Lakers News: L.A. Auditioned Maurice Harkless This Week

The free agent wing has 10 years of NBA experience.

Your Los Angeles Lakers may already be interested in tweaking around the edges of their rotation, two games (both losses) into the 2022-23 NBA season.

As Shams Charania of The Athletic reports, L.A. apparently worked out free agent forward Maurice Harkless at some point this week.

Lakers hold free-agent workout and meeting with a 10-year NBA veteran – details: pic.twitter.com/BHUZOtiCyA

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) October 21, 2022

"The Lakers brought in veteran free agent Moe Harkless for a workout and meeting this week," Charania notes. "Sources tell me the Lakers are considering a potential signing to bolster their wing and frontcourt depth, and Harkless, who was waived by Houston in training camp, is among the top available players on the open market."

The 6'7" small forward was initially selected with the 15th pick after just one season at St. John's in 2012. Since then, he has played for the Orlando Magic, Portland Trail Blazers (probably his peak era), Los Angeles Clippers, New York Knicks, Miami Heat, and Sacramento Kings.

L.A. is deeply in need of shooting help along the perimeter, having started out the year an ice-cold 19-of-85 from long range in its two regular season contests thus far.

Unfortunately, Harkless is a fairly uneven shooter from long range on a lowe volume of attempts. For his career, he's averaging 32% from deep on 1.9 looks. That said, he's enjoyed several seasons hovering right around an acceptable 35%, most recently in 2019-20, when he shot 34.7% on 1.6 tries through 62 contests for the Clippers and Knicks. In just 47 games for a lottery-bound 30-52 Kings club, the 29-year-old vet connected on just 30.7% of his 2.1 triples a night.

The Lakers have been so desperate for floor spacing help that the team has turned to 15th man Matt Ryan, a training camp addition, recently, a dead-eye shooter in this year's Summer League. Through two contests with L.A., the 6'7" Ryan is averaging 15 minutes a night and nailing 40% of his 2.5 triples. It would behoove the Lakers to look for more sharpshooters, though the team is a bit guard-heavy and could benefit somewhat from additional size on the wing. Still a decent athlete, Harkless can also play for spot minutes at power forward in smaller lineups. 

Who would L.A. cut? The club's current standard roster has all 15 of its available slots filled. The team has several players inked to minimum deals. Beyond its rookies and injured players, the least-played Laker this season is 6'11" center Damian Jones, who has been squeezed out a bit by 6'9" power forward Wenyen Gabriel, who can play both the four alongside Anthony Davis and the five when he sits. Jones is more strictly a center. That said, this writer would vote for waiving the injured Troy Brown Jr., as Harkless would essentially be playing the minutes intended for him anyway.