Lakers Free Agency Rumors: Lakers still pushing to sign Rajon Rondo after landing Kentavious Caldwell-Pope

The Los Angeles Lakers finally landed a free agent after holding off for 11 days, signing Kentavious Caldwell-Pope to a one-year, $18 million deal.

Rob Pelinka and Magic Johnson aren’t done yet, wanting to find a way to sign Rajon Rondo despite committing the remainder of their open salary space to Caldwell-Pope, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.

The Lakers met with Rondo and Caldwell-Pope on Tuesday, and they managed to walk away with one of the best free agents left on the market. Landing Rondo would give them a much-needed backup for Lonzo Ball, with the Lakers’ backcourt depth standing as one of the major problem areas that needed to be addressed.

The Lakers have a $4.3 million exception that could be used to sign Rondo, who had his $13.4 million team option with the Chicago Bulls deciding to set the veteran guard free.

There’s also the possibility that the Lakers aren’t actually sure about their plans Rondo yet, which is what Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News reports:

There aren’t very many attractive options left on the free agent market, and it seems the team is exploring what kind of budget options may exist to sign Rondo to wrap things up. With the big contract out of the way, we’ll see how quickly the Lakers try to seal the deal with Rajon.