Lakers Rumors: Spencer Dinwiddie, Gary Trent Jr. Linked After LeBron James Pay Cut

Mike Chiari@@mikechiariFeatured Columnist IVJuly 7, 2024

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The Los Angeles Lakers reportedly have a couple of free agents on their radar in the wake of LeBron James recently signing a contract to return to the team.

According to Jovan Buha and Shams Charania of The Athletic, the Lakers are interested in guards Gary Trent Jr. and Spencer Dinwiddie provided they are able to clear enough space to gain usage of their taxpayer midlevel exception.

As noted by Buha and Charania, James took around a $3 million pay cut with his two-year, $101.35 million contract, which helped the Lakers stay below the second luxury tax apron.

While retaining James was huge for the Lakers, the organization hasn’t done much of anything else in free agency thus far.

ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that L.A. made a strong bid for longtime Golden State Warriors sharpshooter Klay Thompson, however, he signed a three-year, $50 million deal with the Dallas Mavericks instead.

That means unless the Lakers are able to pull off a trade, they won’t be bringing in a third superstar to play alongside James and Anthony Davis next season.

Because of that, the Lakers have apparently turned their attention to two of the best depth pieces remaining on the open market.

Trent, 25, spent parts of the past four seasons with the Toronto Raptors after playing parts of three seasons for the Portland Trail Blazers.

He is a strong shooter, having averaged 2.5 three-pointers made or better in each of the past four seasons, plus he is a 38.6 percent three-point shooter for his career.

Trent’s numbers dipped a bit last season after averaging 18.3 points per game in 2021-22 and 17.4 points per game the following season, but he still put up 13.7 points, 2.6 rebounds, 2.5 three-pointers made, 1.7 assists and 1.1 steals per contest in 2023-24.

The 31-year-old Dinwiddie most recently played for the Lakers, signing a deal with the team during the 2023-24 season after the Raptors waived him following a trade.

Dinwiddie never quite carved out a significant role for himself in Los Angeles, though, as he averaged just 6.8 points, 2.4 assists, 1.7 rebounds and 1.3 three-pointers made in 24.2 minutes per game over 28 contests.

He was even less of a factor during the Lakers’ first-round playoff series against the Denver Nuggets, averaging 3.0 points, 1.6 assists and 1.4 rebounds in five games.

Dinwiddie averaged 17.3 points and 6.5 assists per game in 2022-23 with the Mavs and Brooklyn Nets, though, which suggests he has plenty more to offer than he showed last season.

Neither Trent nor Dinwiddie figure to be massive difference makers, but since the Lakers are set to return largely the same roster from a team that experienced a first-round playoff exit last season, any notable addition would be welcome at this point.