Following Kawhi Leonard’s signing with LA Clippers, Los Angeles Lakers proceeded on spending the $32 million they had in the salary cap. One of the first moves that the Lakers made in the aftermath of Leonard’s decision was resigning Rajon Rondo to a one-year deal and bringing in DeMarcus Cousins and Danny Green.
Rondo’s first season with the Lakers was marked with injuries, and he only managed to play 46 games in total in 2018/19. Still, he was quite effective when on the field, managing to average 9.2 points, 8.0 assists and 5.3 rebounds per game. He returns to Lakers on a veteran minimum deal.
Cousins might not be the third star Lakers wanted to pair with LeBron James and Anthony Davis, but he was the best that was left on the market. The 28-year-old big man wasn’t in demand this summer due to injury history concerns off-the-court behavior and jumped on the opportunity to play for championship contender hoping to rebuild his reputation. Cousins played a total of 30 regular-season games with the Golden State Warriors last season, averaging 16.3 points, 8.2 rebounds, and 3.6 assists per game.
Finally, Lakers signed Green, who is fresh off winning an NBA title with Toronto Raptors, to a two-year $30 million deal. The 32-year-old shooting guard averaged 9.0 points and 3.5 rebounds with the Raptors last season while shooting 45.5 percent from the 3-point line.
This wasn’t the end of Lakers’ action, as they also re-signed JaVale McGee, Alex Caruso and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope while adding Warriors’ guard Quinn Cook on a two-year, $6 million deal.
