The Los Angeles Lakers are hoping to add some significant upgrades to their roster this summer with plenty talented players to be had in NBA free agency come July 1. One of the players the Lakers were thought to have a good shot at signing was Los Angeles native DeMar DeRozan, but it appears circumstances may have changed.
After the Cleveland Cavaliers had advanced to the NBA Finals earlier this week, DeRozan made it fairly clear that he doesn’t intend on leaving the Toronto Raptors in free agency. Although DeRozan has a soft spot for his hometown, the All-Star guard may simply re-sign with the Raptors in July.
According to Kevin Ding of Bleacher Report, the Lakers weren’t all that high on DeRozan regardless of his intentions with free agency looming. Ding said the following about the preconceived notion that DeRozan would end up in Los Angeles, via Noah Coslov:
From @KevinDing with us @br_radio on #Lakers: “There’s a lot of presumption about Derozan and I’m told the Lakers aren’t that high on him"
— Noah Coslov (@NoahCoslov) May 29, 2016
With the Raptors fresh off their best playoff run in franchise history, emotions are still high in Canada with free-agents-to-be like DeRozan and Bismack Biyombo seemingly favoring staying in Toronto.
Over the next few weeks, DeRozan and Biyombo may have a change of heart or feel the impact of being courting by teams in free agency. Although the Lakers brass doesn’t seem to be all that thrilled with the prospect of signing DeRozan that stance might also change, but their focus may be on upgrading the frontcourt and sticking with the talented trio of D’Angelo Russell, Jordan Clarkson, and Lou Williams in the backcourt.
Along with DeRozan, the Lakers have been linked to Kevin Durant and Hassan Whiteside as potential targets in free agency. It appears Durant and DeRozan may be long shots at this point, but Whiteside may still be a possibility.