The Los Angeles Lakers have been looking for a way to improve their point guard rotation, a position that’s severely lacking beyond LeBron James.
One possible option the Lakers had hoped for was Reggie Jackson. However, he agreed to sign with Paul George and the Los Angeles Clippers once he was bought out.
While the Lakers likely weren’t dead set on Jackson as the answer to their problems, losing out on him leaves an extremely minimal buyout market for them to choose from. This seemed to be part of the Clippers plan in signing Jackson as they have absolutely no need for him on the court.
For the Clippers, signing Jackson came with the same benefit of trading for Marcus Morris and that’s keeping these players away from a Lakers team that could definitely use their talents, according to Andrew Greif of Los Angeles Times:
For the Clippers, Jackson’s expected signing would come with another benefit — keeping him away from the Lakers, who also hold interest in signing him to bolster their backcourt. The Clippers also acquired another Lakers target, New York forward Marcus Morris, ahead of the Feb. 6 trade deadline.
For Jackson, signing with the Clippers was more about reuniting George as the two have a very close relationship:
Jackson, however, had eyes on the Clippers because of his close friendship with forward Paul George.
While Jackson wouldn’t have been a major help for the Lakers as he’s only a slight upgrade from Rajon Rondo, he absolutely would’ve gotten more minutes with the Lakers. This means that he really did just want to play with George.
One of the reasons these two have likely become so close is they share agent Aaron Mintz. This could possibly be another reason for Jackson preferring the Clippers to the Lakers, as Mintz and the latter don’t necessarily have the best relationship.
Mintz represented several Lakers players, but the relationship turned sour when they traded away D’Angelo Russell and criticized his leadership. It was then followed by them only extending the qualifying offer to Julius Randle and letting him walk when they had the money to pay him.
While this is purely speculation, this is the kind of thing that might deter a player like Jackson away from the Lakers and towards his friend on the Clippers.