Confirmed deal : 3 more Lakers buyout options to build around Luka Doncic after Alex Len signing

 

The Los Angeles Lakers officially agreed to terms on a new contract with Alex Len this Tuesday. The 7-footer arrives in LA after the Washington Wizards bought out his contract following the trade deadline. Len was originally expected to sign in Indiana, but his plans changed after the Lakers’ Mark Williams trade fell through.

Len appeared in 36 games for the Sacramento Kings this season, averaging 1.4 points and 1.8 rebounds in 7.3 minutes

 

A former top-five pick turned longtime rotation big, Len has put together a nice career for himself. His role flatlined in Sacramento behind Domantas Sabonis, but he gets a nice chance to carve out minutes with the Lakers, who have a gaping void at center after the Williams trade was rescinded.

Len won’t start in LA, where Jaxson Hayes, Jarred Vanderbilt, and Dorian Finney-Smith should continue to absorb minutes at the five spot, but he will get a chance to stick in the second unit. This Lakers team desperately needs size in lieu of Anthony Davis. Len is not the athletic rim-runner type Luka Doncic is used to, but he’s a hulking frame in the paint who should feast well enough on dump-offs and the occasional lob. He couldn’t ask for a better star apparatus than Doncic and LeBron James.

 

P.J. Tucker ended up with the Toronto Raptors as part of the complicated five-team Jimmy Butler trade. At 39 years old and in the final year of his contract, Tucker has little reason to stick in a rebuilding situation. The Raptors’ subsequent acquisition of Brandon Ingram suggests a potentially delusional desire to contend, but even that trade happened with an eye toward next season