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The Los Angeles Lakers are using their room exception to fill out the second-to-last spot on their 15-man roster, as soon-to-be free agent guard Avery Bradley is just about set to sign with the team once he clears waivers, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN:
Once guard Avery Bradley clears waivers today, he plans to sign a two-year, $9.7M deal with the Los Angeles Lakers, his agent Bill Duffy of @BDA_Sports tells ESPN. Bradley will have a player option on the second season.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 8, 2019
Bradley got off to a rough start with the LA Clippers last season, but bounced back with the Memphis Grizzlies after being traded. Through 14 games with the Grizzlies, Bradley averaged 16.1 points on 46.3 percent shooting from the field, including 38.4 percent from behind he arc. However, those 14 games don’t exactly mean Bradley is ready to be the two-way pest he was for the Boston Celtics from 2015 to 2017.
During the first half of the regular season with the Clippers, Clippers lineups featuring Bradley allowed 109.9 points per 100 possessions, the fourth-most points allowed among anyone on the team to average at least 20 minutes per game. For context, Lakers lineups with Kyle Kuzma allowed 109.7 points per 100 possessions.
Offensively, he wasn’t much better, as highlighted by Jacob Rude of Lonzo Wire:
Offensively, woof. He was a 14th percentile offensive player with the Clippers and just bad. Like really bad. pic.twitter.com/hRHPuqk1O9
— Jacob Rude (@JacobRude) July 8, 2019
That being said, Bradley is still worth taking a look at. If he can resemble the 3-and-D player he was with the Celtics, he theoretically gives the Lakers another role player that can guard the other team’s best point guard or shooting guard. Right now, only Danny Green can be trusted to do that for Los Angeles.
Offensively, it’s hard to find a silver lining for him, but he did shoot 40.4 percent on his wide-open 3-point attempts last season. Assuming he’s not going to play a ton of minutes, he should at least be serviceable in that role.
Still, it’s hard to understand why Bradley was offered the full room exception in the first place, especially because the Lakers still don’t know what’s going to happen with Andre Iguodala, who would be a much better fit for this team. Maybe his old agent, Rob Pelinka, did him a solid, and Lakers fans are hoping Bradley returns the favor by being an impact player.
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