Lakers Need To Sign This Lingering Free Agent Target

Why is he still available?

Dec 23, 2020; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Charlotte Hornets forward Gordon Hayward (20) moves the ball past center Bismack Biyombo (8) and Cleveland Cavaliers guard Isaac Okoro (35) in the second quarter at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports / David Richard-USA TODAY Sports

It's fair to say that the Los Angeles Lakers' long love affair with Cam Reddish seems to have to come to its sad conclusion.

The 6-foot-8 forward, formerly the No. 10 lottery pick out of Duke in the 2018 NBA Draft, may have picked up his veteran's minimum player option ahead of the 2024-25 NBA season, but it's hard to see him fitting into new head coach JJ Redick's allegedly three point-shooting-heavy offensive approach, as something of a vastly overrated defender.

It may behoove Los Angeles to move on from Reddish, as there appears to be a far better fit available on the open market: restricted free agent swingman Isaac Okoro, another former lottery reclamation project (he was selected with the No. 5 pick out of Auburn by the Cleveland Cavaliers). The 6-foot-5 small forward's offensive game may be a bit wanting, but over the past three seasons he's actually become a decent (if moderate) three point shooter. Last year, averaging 27.3 minutes a night, Okoro nailed 39.1 percent of his 3.1 triple tries a night.

As a restricted free agent, it's conceivable that the Cleveland Cavaliers could seek to match any offer tendered to Okoro. But given that they haven't made him any reported offers as of yet, it seems likely they may not want to bring him back under their own new head coach, Kenny Atkinson.

Okoro is a better perimeter defender and shooter than Reddish, and although he needs polish elsewhere as a scorer, those skills alone would make him a great replacement.

L.A. cannot just run back the exact team it had last season. Yes, Gabe Vincent and Jarred Vanderbilt will presumably be healthier than they were in 2023-24, but that alone isn't going to be enough for the club to compete against the presumed top four teams in the Western Conference. It will need to improve its fringe depth, which includes improving on obvious roster issues like Reddish and backup big men Jaxson Hayes and Christian Wood.

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