Lakers Poised For Buyout Market As Rumored Interest In James Ennis Grows

The Los Angeles Lakers’ offseason saw a big roster turnover and are poised to become big players in the buyout market if they sign James Ennis III to one of their two open roster spots.

Michael Scotto of Hoops Hype reported that the Lakers are one of four teams interested in Ennis afer he was caught liking tweets linking him to the franchise.

They do not have much financial flexibility to go around after committing most of their cap space to their superstars, leading to the minimum contracts they handed out this summer.

Despite this, the Lakers do have an advantage over other playoff contenders like the Philadelphia 76ers and Denver Nuggets--prestige.

Being one of the top franchises in the NBA in the past decades, most, if not all of the league’s best players, have been linked to the Lakers at least once in their careers.

Presuming they sign Ennis, they have an extra roster spot to fill which they can use in the buyout market to fill a position of need.

The buyout market is expected to boom around the middle of the season as veteran players who are still capable of playing around 28 to 32 minutes become available.

Veterans like Goran Dragic, Kevin Love, Thaddeus Young are all expected to hit the buyout market since their current teams are far from competing for a title.

Love is the most likely and sensible addition to the roster as he has a game that is well-suited to that of the Lakers and LeBron James, harkening back to their time in Cleveland.

Young would also be an excellent get for the Lakers as they currently lack a veteran that can bang inside the paint, is relatively young and not as injury-prone as big man Anthony Davis.

Filling one of their remaining open spots with a proven veteran from the buyout market could spell the difference between a disastrous finish like last season or an NBA title.