Roy Hibbert (Photo : NBAE via Getty Images)
The Los Angeles Lakers did not make any significant change at the trade deadline, but the team is still expected to move some of their pieces via buy-out including center Roy Hibbert.
According to Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders, Hibbert is one of the tree top candidates to get a contract buy out from their team, although there is a "fairly low" chance LA waives the towering big man.
"The Lakers like the veteran center, value his leadership with the young guys and do not see him as a problem they need to solve," Kyler noted.
"Hibbert has $4.952 million left on his contract and the only way a buyout becomes plausible is if Hibbert is willing to leave a sizable chunk of that on the table and request a buyout, which sources say he has not done."
Hibbert was one of the names the Lakers reportedly intend to move before the deadline, with the player looking for a playoff team he could join. However, it seems LA plans to keep him until free agency and utilize the 7-foot-2 center as a mentor for the team's core of young players.
The Lakers' season are already confirmed doom, which shifts their focus in the summer when they have a chance to sign one of the top available free agents like Kevin Durant.
LA was not able to get as much expiring contracts before the deadline, but with Kobe Bryant coming off the books, they will have enough room to sign Durant and another top-tier player.
Lakers president and part-owner Jeanie Buss is convinced that better days are ahead of the 16-time NBA champs, insisting that the Purple and Gold is ready to become once again one of the top destinations for free agents.
"I think that what we offered (the many free agents who passed on the Lakers in recent years) didn't match where they were in their careers or what they were looking for," Jeanie said, reports Sam Amick of USA Today Sports.
"Hopefully now, our story and what we have to present will be enticing to whoever they have targeted in terms of free agency to bring here. But again, I don't make the decisions about the vision of basketball."
Acquiring Durant in July would certainly boost back the Lakers' confidence as one of the players' targeted markets in the league. However, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical via Joey McIntyre of The Big Lead, the Lakers are not the favorite to land Durant, who is expected to join a championship team and not part of a group project.
The Lakers will have a chance at LSU's Ben Simmons or Duke's Brandon Ingram in this year's NBA Rookie Draft, but it is hardly a factor for them to get someone like Durant once the market opens.
