Through the first day of free agency, the Los Angeles Lakers failed to address the center position.
The Lakers had been linked to several big man options including Brook Lopez and Clint Capela, but those two quickly came off the board when Lopez signed with the L.A. Clippers and Capela was sign-and-traded to the Houston Rockets. With those two no longer options, the Lakers now have their full attention turned toward Deandre Ayton.
Ayton surprisingly hit the free agent market after he and the Portland Trail Blazers agreed to a buyout. It was reported that Portland tried to trade Ayton, but decided to buy him out instead after no deals materialized.
The Lakers and Ayton are a perfect match on paper and it appears they’re the frontrunners to sign him, via NBA insider Chris Haynes:
“That is a strong possibility. Strong possibility. The Lakers already had a plethora of options to look for at the center position in free agency. They had Clint Capela out there, Brook Lopez out there. And now you add Deandre Ayton all of a sudden to the equation. If they’re able to land this, which again, sources have told me this is a strong possibility, you would pair him up with Luka Doncic who is in his draft class.”
Haynes was also asked about the possibility of Ayton signing with a team like the Milwaukee Bucks and he quickly shut down the idea, presumably because there is already an agreement in place with the big man. It’s hard to imagine the Lakers would allow all the centers to be signed without much of a fight unless they already knew Ayton would choose to sign with them.
One more angle to consider is that Luka Doncic and Ayton share the same agent in Bill Duffy, giving the Lakers perhaps more inside knowledge that helped them plan out free agency. Regardless, it seems like Ayton and the Lakers are destined to partner up though there’s always the possibility that another team joins the fray.
At this point, losing out on Ayton would be a massive setback for the Lakers so they better hope things play out in their favor.
Lakers interested in Al Horford
Deandre Ayton is priority number one for the Lakers in free agency, but should they miss out on him their remaining options are slim. One name that could potentially fill the void is Al Horford who the Lakers appear to at least be interested in.
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