Lakers land four on first day of free agency, including Rui Hachimura
Free agency for general manager Rob Pelinka and the Lakers began in the final days of January, when the team was languishing in the bottom half of the NBA’s Western Conference. The Lakers were spinning their wheels, scratching their way toward .500 but never getting there when they decided to make a move.
For months, the team had tried to find its way under new coach Darvin Ham, making the best out of an awkward situation with Russell Westbrook on the bench and the fallout from a foot injury still threatening to knock Anthony Davis out of the lineup.
Would they buy? Would they sell? Would they do nothing? They were at an intersection with the Feb. 7 trade deadline looming ahead.
The next step they took turned out to be one of their most important. On Jan. 23, the Lakers acquired Rui Hachimura from Washington for Kendrick Nunn and three second-round draft picks.
Five months later, that deal paid off for both parties, the Lakers signing Hachimura to a three-year deal, ensuring that one piece of their “young core” would spend the next chunk of his prime in Los Angeles. And for Hachimura? It meant $51 million guaranteed — the price tag he earned for his postseason play when he helped the Lakers reach the Western Conference finals.
The move was part of a busy first handful of hours for the Lakers in free agency, the team also adding NBA Finals starter Gabe Vincent, veteran Taurean Prince and former lottery pick Cam Reddish.
The Lakers agree to re-sign guards Austin Reaves and D’Angelo Russell while landing former Pelicans center Jaxson Hayes on a two-year deal.
The team, which created the space to use a midlevel exception Thursday by waiving Mo Bamba and Shaq Harrison, and by declining the team option on Malik Beasley’s contract, used most of it to agree to sign Vincent away from the Miami Heat with a three-year, $33-million contract.
The Lakers also used what projects to be their bi-annual exception to get Prince to agree to a one-year deal worth $4.5 million. The Lakers also got Reddish, a player they’ve long been tied to in trade talks, to agree to a two-year deal worth the veteran’s minimum.
The Lakers, according to people with knowledge of the situation not authorized to speak publicly, still intend to re-sign guards Austin Reaves and D’Angelo Russell, which would leave room for only two or three players on veteran’s minimum contracts. The Lakers offered both players contracts Thursday, with Reaves receiving a four-year, $52-million maximum offer. He can earn almost twice as much from another team , though the Lakers can match.
Hachimura, 25, returns after surging late in the season and into the playoffs with the Lakers. Following one game when he fell completely out of Ham’s rotation, Hachimura returned with more aggression and, eventually, more confidence as he became a trusted member of the rotation.
In the final seven games of the regular season, Hachimura averaged 10.6 points and 5.9 rebounds in 21.6 minutes off the bench.
He was a plus-20 in the Lakers’ play-in win against Minnesota, and he made five three-pointers in Game 1 of the first-round series in Memphis to push the Lakers ahead the Grizzlies. He ended his postseason shooting 55.7% from the field and 48.7% from three, playing some of his best basketball while showing that he could compete defensively with the stakes at their highest.
Similarly, the 27-year-old Vincent, who was born in Modesto and went to UC Santa Barbara, played his best basketball last season when it meant the most. After moving into the starting lineup Feb. 4, Vincent shot 34.4% from three while averaging 9.6 points. In the playoffs, those numbers bumped to 37.8% from three and 12.7 points per game. In Miami’s lone win of the Finals, he scored 23 points on eight-of-12 shooting.
Prince, who became available Thursday when Minnesota didn’t guarantee the $7.5 million he was due this upcoming season, played in Atlanta when he was a rookie and Ham was a Hawks assistant.
The 6-foot-7, 29-year-old forward shot 38.1% from three last season when playing mostly off the bench for the Timberwolves. Like Hachimura and Vincent, he also shot well in the playoffs, making 38.1% of his threes against the Nuggets in the first round.
Reddish was the biggest flier, the 10th overall pick in the 2019 draft. The Lakers will be his fourth team in five seasons, and though he has averaged 10.3 points, he’s shooting 39.9% from the field and 32.2% from three for his career. The Lakers see untapped potential as a possible two-way weapon with an ideal 6-8 frame.
While the Lakers and Pelinka frequently spoke about continuity in the build to this offseason, the team lost more players Friday than it kept. Guard Dennis Schroder agreed to a deal with the Toronto Raptors after Fred VanVleet landed in Houston while wing Troy Brown Jr., one of the Lakers’ bargain finds last summer, agreed to sign with Minnesota — in part — to replace Prince.
Among the priorities for the Lakers, beyond re-signing Reaves and Russell, will be adding a back-up big man.
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