Lakers Should Take Flier on Free Agent Former Top Draft Pick

It might behoove Los Angeles to take a swing in a sign-and-trade.

Jun 24, 2024; El Segundo, CA, USA; Los Angeles Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka walks off following the introductory news conference for head coach JJ Redick at the UCLA Health Training Center. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images / Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

For at least the start of the 2024-25 season, the Los Angeles Lakers seem dead-set on bringing back more or less the same team they had in 2023-24. This is a team that went a mediocre 47-35 and got booted out of the first round of the Western Conference playoffs in five swift games.

L.A. saw two of its own underperforming free agents, point guard Spencer Dinwiddie and combo forward Taurean Prince, depart for contending teams in the Dallas Mavericks and Milwaukee Bucks. Both left for minimum deals. The Lakers did retain two of their own free agents, 20-time All-Star forward LeBron James and third-year restricted free agent shooting guard Max Christie. Los Angeles also drafted two rookie guards, ex-Tennessee Volunteers swingman Dalton Knecht and former USC point guard Bronny James, with the Nos. 17 and 55 picks in June's 2024 NBA Draft.

It's no secret that the Lakers need some defensive help along the perimeter, and that their bench is lacking.

Hyperathletic Cleveland Cavaliers wing Isaac Okoro could fix that.

Cleveland selected the 6-foot-5 small forward out of Auburn with the No. 5 overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft. He has yet to develop into the two-way player the Cavaliers were hoping he would be just yet. Okoro is a relatively reticent shooter, though he connected on an above-average 39.1 percent of his 3.1 triple tries a night last year.

Across 69 contests with the Cavaliers last year (42 starts), he averaged 9.4 points on .490/.391/.679 shooting splits, 3.0 rebounds, 1.9 assists, 0.8 steals and 0.5 blocks a night, across 27.3 minutes for a 48-34 club that advanced to the second round of the playoffs last season. Even during the 2024 playoffs, now-former head coach J.B. Bickerstaff wasn't quite sure what to do with Okoro, toggling him between a starting role for seven games and a bench role for five, while slashing his minutes to 21.9 per.

Los Angeles absolutely needs a Cam Reddish upgrade. The club's lackluster perimeter defense was exposed in the postseason, and team president Rob Pelinka has yet to make a meaningful roster upgrade to address that this offseason.

Of course, actually bringing in Okoro could become complicated. He is a restricted free agent, meaning the Cavaliers have the option to match any deal tendered his way. The Lakers, of course, also have all 15 of their standard roster spots occupied, meaning they would need to either cut somebody or move to add Okoro via a sign-and-trade.

Clearly, there isn't much market interest in Okoro and Cleveland still has a distinctive homecourt advantage should it want to retain him. He also has an $11.8 million qualifying offer for next season, after which he'd become an unrestricted free agent. It's possible that any annual deal he's offered would be south of this sum, meaning he may just take the qualifying offer now and hope to develop enough to control his own destiny next summer. But it would behoove the Lakers to at least explore Okoro as an option, to shore up a struggling wing rotation.

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