Could LA sign this two-way player this summer?
The Los Angeles Lakers front office did their job this trade deadline. The good ole addition by subtraction seemed to have benefited the purple and gold on paper, and now they look to make a late-season push into the postseason.
Even though every game going forward will matter for the Lakers, let’s look ahead to the fun part of the NBA season, the offseason.
The Lakers will only have four players on the books for next season: Anthony Davis, LeBron James, Max Christie, and Jarred Vanderbilt.
The rest of the players will either be unrestricted free agents or restricted free agents, and one will have a club option in Malik Beasley.
The LA front office will have a ton of major decisions to make in the summer. However, Bleacher Report’s Dan Favale believes they should sign this two-way player this offseason.
“Los Angeles Lakers: Torrey Craig
“Torrey Craig hasn’t always met the two-way requirements. But he’s downing almost 40 percent of his threes this season while injecting his usual dose of under-the-radar offensive rebounding. And though he’s more suited to playing the Jae Crowder, bigger-and-slower-assignments-only role these days, he promises more defensive maneuverability than most of the Lakers’ incumbent non-bigs.”
The Lakers will have $32.2 million in cap space if they decline club options and release players on non-guaranteed contracts, according to Sportac.
Craig has spent this season with the Phoenix Suns, and has enjoyed a solid year. In 56 games, Craig has put up 7.9 points, 5.7 rebounds and 1.6 assists per game while shooting 45.8 percent from the field and 40 percent from behind the arc.
The 32-year-old is at the end of his two-year, $10 million contract that he signed with the Indiana Pacers in 2021, and will be an unrestricted free agent this summer.
Craig is no spring chicken either; however, he could also be used as a valuable trade tool if LA decides to go in that direction down the road.
LA has plenty of options they can lean towards. It was reported earlier this week that the Lakers are interested in extending guard D’Angelo Russell beyond this season. They also reportedly have that same interest with forward Rui Hachimura.
Nothing is set in stone, and with LeBron getting older and Davis’ health up in the air for the majority of the time, this could be a big summer for the Lakers’ brass.
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