The Los Angeles Lakers have a busy offseason this summer, especially regarding free agency.
Los Angeles is slated to have over 10 free agents when the market opens on Aug. 2, and Montrezl Harrell might join the extensive list if he opts out of his $9.7 million player option.
Tough decisions will have to be made for certain players since L.A. doesn’t have much cap space to sign players.
That could open the door for other teams to sign players who last played for the Lakers, and the Cleveland Cavaliers could be one of those teams.
According to Chris Fedor, Cavaliers beat writer for cleveland.com, guards Alex Caruso and Talen Horton-Tucker are on the watch list for Cleveland:
“Any potential free agency list should start with Indiana’s T.J. McConnell and Los Angeles pest Alex Caruso. Both are Cavs targets. Both fit really well. Some prefer Caruso. He’s younger, bigger, stronger and can guard multiple spots. Others like McConnell more. Even though he doesn’t shoot many 3s, he’s more polished, capable of filling in as starter, puts pressure on the rim and was the league’s total steals leader.
Talen Horton-Tucker is another name to watch — although he will be a restricted free agent if the Lakers make a qualifying offer. Restricted free agency is tricky.”
Caruso will be an unrestricted free agent this summer as his two-year, $5.5 million deal expired. He recently discussed the possibility of returning to the Lakers, but he’ll take his time on the matter.
For Horton-Tucker, the two-year deal he signed as a rookie is also expiring. If the Lakers offer him the qualifying offer worth $1.8 million, he’ll be a restricted free agent and L.A. can match any offer that comes his way.
But if Los Angeles opts to rescind the qualifying offer, which is unlikely given the potential he displayed this season, then he would be an unrestricted free agent.
Both players had vital roles with the team this season. Caruso developed into a reliable two-way player that head coach Frank Vogel trusted to close out games.
Horton-Tucker was one of the few players off the bench that could create his own shot. He appeared in 65 regular-season games this season and averaged 20.1 minutes after playing in 13 games for 13.5 minutes as a rookie.
The Cavaliers don’t have reliable backups behind Collin Sexton and Darius Garland, so Caruso and Horton-Tucker make sense from a talent and financial standpoint.
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