The Los Angeles Lakers got a spot on Monday night when they decided to resign guard Quinn Cook, and with Anthony Davis still out due to an injury, the immediate speculation was that they would look for a big man to help deal with your absence. The most prominent big man available is DeMarcus Cousins, who spent part of last season in the Laker squad, and the reports had already linked the two sides for a possible meeting.
But according to Brad Turner and Dan Woike of the Los Angeles Times, Cousins’ return to the Lakers is unlikely at this point. They are reporting that the Lakers are not going to take over from Cook immediately, which makes sense. The Lakers are pressed against the hard limit, and the longer they wait to fill their two vacancies on the list, the cheaper the prorated minimum contracts that they offer to free agents will be. This will allow them to keep a few extra dollars below the rigid capitalization line if they need to make a slightly unbalanced trade on time.
One possible target, according to Turner and Woike, is the Sacramento Kings’ great man, Hassan Whiteside. The Kings dropped to 11th place in the Western Conference and Whiteside is playing just 14.6 minutes per game, the lowest total since becoming a regular during the 2014-15 season. What he would offer the Lakers at the moment is an extremely necessary size. They currently do not have a seven-foot player in the squad and, with Davis out, the Lakers have been struggling to defend the rim. Whiteside does not defend the perimeter well, but routinely accumulates some of the highest total blocks in basketball. Whiteside would likely struggle to gain minutes in the postseason, when Davis will likely slide back into the center for most of his minutes. However, it could help to fill a gap in the regular season.
The Lakers dismissed Cook for flexibility above all else. It was a sign that Rob Pelinka believes that this list needs to be updated. It is not yet known what the shape of this will be, but if he really plans to take his time as this report suggests, it indicates that just about anything can be on the table for the Lakers.