The Los Angeles Lakers’ roster seems set in stone as the regular season nears its end, but Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report would beg to differ.
He predicted that the team will sign one more player on Sunday.
I anticipate the Lakers will sign a player tomorrow, probably for the rest of the season and an additional year with a non- or partial-guranteee (perhaps with a team option)
— Eric Pincus (@EricPincus) April 8, 2023
There has been some chatter that Los Angeles will end up bringing in one more center to provide some insurance behind Anthony Davis and Mo Bamba. But after working out several free agent big men, all has remained quiet on the signing front.
Most notably, the team was reportedly planning on working out DeMarcus Cousins, a former four-time NBA All-Star who had been a member of the team during the 2019-20 season but was unable to play after a torn ACL. Many Lakers fans have been practically begging for general manager Rob Pelinka to bring him back since, but according to Lakers Daily, he “left a bad taste in Pelinka’s mouth” during his time with the team.
With Davis being injury-prone and Bamba still a developing young player who himself missed a month recently with an injury, many feel it would make sense for the squad to carry one more center as it prepares for a likely appearance in the play-in tournament.
Still, Davis is having perhaps his best season yet. The 30-year-old is averaging 26.1 points on 56.5 percent shooting plus 12.5 rebounds and 2.0 blocked shots per game. He has never shot as high a percentage from the field, nor has he ever averaged as many rebounds.
Meanwhile, Bamba is a legitimate shot-blocking threat who can also stretch the floor with his jump shot.
The Lakers have one more regular season game remaining, which will take place on Sunday afternoon against the Utah Jazz. They scraped past the Jazz in Salt Lake City on Tuesday in overtime, and it was a contest that likely left Davis and LeBron James fatigued for their Wednesday contest against the Los Angeles Clippers.
Los Angeles has the seventh-best record in the Western Conference as of this writing at 42-39.
