In the final minutes of last night’s exciting victory for the Los Angeles Lakers against Zion Williamson and the New Orleans Pelicans, news broke indicating the Lakers aren’t done tinkering with their roster as they prepare for the franchises first playoff run since 2013 and their first real shot at a championship since their last title in 2010.
Yahoo’s Chris Haynes, who also does sideline work for TNT, reported during last night’s game that the Lakers plan to meet with free agent guard Dion Waiters on March 2. Waiters was traded from the Miami Heat to the Memphis Grizzlies and then bought out by the Grizzlies. The connections to the Lakers for Waiters are strong and deep. Lakers President Rob Pelinka used to represent Waiters and now Waiters is represented by LeBron’s agent, Rich Paul of Klutch Sports.
After a career season in 2016-17 with the Miami Heat, where he averaged 16 points and four assists per game, Waiters’ career has been littered with injuries. Waiters was also suspended three times by the Heat this season for several violations of team rules. However, Waiters would give the Lakers another sturdy defender and some additional shot-creation that they currently lack.
A reason why the Lakers are waiting until March 2? First of all, they have a three-game road trip that starts on Thursday. Then they will be back in L.A. to start a stretch of six games in Los Angeles, with one “road” game against the Clippers, over the next two weeks. That would theoretically give the Lakers plenty of time to acclimate Waiters into their system with some actual practice time at their facility.
Another reason why the Lakers would wait until March 2 is so that any players that they waive, whether it be Troy Daniels, Quinn Cook or someone else, would not be eligible to play in the postseason for another team. However, it remains to be seen whether the Lakers will make the necessary move of waiving someone to add Waiters to the squad.
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