Day 1 of free agency was the craziest we’ve seen in years (at least since 2016, maybe beyond). It started an hour before the moratorium period officially opened with Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving being reported as done deals to Brooklyn, taking two of the top players off the board immediately.
Boston would immediately replace Kyrie with Kemba Walker as expected, and deals were flying as soon as 6 p.m. hit. The Sixers would later figure out their top guys, re-signing Tobias Harris to a near max, sending Jimmy Butler to Miami in a sign-and-trade (that has become a saga of its own), and bringing Al Horford in on a big deal.
All told, over $3 billion got thrown around in new deals and extensions on Sunday, but the Lakers were conspicuously quiet. That’s because, like the Clippers whose only move was bringing Patrick Beverley back, they are waiting on Kawhi Leonard’s decision, and he is choosing to take his time. Since the Lakers have less space than the Clippers, they can’t really do much to fill out their roster around a potential Kawhi signing, and instead must wait, mostly.
That said, they did finally work out an agreement with someone on Monday as they’ll bring in sharpshooter Troy Daniels on a one-year deal, according to David Aldridge and Shams Charania of The Athletic.
Lakers closing in on deal with guard Troy Daniels, per league source. Opportunity for the 27-year-old, who played in Phoenix last couple of seasons (38 percent on threes in 2018-19); low-cost vet for the Lakers who’ll help fill out the rotation.
— David Aldridge (@davidaldridgedc) July 1, 2019
Free agent Troy Daniels has agreed to a one-year, $2.1M with the Lakers, agent Mark Bartelstein of Priority Sports tells @TheAthleticNBA @Stadium. Daniels gives the Lakers an elite shooter to pair with LeBron James and Anthony Davis and does not affect the team’s cap space.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) July 1, 2019
It’s not the type of deal that will inspire Lakers fans to take to the streets in joy, but it’s a nice pickup as they’ll have to get creative with minimum deals and their room exception to fill out this roster. After a season where they failed miserably with their “don’t sign any shooters” experiment around LeBron, it seems they’ve at least learned their lesson and will try to deploy some perimeter firepower around their new dynamic duo — or trio, if they get the ultimate prize this summer.
