The Los Angeles Lakers roster is nearly complete for the 2021-22 season, although they do still have some open spots remaining to round it out.
The expectation is one of those open spots will go to Rajon Rondo as it was reported over the weekend that he is being bought out by the Memphis Grizzlies and the Lakers are the favorites to reunite with him once he clears waivers on Monday.
Bringing back Rondo doesn’t come as much of a surprise given the role he played on the Lakers’ 2020 championship team as well as his close relationships with Frank Vogel, LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
While it remains to be seen how much playing time Rondo will get, if any, he fills a need as the Lakers recently made it clear that they were looking to add one more veteran point guard to the mix.
Before Rondo came available, the Lakers actually worked out a few big-name point guards like Isaiah Thomas, Darren Collison and Mike James.
Thomas, in particular, was intriguing because the former All-Star seems to be healthy and is looking to make a comeback in the NBA. While it appears that comeback won’t come with the Lakers now that Rondo is in the fold, according to Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic, bringing in Thomas was something they strongly considered:
Lakers were strongly considering signing Isaiah Thomas, and things appeared to be headed that way as September approaches. Rondo getting the buyout from Memphis clearly changed things in recent days. https://t.co/N5QLQS9ikZ
— Jon Krawczynski (@JonKrawczynski) August 28, 2021
While Rondo being bought out and joining the Lakers is unfortunate news for Thomas, hopefully he can still catch on somewhere and get a chance to show what he can still do on the court.
Thomas was once one of the best point guards in the league before dealing with injuries and is still just 32 years of age.
Lakers going into season with open roster spot to maintain flexibility
As far as the Lakers go, once the Rondo addition becomes official, they technically will have two more roster spots to give out although reports indicate the plan is for them to go into the season with one open to maintain flexibility.
Now that they have addressed their need to point guard with Rondo, it will be interesting to see if they target a wing or big for the final spot.
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