NBA Rumors: Lakers reached out to Nick Young on opening night of free agency

The Los Angeles Lakers reached out to Nick Young’s representatives in the opening hours of free agency, according to Mark Medina of the Southern California News Group.

Medina’s report outlines most of the reasons it’s unlikely the Lakers will bring Young back, mainly their youth movement and the fact he’s searching for a longer term deal while the Lakers attempt to keep their “sacred” cap space for the 2018 offseason.

However, if the market for Young is drier than he and his representatives expect and he’s willing to take a one-year payday from his hometown team, the Lakers could certainly do worse in free agency. Young shot 40.4 percent on 3-pointers last year (just 0.2 percent off his career-high rate for a season), and would instantly become the most proven shooter at the NBA level on the Lakers’ roster, replacing Brook Lopez.

The fact that Lopez is the Lakers’ best shooter right now illustrates exactly why the team should be showing interest in Young if he’s willing to come back on a bigger-than-market-value one-year deal, but a lot of dominoes have to fall before that’s a real possibility.

If the Lakers can’t bring back Young, they’ll just have to look for the shooting they crave elsewhere.

All stats per NBA.com. and Basketball-Reference.com. Harrison Faigen is co-host of the Locked on Lakers podcast (subscribe here), and you can follow him on Twitter at @hmfaigen.