The Lakers have been looking to add bigger players to the team ever since they traded for Luka Doncic. They previously acquired Deandre Ayton to fulfill the starter role in the center position, but now another exciting player could be available in the coming season: Nikola Vucevic.
The Swiss-born center has recently agreed with the Bulls that if a trade is not finalized before the February deadline, then they will buy him out this season. This opens the room for potential suitors to acquire him at a discounted price if they want to trade for him sooner, or wait till what could potentially be November or December to sign him off waivers.
According to Trevor Lane of Lakers Nation, the Lakers would need to make some adjustments to the roster if they consider signing the stretch big this offseason. They are currently not in a position to take on his salary directly, despite having a free roster spot as they are hard-capped on the first apron.
Lane addressed the possibility of the Lakers looking into the 34-year-old Montenegrin center on the most recent Lakers Nation podcast. He believes the Lakers will only make a move for him if he is bought out and won’t look to trade a second-round pick for him.
“Let’s say they don’t really want to give up that future second in order just to jettison some salary. One option could be to waive and stretch the salary of Gabe Vincent or Maxi Kleber; you can do that with either guy. So the question becomes, would that be the preferred path rather than give up that second-round pick, have $3.6 million in dead money sitting on your books?”
Trevor Lane believes that the Lakers will need to assess whether Maxi Kleber or Gabe Vincent is seriously contributing to the team’s contention ambitions before they decide which player to waive if they are considering entering the race for Vucevic. With currently only $1.1 million in their salary cap space, the Lakers will have to waive either Vincent or Kleber to make room for any offer to Vucevic, let alone assuming he accepts it.
Vucevic, even though nearing the downward-sloping end of his career, can be a solid contributor to a championship-contending team. The former All-Star averaged 18.5 points, 10.1 rebounds, and 3.5 assists per game last season while shooting 40.2% from three-point range.
The stretch-big is a potential double-double threat on any given night and could even provide some versatility if the Lakers look to change their offensive strategy and play with two bigs on their starting lineup.
Given how successful Ime Udoka’s Rockets were with the double-big strategy last season with Steven Adams and Alperen Sengun, if Vucevic joins the Lakers, they could have the option of using that strategy as well. But these hypotheticals are all based on the assumption that the Lakers will be interested in signing Vucevic if he is bought out.
Considering that both the bigs on the roster currently (Jaxson Hayes and Deandre Ayton) are threats inside the paint, a player like Vucevic could help the Lakers stretch the floor for some spacing in their offensive strategies. In my opinion, he would be a valuable addition to the Lakers, especially if things do not pan out with Kleber, since he’s a perfect replacement on the team depth chart as well.
