Should Los Angeles Lakers Pursue Dion Waiters This Offseason?
Dion Waiters wants to stay in Miami and he has made that clear several times already in the past couple of months.
The Heat also want to bring him back, but the Miami Herald's Barry Jackson has reported that they don't want to overpay him. This could open the door for a team like the Los Angeles Lakers to swoop in and entice him with a better offer.
According to Jackson, the Heat are concerned that the Lakers might make an offer to Waiters this offseason since his former agent, Rob Pelinka, is their new general manager. Fortunately for the Heat, Lakers president Magic Johnson has previously said that they want to preserve salary cap space this year so they could go after the top free agents in 2018.
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Should the Lakers even consider signing Waiters this summer?
Some observers think signing him is a good idea since he can provide some veteran leadership to supplement their young core, and others believe that he will fit in well with the Lakers because of his potential as a secondary playmaker.
But is it really necessary? The Lakers already have a lot of guards on the team and they will probably select another one in this year's draft. Adding Waiters will only create a logjam at the guard positions.
Besides, D'Angelo Russell can easily move to the two-guard spot if the Lakers draft Lonzo Ball or De'Aaron Fox, so Waiters will have to come off the bench if he joins the team.
Lakers Nation's Trevor Lane also believes that the Lakers should avoid signing Waiters since they will have to preserve cap space to sign Paul George when he becomes a free agent next summer.
"While Waiters is certainly talented, he would be a questionable fit for the Lakers, who already have young guards in D'Angelo Russell and Jordan Clarkson filling his role, and Waiters is all but certain to receive a hefty pay increase this summer," Lane wrote in his article.
