The Lakers have made their first splash in the 2016 free agency period. They have reached a principle agreement to Cleveland Cavaliers center, Timofey Mozgov. Details of the contract is a 4-year, $64 million deal. The contract cannot be signed until July 5, the official date when players can sign with teams.
I haven't given much thought in Mozgov being a backup plan for the Lakers' need in my Free Agency Outlook to go along the lines of my list of possible options the Lakers need to add at the center position. My fellow Lakers fans expecting a serious run at KD or DeRozan will probably lose their minds at giving Mozgov a possible $16 million per year. Again, the Lakers have to take a realistic approach and focus on surrounding the young core with quality veterans. Whiteside or Horford may be the sexier pickup, but Mozgov is not too bad either. Plus, with the cap space the Lakers have, they have to overpay some guys to get on the cap floor, but that doesn't mean I'm saying Mozgov is worth $64 million for 4 years. Could the Lakers get him for a lower deal? Absolutely. But, he fills a need and is an above average starting-caliber center. We haven't heard from him in this year's finals because he was injured. Compared to last year, he put up solid performances for the Cavs. When healthy, he provides some decent rim protection and he can be effective in "PNR" situations and expect Luke Walton to put him in many of those situations as the system is put in place. Hey, he can't be worse than Roy Hibbert or Robert Sacre (shudders).
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