Los Angeles Lakers rumors: Lakers interested in JaVale McGee?

The Los Angeles Lakers have been busy. After missing out on star free agents like New York Knicks’ forward Carmelo Anthony the Lakers re-signed big man Jordan Hill and swingman Nick Young. They traded for Houston Rockets’ point guard Jeremy Lin, won the bid for the amnesty waiver claim on Chicago Bulls’ veteran power forward Carlos Boozer and signed Memphis Grizzlies’ big man Ed Davis.

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The Lakers would likely be interested in making a few more upgrades during the season.

Jabari Davis of Basketball Insiders discussed the Lakers’possible interest in Denver Nuggets’ center JaVale McGee.

"McGee is owed about $23M over the next two seasons, so it would likely be a matter of whether the Lakers were interested in paying that for a player with a very limited skill set. You’re right about Byron working well with Chandler in the past, but I wouldn’t put McGee quite in that same category. Chandler has a higher basketball IQ and definitely seems to have a greater feel for the game than McGee. I’d love to see McGee find the right fit in terms of system and coaching philosophy at some point. He has an awful lot of athleticism for a player at that size, but some of it falls squarely upon his shoulders in terms of figuring out a way to put all the pieces together."

McGee may, in fact, be available, especially if the Nuggets’ young bigs, Timofey Mozgov and the 16th-overall pick of June’s Draft, Jusuf Nurkic, are impressive. Davis, however, is right – the Lakers likely won’t want to take on McGee’s salary, but they may decide his talent is worth both the price and risk (because of inconsistency and injuries). In the end, it seems unlikely the Lakers will make a run at McGee.

McGee was limited to just five games, averaging 7.0 points, 3.4 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per game while shooting 44.7% from the field.

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