 7. Free agent slash signings for the Los Angeles Lakers to target right now. With the Lakers unsure of the Kauai Leonard situation and also DeMarca's cousins, it makes the whole of next season very interesting to say the least. Whilst the LeBron James and Anthony Davis duo is arguably the greatest duo in the league next season, with no Kevin Durant and a return of Anthony Davis onto the court, as great as LeBron James and Anthony Davis are, it takes a team to win a championship, not just two great players. Now, the Lakers have a minor problem. They have waited too long in this year's NBA Free Agency period to not go all out on Kauai Leonard, but they have also waited too long to where they lost a few pieces they could have otherwise gained if they hadn't gone for Kauai Leonard to make their team an all-around good team. We all knew before the start of the Free Agency that the Lakers had two options. One was to get a third superstar alongside LeBron and Davis with a mediocre and minimum contract bench, and the second option was obviously to surround LeBron and Davis with solid players and a good all-around team. The players that they were going to target weren't all-star level players, but were just very solid players. Players who played their role and do it very, very well. They were the tier under all-star level players. Players like JJ Redick, Patrick Beverly, DeAndre Jordan, Bojan Bogdanovich, Trevor Reza, Bobby Porters, Thaddeus Young, I could keep going on and on, but you get the point. All these players are just very solid players and they all would have fit very well on the Lakers, especially players like JJ Redick, Patrick Beverly and Trevor Reza to name a few. These guys just play their roles extremely well. But to be fair, the Lakers have managed to get Troy Daniels on a one-year $2 million deal, which is a pretty good replacement as they haven't really gained any other shooting guards and it doesn't seem like they'll go back to Lance Stevenson and the rest of the guys from last season like Cadwell Pope. Now, they also got Jared Dudley, who they signed to a one-year $2.6 million deal and whilst he may not get many minutes on this Lakers squad, he's one of the better teammates in the NBA if you didn't know and he's a great player to have in the locker room. It takes some of the pressure off LeBron James and Anthony Davis as he is an old veteran guy that will release some of the pain in the locker room as you just have throughout the season. But that is literally all they have done at the making of this video. So now, how and what do the Lakers do in the situation that they are in? Let's look at seven players that they will have to target with or without the Kawhi Leonard signing. Obviously, their main target is to gain three-point shooters this season and to their credit, Troy Daniels is 40% from three and Jared Dudley is 39% so that addresses some of the weaknesses from last season but it doesn't relieve some of their bench depth just yet. Before we begin, if you enjoyed these sorts of videos, be sure to smash that like button and let's see if we can reach 2,000 likes for the next video, subscribe if you are new to support the channel and let's get into it. Number 7. First of all, if the NBA free agency wasn't crazy enough with KD and Kawhi joining Brooklyn, the D'Angelo Russell signing trade to the Warriors made this even more insane. But this left Iggy being traded to the Memphis Grizzlies. Reports have come out recently that Memphis is not going to wave Iggy but rather trade him off to a new team, leaving the Lakers in a weird situation of how much they value him and how much they want him. I think one second round or two second round picks will do the job for Iggy ending up in LA but that means there are also other teams that will target him, Houston will try and target him, Dallas has been rumored to target him and they'll probably be able to offer the same if not more than what the Lakers can so once again it will just be about how the Lakers value him. As for the fit though, he would fit perfectly on this team, I mean when you think about it a guy like Iggy off the bench, Iggy shown that he's capable of playing on any team that he's played on and even at the age of 35 he is still a lockdown defender. Number 6. Marcus Morris His brother Mark Keith assigned with the Pistons but Marcus Morris is still on the board and he's a player who just played with the Boston Celtics and with the breakup of Kyrie and Al Horford in Boston, I could see Marcus Morris also joining a new team in this year's NBA free agency. If the Lakers miss out on Kauai Leonard I could see the Lakers offering Morris to a little bit of a better contract than any other team could offer him, only for the year though, but I also believe if they can get Kauai Leonard on this team, Morris could still be a guy that could be a fit on this team too. Cardinals stretch forward to play alongside Koosma and LeBron and Davis and if one of them heads to the bench or doesn't play throughout the regular season due to injury or they just rest them, he's a guy that could definitely fit in. He averaged 14 points and 6 rebounds last season but more importantly for the Lakers he shot 37% from 3 which for a big man is actually very solid and he will hit them if the defense collapses on LeBron James and Anthony Davis this season so he'd be a great picker. Number 5. Karl Korva Karl Korva expected to be bought out by the Phoenix Suns now. The Lakers reportedly are amongst the teams in the running according to Wojc on ESPN. With the Grizzlies trading Karl Korva and Javon Bacarda to the Suns for De'Anthony Melton and Josh Jackson, the Suns plan to wave Karl Korva and with his history of playing with LeBron James recently and the chance to play in LA which is arguably the best destination in the NBA, also the chance to compete for another championship and the Lakers actually needing 3-point shooters to where he would actually get some minutes. It's hard to see him not in an LA Lakers jersey next season. Korva may have the opportunity to reunite with LeBron James in LA and perhaps make a third NBA finals appearance which to me is what he will do in my opinion. If he doesn't end up in LA it would be pretty cool to see him in the Philadelphia 76ers I mean that's where it all started and that would be pretty cool too. Number 4. Carmelo Anthony Now I know what you're thinking and every time anyone brings up Carmelo's name there is always a little bit of a risk to his name but just think about this. The thought process for me is that the Lakers are one of the few teams that have been linked to both Amari Stottamaya and Monte Ellis, two players that have been out of the league for a while and who are reaching their mid-30s and for Stottamaya's age he's already 36. So for the Lakers to go after these guys I think you have to put Melo in the conversation too. Monte Ellis and Stottamaya trying to catch on with an NBA contender according to Jordan Schultz of ESPN. The thing is these guys are not what they used to be at all. I literally watched Amari Stottamaya last season in the big 3 and you can tell he is not NBA ready. But Melo actually despite of all his hate last season was in the league although for a short stint he was still in the league and played at a decent pace. 13 points and 5.5 rebounds shooting 32% from 3 which isn't amazing but it is ok. And you'd only imagine that would improve playing off the bench and playing in a lesser role getting more open looks. The Lakers don't need anything from him other to be a spot up shooter off the bench and it's hard to imagine that him being such good friends with LeBron won't get him a chance to play in LA. 3. Quinn Cook I think the Warriors have made a mistake by not getting Quinn Cook back but understandable as they have D'Angelo DeRussell and Stephen Currys on the same team and obviously their point guard situation is a little bit iffy at the moment. But as for the Lakers, if they can sign a player like Quinn Cook who is now an unrestricted free agent as the Warriors are not going to match his restriction, he emerges someone that was a really solid player for the Warriors and when the Warriors were forced to deal with multiple injuries at the guard position, he was a guy that had his chance and made the most of it. Obviously he is the point guard which the Lakers desperately need now and if the Lakers managed to get him and a potential chance of bringing back Rondo, it could give the Lakers two very different dynamics. Cook took advantage of his opportunity and left a strong impression averaging 9.5 points, almost 3 assists and 2.5 rebounds in just 22 minutes per game in the 2017-18 season when he needed to step up for the Warriors during their injury riddled stint. Cook shot 40% from 3 which is really good and he would be a great fit for the Lakers if they can get him especially as a backup point guard. 2. Rajan Rondo, yeah I know he played with the Lakers last season but I think he has to come back this season too. He's the guy who advanced Anthony Davis's game when he played with Davis and obviously he didn't do all that bad last season. Of course it wasn't the best he has ever done but Rondo is ending his career. This is the guy that the Lakers need to bring back though. He will probably play for the minimum contract and his basketball IQ is off the charts. While his own physical ability on the defense event isn't the same as what it once was, his IQ and ability to help a quarterback defense with Anthony Davis now on the squad should make for one of the scariest units in the entire league. Not to mention if they do get Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green follows it could become scary. Rondo's defense, Green's defense, Kawhi's defense, Davis's defense and LeBron if he decides to actually play defense that is just scary. And number one, DeMarcus Cousins. This is the guy that if Kawhi is not a member of the Lakers I think you just have to take a little bit of a risk on. As the other centers such as Boban and Robin Lopez have managed to find NBA contracts before DeMarcus Cousins which you could never imagine two years ago. The former All-Star is now in a bit of a dire situation. He's got a new agent hiring Jeff Swartz of the XL Sports according to Mark Steiner of the New York Times and won't report it that there is literally no suitors for DeMarcus Cousins, this free agency. There's not a market for him Scott and I think and it's not, I think he thought he hoped some big market teams would strike out that have cap space he could get a one year 12, 15, 18, 20 million dollar deal. It's not there. That's not happening. I don't even know if there's a mid-level exception he got in Golden State last year. I don't think that's there for him. Wow. No one is going after him except the Miami Heat who will have a meeting with him. And now recently there have been reports that the Spurs and DeMarcus Cousins are now recruiting him, which low key if he ends up going to the Spurs, that is another free agency prediction that I got correct. But let me go back to this. I just think that these two teams will try and get him for the low and they won't try to pay him a lot of money at all. But honestly the Lakers miss out on Kauai Leonard. They will have some cap space and maybe they'll be able to offer boogie more than any other team and therefore he could be a member of the Lakers. I mean we've seen him play alongside Anthony Davis before. Unfortunately we didn't get to see him in the playoffs, but if L.A. offers the most amount of money for this season alone, I wouldn't be surprised if he ends up in L.A. Here are two honorable mentions. I think if J.R. Smith falls, I think the Lakers will try and get him. Obviously they'll have to trade for him, but I just think a second round pick will probably do the job. And the second guy is Danny Green. If the Lakers end up with Kauai Leonard, I have no doubt that Danny Green will follow him. And obviously he's an ex teammate of LeBron James as well and they had a close relationship. So Danny Green would be the second guy and he would be the perfect fit. A 3 and D guy for the Lakers is exactly what they need. With that said, let me know what you think is next for the Los Angeles Lakers. If you enjoyed this video, be sure to subscribe if you're new. Leave a like on the video. Let's see if we can reach 2,000 likes and I'll upload the next video tomorrow. Be sure to hit that notification button and follow me on Instagram and I'm out. Peace.