The Lakers had been loading up on minimum salaries: Carmelo Anthony, Malik Monk, Kent Bazemore, Trevor Ariza, Wayne Ellington and Dwight Howard.
Now, Los Angeles will spend bigger – on restricted free agent Talen Horton-Tucker and newly unrestricted free agent Kendrick Nunn.
Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN:
Restricted free agent Talen Horton-Tucker has agreed to a three-year, $32M deal to stay with the Los Angeles Lakers, his agents @KlutchSports CEO Rich Paul and Lucas Newton tell ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) August 3, 2021
Shams Charania of The Athletic:
Kendrick Nunn has agreed to a two-year, $10M deal with the Lakers, his agent Adam Pensack tells @TheAthletic @Stadium.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) August 3, 2021
Nunn's deal has a player option in Year 2. He turned down more money with the Knicks and other teams to join the Lakers. https://t.co/rQbY7PI0XJ
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) August 3, 2021
I’m surprised Horton-Tucker didn’t quite get the full Early Bird Exception over three years ($33,645,780). The Lakers clearly value him.
The Heat pulled Nunn’s $4,736,102 qualifying offer. Hard-capped from the Kyle Lowry sign-and-trade, Miami preferred to use its limited additional spending power on Duncan Robinson and P.J. Tucker (mid-level exception).
Now, Nunn will get most of the taxpayer mid-level exception in Los Angeles. He’s a talented scorer who can fit onto a good defense.
Horton-Tucker and Nunn are intriguing backcourt options on a Lakers team that has suddenly built major depth (though lacks high-end role players around LeBron James, Anthony Davis and Russell Westbrook).