Dwight Howard not the only ‘Big Man’ on the Los Angeles Lakers radar – NBA News
The Los Angeles Lakers are in search for a big man and Dwight Howard is not the only person on their radar.
Though the addition of Howard would be more than enough for the Lakers to fill their big man needs and enable them to move either Pau Gasol or Andrew Bynum, league sources have confirmed that the Lakers talks with the Houston Rockets
regarding a three team deal involving Howard have cooled off.
With Howard almost out of the picture, the Lakers are switching their focus onto a back up big, who can help the front court combination of Gasol and Bynum. They are currently involved in negotiations with the representatives of
Jordan Hill, who played 7 regular season games for the Lakers last season, after being acquired from the Houston Rockets at the trade deadline.
Hill averaged 4.7 points and 4.4 rebounds for the Lakers and his agent, Bill Duffy, told ESPNLosAngeles.com that the two sides are yet to reach an agreement. He however plans on holding further talks with Lakers General Manager
Mitch Kupchak, whose club can offer Hill a maximum of $3,632,450 per year.
Josh McRoberts also has an expiring contract and has drawn interest from teams in a possible Howard trade scenario.
Besides Hill, the Lakers are eyeing veteran centre/forward players to fill their spot and Antawn Jamison, Elton Brand and Jermaine O’Neal remain at the top of their list. The Lakers are looking to sign any one of them to the veteran’s
minimum contract. They still have the $3 million mini mid level exception to offer, but had been holding it in case they needed to fill a void in their roster after trading players in a possible deal for Howard.
Jamison averaged 17.2 points and 6.3 rebounds for the Cleveland Cavaliers last season, which was his 14th in the league. However, he did shoot a career low 40.3% from the field. He is being hunted by other teams as well,
including the Brooklyn Nets.
Elton Brand was amnestied by the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday to make cap space. He is owed $18 million over the final year of his contract. If Brand can clear waivers, he will become an unrestricted free agent and can sign
to any team, including the Lakers. However, as per the rules of the amnesty clause, his services will be up for grabs first to those teams that are under the salary cap.
The Mavericks, who have plenty of cap space available after making no big additions to their roster this year, have expressed their interest in hiring Brand, who averaged 11 points and 7.2 rebounds for the Sixers this past season,
and at 32 is still a potent forward. His career was shortened with injuries, after having been the franchise player of the Los Angeles Clippers back in 2006, when he led them to the Western Conference Semi Finals.
O’Neal played for the Boston Celtics this past season, but managed only 25 games after he required a season ending surgery on his left wrist. He will be a good addition to the Lakers as well, but first he needs to prove he is healthy
and capable of playing at least a big chunk of the season.
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