Opinion: The Lakers Should Sign This Very Famous 6x NBA All-Star
July 21 marks the 22nd day of NBA free agency, and after over three weeks one of the most famous players available this summer is still a free agent.
Six-time NBA All-Star Blake Griffin is coming off playing for the Brooklyn Nets last year, and he is still an unrestricted free agent available to sign with any team in the league.
I believe that the Los Angeles Lakers should take a chance on the veteran forward.
Why The Lakers?
The Lakers have very limited room to make moves, because they are so far over the NBA salary cap.
Therefore, they have to find signings that will be bargains and for the league minimum.
This late in free agency, it's very plausible that Griffin will be available for that kind of deal.
He is also very clearly out of his prime.
That being said, he can still be a very productive veteran for a lot of teams.
In 56 games last season, he averaged 6.4 points, 4.1 rebounds and 1.9 assists per contest.
He had fallen out of Steve Nash's rotation during the season, but when he played briefly in the playoffs he showed what he can be capable of.
Coming off the bench cold, he had eight points in less than eight minutes of action in Game 3 against the Boston Celtics.
He drilled two three-pointers and also had one block, one rebound and a field goal.
The Nets ended up getting swept, but that sequence was huge for Griffin and was one of the few signs of life the Nets showed in the game.
The Lakers can use that kind of productivity in limited minutes to be a backup to Anthony Davis.
In addition, Davis is injury prone, so he could be valuable insurance if they were to lose the superstar at any points during the season.
At one point, Griffin was a franchise cornerstone for both the Los Angeles Clippers and Detroit Pistons, so he would have no problem fitting in with the big-name talents on the Lakers; LeBron James, Russell Westbrook and Davis.
This past season, the Lakers were the 11th seed in the Western Conference, so they missed the NBA Playoffs and the play-in tournament.
