New Los Angeles Lakers guard Collin Sexton will have the ability to give his new team a lift off the bench. He is a speedy, high-motor guard who can handle the ball, facilitate, score at the rim, hit 3-pointers and create pace. He can fill a need that the Lakers have had for some time and was exacerbated when LeBron James left.
But plenty of people feel he is superfluous or even a bad signing. It may not be so much that they don’t like Sexton as a player, but they feel he isn’t needed and that the Lakers should have used his salary to bring in a two-way wing.
That is pretty much what reporter Jovan Buha said recently on the “Lakers Collective” podcast (h/t Heavy Sports).
“In a macro sense, I view this all as a successful offseason. I disagree partly with the direction they went post [Walker] Kessler. They got Kessler. That is the piece that is locked in, and you could get off of Quentin Grimes or [Sandro Mamukelashvili] or whatever in the future if you need to, and like there’s some flexibility there.
I think the [Collin] Sexton room exception contract was the mistake here. Where if you look at both Marcus Smart and Kelly Oubre are making less money on two-year deals. And for two years, I would rather take the gamble that Marcus Smart stays healthy. I think Kelly Oubre honestly might have been the most appealing because he at least gives you some of that wing size.”
Sexton, 27, signed with Los Angeles for two years and $19 million, and the second year of that contract is a player option, so it should be easy to move should the team decide to move on from him.
Obviously, his salary, which fit into that room exception Buha mentioned, could’ve been used on a two-way wing such as Kelly Oubre Jr. But L.A. needed (and still needs) both a two-way starting wing and a player who has Sexton’s skills and talents. It would’ve been impossible for the team to fill the need for a Sexton-type player by signing someone to a veteran minimum salary, and, of course, the team has very limited trade assets.
Los Angeles was 29th in bench scoring last year and 22nd in pace. Sexton should help generate significant improvements in both categories.
In the meantime, the Lakers did get an agreement from Ziaire Williams, a young 6-foot-9 wing who isn’t a very good 3-point shooter but is athletic and can defend well. They continue to be linked to Jonathan Kuminga, as well as Matisse Thybulle.
This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: Lakers insider: Signing Collin Sexton was a ‘mistake’
Reporting by Robert Marvi, LeBron Wire / LeBron Wire
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By Robert Marvi, LeBron Wire | USA TODAY Network
