As much as they don’t want to admit it, the Los Angeles Lakers are a rebuilding team. They won’t make the playoffs; they won’t even sniff them. And that’s fine.
What they should be doing is concentrating on the development of their young, promising players like Jordan Clarkson, D’Angelo Russell and Julius Randle. What they should absolutely not be doing is signing aged veterans who probably wouldn’t provide that much help to a contending team anyways, such as Metta World Peace.
So, of course, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports, that’s exactly what the Lakers might do.
Lakers are seriously considering signing free agent Metta World Peace, league sources tell Yahoo Sports. For now, there's no deal in place.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) August 24, 2015
It’s really tough to see the point of bringing in World Peace. He’s not the veteran presence needed to take a title contender to the top, and he’s not exactly the veteran you want giving advice to young players. Perhaps this has something to do with Jeani Buss’ mandate that the Lakers need to return to their winning ways, and fast.
But will World Peace actually help with that?
He last played in the NBA during the 2013-14 season for the New York Knicks, and didn’t exactly have a great deal of success, averaging just 4.8 points and two rebounds per game. Perhaps there’s hope that the year with the Knicks was an aberration, and, if healthy, he can at least contribute a solid 20 minutes per game. Yet, again, the question remains: For what purpose? Will 20 minutes of Metta World Peace help the Lakers be not horribly awful? Probably not.
It’s a baffling potential signing, and the Lakers would likely be better off saving their money and investing in some young diamonds in the rough in the D-League or overseas.
(Via Adrian Wojnarowski)
