Reports at the time suggested the Lakers would’ve been able to hang onto Caldwell-Pope and possibly even the No. The Lakers were reportedly far down the road with the Kings in discussions on a potential Buddy Hield trade that wouldn’t have had such a significant price tag. It was a fascinating decision for a team that had other options. surrendering Kyle Kuzma, Montrezl Harrell, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, and the No. That honor belongs to the five-team blockbuster trade that sent Russell Westbrook to his hometown of Los Angeles, with L.A. Horton-Tucker’s new contract wasn’t the Lakers’ biggest transactions of the summer. The three-year, $30.78MM deal he received as a restricted free agent was, by far, the largest deal the Lakers handed out this offseason. Los Angeles essentially chose to invest in Horton-Tucker over fellow guards Dennis Schröder and Alex Caruso, betting on the 20-year-old’s upside and ability to continue improving. LeBron James and Anthony Davis will be back, of course, as will up-and-coming guard Talen Horton-Tucker, the only one of the Lakers’ many free agents to get a new deal from the team. Either Pelinka’s plans changed, he wasn’t telling the full truth when he spoke to reporters in June, or his definition of the team’s “core” was much narrowed than originally believed. Shortly after the Lakers’ 2020/21 season came to a disappointing early end, general manager Rob Pelinka stated that his goal was to keep the majority of the team’s core together, suggesting that he believed last season’s group would have made a deeper postseason run with some better injury luck.įour-and-a-half months later, no team has overhauled its roster more than the Lakers, who have just three players from last year’s squad returning for the 2021/22 season.
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