option off the open market. So, who's

even out there that could potentially

help their team? Or even before that,

who should they wave from their team to

make a spot for that said player? Well,

let's take a look into that. And like I

said, yes, they could do this if they

want to. They do have enough space under

the first apron to wave somebody, then

replace them with a current free agent,

having roughly 630,000 below the first

apron, which is more than enough to sign

a current free agent on a pro-rated

veteran minimum.

So, first and foremost, they got to pick

somebody to wave off their team if

they're going to go this route. And you

can make an argument for a few different

players. I mean, if you're going to go

off their game last night, the only one

that didn't play happens to be Dalton

Connect or pretty much the only one that

didn't play apart from Ado. However, I

doubt they go that route due to him

being under contract, a guaranteed

contract for next season. So, if not

Dalton, then maybe a guy like Kobe

Buffkin. Yes, he played and played 3

minutes and 20 seconds last night, but

he is probably the least trusted, the

least proven on their team with a

guaranteed contract. And no, they can't

wave a two-way contract like Nick Smith,

Drew Timmy, or Chris Manion to be able

to create that roster spot. You got to

pick between a current 15-man roster

player that has a guaranteed contract

for the rest of this season. Maybe

somebody like Kobe Buffkin, again,

doubtful Dolan Connect, even though he

didn't play last night. or then maybe a

veteran like Maxiba. In my opinion,

probably not going to go this route

because he has given them decent minutes

this season. The problem with him is

that he obviously can't stay healthy. I

mean, whenever they have relied on him

whenever he's given decent minutes,

shortly after, he always tends to get

hurt. So, if they don't believe they can

stay healthy, don't believe that he

could help them come postseason, then

maybe it could be an option. But, I'd

still lean heavily toward Kobe Buffkin.

After all, they signed him and never

gave him an opportunity, never trusted

him enough to give him that opportunity.

And that carried over into last night,

even with virtually no playmakers or

shot creators available apart from

LeBron. So, that says a lot about him

and how they feel about him. In my

opinion, they simply don't trust him.

So, in my opinion, that would be the

obvious fake to point to. If they're

going to wave somebody, I think it

probably would be and probably should be

Kobe Buffkin. even though I do like Kobe

Buffkin. Simply put, they don't trust

him. They can't rely on him. And he

probably can't fill the role that they

currently need. So, let's say they wave

him. They wave him, open up a spot on

their team, and can sign somebody off

the free agent market. Who should they

sign? Well, there currently happen to be

a few different options that do happen

to be playoff eligible. One of which is

not Cam Thomas, just to cross that one

off the list. He got waved after March

1st, which is the playoff eligibility

deadline. If you're not a free agent by

that point, you can't sign with a

different team and still be playoff

eligible. So, no, it shouldn't be Cam

Thomas.

But if not Cam Thomas, who's left on the

open market that could fill a ball

handling, playmaking, and/or shot

creation role for their team at point

guard or shooting guard. Well, there

happen to be a few options left, many of

which are veteran options. I mean, if

they don't want to go that route and

want to keep it in house, I guess they

could elevate a current two-way contract

to a 15-man roster spot, I wouldn't go

that route, but they could have either

Nick Smith or Chris Manning to pick

from. Neither of which are very proven,

neither of which they gave an

opportunity to last night, even when

they could have. So, I really doubt they

go that route, but I guess you could

point to it. But if they don't go that

route, which again I don't think they

would or probably should, then they have

a few veteran options on the open

market. One of which happens to be CP3.

Yes, he did retire, but he probably

didn't want to retire in that way. I

guarantee that he did not want to retire

in that way. And he made it very clear

that he did not want to leave LA this

season. Did not want to move away from

family to simply play for a different

team this season. That left him with

only one other option, that being the

purple and gold. And obviously they

didn't have any mutual interest or

agreement at that point. The Lakers had

a full team or when they didn't have a

full team, they didn't really have a

need for another point guard. But now

that they do, could CP3 maybe want to

come out of retirement? Is he still in

shape? Is he still in the mentality of

wanting to play in the NBA, making one

final playoff run? Who knows? This

season, obviously, he didn't do very

much. Didn't really get to play. didn't

really get a fair shot in my opinion.

Playing 16 games with the LA Clippers in

which he played roughly 14 minutes per

game, averaging only three points per

game, three assists per game, roughly

one steal per game, and shot an

underwhelming 32% from the field and

33.3% from the three-point line.

However, last season he played in all 82

games, 82 out of a possible 82 for the