Lakers News: LA Considering Two Seasoned Big Men For 14th Roster Spot

One may be out of the team's price range.

When it comes to adding pieces around the fringes of a roster, it's fairly unrealistic to expect teams to be able to source complete players to sign via veteran's minimum contracts.

Thus, as your Los Angeles Lakers' front office embarks on a mission to ink a big man to its 14th roster spot ahead of training camp this season, the team finds itself confronted with some intriguing but flawed potential new additions. 

Although former lottery pick Jaxson Hayes, a 6'11" center with a raw two-way game, could potentially serve as Anthony Davis' prime backup, there are still a few more seasoned options available on the open market that team president Rob Pelinka and co. are reportedly targeting.

Per Jovan Buha of The Athletic, LA could be looking in two very divergent directions when it comes to finding a suitable reserve big. Christian Wood, an all-offense, no-defense center/power forward, and Bismack Biyombo, an all-defense, very-little offense center, are the two names sources tell Buha the team is eyeballing, using a veteran's minimum.

“I think dimensionalizing the skills at that position would be important,” Pelinka noted. “So we don’t want to sign someone who replicates the skills that Jaxson Hayes has. So if we can diversify the big position and have different looks, that would be good.”

The 6'10" Wood is a multifaceted scorer with a solid jumper and a pretty good knack for rebounding. But he's a rumored locker room headache, and has played for seven teams across his seven NBA seasons. Although he's still just 27 years old and fresh off a three-year, $41 million contract, his chilly market indicates that he might even be available for much cheaper than his talent would normally indicate. 

In his lone season for the lottery-bound Dallas Mavericks last year, the UNLV alum averaged 16.6 points on .515/.376/.772 shooting splits, 7.3 boards, 1.8 dimes and 1.1 blocks a night.

The 6'8" Biyombo, 30, has never been able to do much as a scorer beyond rolling to the rack and cleaning up around the rim, but that's all he'd need to do on a Lakers offense built around post-oriented stars LeBron James and Anthony Davis and a boatload of three-point shooters. 

Playing a limited role with the Phoenix Suns last season (across just 14.3 minutes), Biyombo managed to average 4.3 points on 57.8% field goal shooting, 4.3 rebounds and 1.4 blocks a night. That block rate would translate to 3.6 rejections per 36 minutes, by the way.

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