Lakers Rumors: NBA Insider Links Free Agent All-Star Point Guard To LA

Your Los Angeles Lakers might indeed be on a mission for a point guard upgrade this summer, after all.

Timothy Rapp of Bleacher Report considers Toronto Raptors point guard Fred VanVleet to be a terrific prospect for LA this year, who made it all the way to the Western Conference Finals this spring with D'Angelo Russell as their starter.

VanVleet recently declined his $22.8 million player option for next year to hit unrestricted free agency this summer, a pretty good indicator that he and his representatives are confident a better long-term deal is available on the open market for the 29-year-old champ.

Before graduating to a starting role, the 6'1" Wichita State product was a key reserve on a title-winning 2018-19 club that vanquished the injury-plagued Golden State Warriors in six games. He eventually blossomed into an All-Star during the Raptors' 2021-22 season, before regressing this year.

Across his 69 healthy contests in 2022-23, VanVleet averaged 19.3 points on .393/.342/.898 shooting splits, 7.2 assists, 4.1 rebounds and 1.8 steals a night. For his career, however, he's a borderline-elite three-point shooter at volume, converting 37.3% of his 6.4 triple tries a night.

Rapp notes that VanVleet can thrive both on and off the ball, is a better defender than Russell, and would offer far fewer of the off-court controversies another free agent point guard prospect, Kyrie Irving, seems to enjoy bringing to every stop. VanVleet also boasts a proven track record of being able to step up in big postseason moments, while Russell to date has mostly done the opposite.

His most recent backcourt mate, shooting guard Gary Trent Jr., just opted in to the final season of his contract with Toronto for 2023-24 earlier today.

Considering that the Lakers' offseason priority seems likely to be holding onto ascendant young role players Austin Reaves and Rui Hachimura, the team won't have room under the salary cap to sign VanVleet outright. Thus, the most tenable scenario would become getting VanVleet and Russell to both sign new deals and agree to be flipped in a complicated double-sign-and-trade, perhaps with the Lakers including this year's first round draft pick to sweeten the pot for Toronto, who after all would be surrendering the better player int he deal.

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