The Lakers have had the most active free agency of any team in the NBA thus far. It began with LeBron James announcing his arrival in Los Angeles, which most expected to be the beginning of an avalanche of signings and moves.
That was the case, but not in the way people originally thought, as the Lakers have filled out their roster with veterans on 1-year contracts. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Lance Stephenson, JaVale McGee, and Rajon Rondo have all agreed to join LeBron for a season for different amounts, but to this point, the Lakers have yet to make a real move of consequence in addition to LeBron.
The move everyone is waiting for, whether with the Lakers or elsewhere, is a Kawhi Leonard trade, but talks there have slowed significantly as free agency has begun. The Lakers are involved, but haven’t put the young players and future assets on the table the Spurs want, which has been the issue San Antonio’s run into with the others so far as well. Lonzo Ball is among those the Lakers could include in a deal to convince the Spurs to part ways with their star, but reports have indicated he is far from the Spurs top option.
San Antonio is more intrigued by Brandon Ingram, which is understandable given San Antonio’s roster and that most consider Ingram, right now, to be the better player and prospect. Also hurting Ball’s trade value are questions about his knee, as it was revealed he has a torn left meniscus recently, but should be ready for the start of the season.
According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, there are grumblings that the Lakers may feel this was a leak from Ball’s camp to purposefully damage his trade value in an effort to remain in Los Angeles, and the Rondo signing was a message to Ball and company.
“This is a message to Lonzo Ball,” Wojnarowski says. “His injury — that knee injury — I think there’s a belief around the Lakers that it was within his world that that got leaked out there to keep him from getting traded. He doesn’t want to be traded from L.A. It wasn’t the Lakers that wanted information out on that knee injury. There were a lot of teams that were checking on possible deals with the Lakers and there were questions about that knee. They want winning, veteran players there. You have LeBron James now, and he’s 33 years old. They want win-now guys. And Rondo is going to challenge Lonzo Ball.”
There’s no one surprised that Ball’s camp would do everything in their power to keep Lonzo in L.A., given how adamant his father has been about him being on the Lakers. However, if true, it would show how there’s a growing divide between the Lakers organization and Ball and his camp if they are purposefully using the Rondo signing as a “message” to Ball as if to say he’s not guaranteed a spot.
