There’s not too much the Los Angeles Lakers can do this offseason, but they’re hoping to somehow create a much deeper bench than before, aiming to sign Jordan Farmar or Carlos Delfino.
While both players don’t give them the same end result or answer the same need, a backup point guard and a pure shooter are both something the Lakers could make good use of. Their only problem is not being able to pay too much, which might become a problem especially with Farmar, who was making $5 million a season in Turkey last year, and still has a contract if he chooses he doesn’t like what he’s being offered in the NBA.
Delfino was waived by the Houston Rockets on their mission to clear as much cap-space as possible, but it doesn’t mean he did a bad job last season. He averaged 10.6 points on 25 minutes a night (mostly coming off the bench), shooting over 37% from beyond the arc. A huge problem last season for the Lakers was not having too much of a three-point shooting threat that doesn’t come from the point guard position (Nash & Blake had the best shooting percentage on the team).
Delfino made $3 million a season last year, and the Lakers can offer him or Farmar $3 million for three-years on the Mid-Level exception, because they did pay luxury tax last season.
Delfino, like Farmar, can probably get a better deal than that in the NBA, and possibly even Europe. For Farmar, it will be a return to the team he started out in the NBA with, winning two NBA titles as a backup point guard, but not being trusted enough or valued as good enough to become the point guard of the future for the Lakers, playing only 13 minutes per game in the playoffs during their title runs.
He averaged 10.4 points and 3.3 assists per game during half a season for the New Jersey Nets (at the time) in the shortened 2011-2012 season, and after that year returned to Europe (where he spent the lockout playing in) and signed with Anadolu Efes in Turkey, failing to win the championship in Turkey or reach the Euroleague final four.