The Los Angeles Lakers likely want to avoid signing/acquiring assets with heavy baggage or troubling injury histories.
Ideally, the Lakers would love nothing more than to land surefire contributors they could have the utmost confidence in. However, Sportsnaut’s Jason Burgos believes the Lakers should take a chance on a former Dallas Mavericks star center and NBA champion (with the Boston Celtics) who’s proven to be injury-prone throughout his career.
“If the Lakers are looking for affordable risks with upside this offseason, 10-year veteran Kristaps Porzingis should be on their radar,” Burgos wrote Tuesday.
“His bizarre health issues have severely hampered him over the last two seasons. However, his 2023-24 season with the Boston Celtics showed he can be a serious difference maker on a title contender if healthy.”
“While he isn’t a beast on the boards, he is a rim protector who is a lop threat and can stretch the floor. Because of his recent ailments, he might come at a bargain rate this summer.”
Despite being a high-risk summer target, it’s worth noting that Porzingis has already shown he can succeed alongside a ball-dominant superstar point guard in Luka Doncic. After spending the first 3.5 seasons of his career with the New York Knicks, Porzingis joined the Mavericks via a midseason blockbuster deal.
The former first-round pick was a 19+ point, 7+ rebound contributor during his short stint with Dallas, which was good enough to help the Mavericks reach the postseason on two occasions.
That said, Porzingis, who was traded from the Atlanta Hawks to the Golden State Warriors before this year’s Feb. 5 deadline, only appeared in 15 games with the Dubs this year due to various setbacks.
The same could occur with the Lakers if Porzingis were to ink a deal with the franchise this summer, which is an unflattering possibility. Still, if Los Angeles is intrigued enough by the 30-year-old’s unicorn-like skill set, they may be willing to take a gamble that has a legitimate chance of backfiring.
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