Lakers predicted to upgrade from Deandre Ayton, sign $200 million All-Star center if current team doesn't extend him after breakout season
This would finally give the Lakers the center they've wanted.
Lakers predicted to upgrade from Deandre Ayton, sign $200 million All-Star center if current team doesn't extend him after breakout season originally appeared on The Sporting News . Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here . The Los Angeles Lakers have been in need of a good center for years.
Anthony Davis refused to be one, and so far Deandre Ayton has been a disappointment. However, there may be a future superstar in the making available in free agency, if the stars align. Bleacher Report’s Eric Pincus predicts that if the Detroit Pistons can’t come to an agreement with their breakout All-Star in Jalen Duren, the Lakers could snatch him up in restricted free agency.
MORE: Proposed blockbuster Knicks trade sees New York pair Jalen Brunson with $175 million two-time MVP, lose Karl Anthony-Towns in the process “Along with MVP candidate Cade Cunningham, Duren has emerged over the last two years as a true game-changer in Detroit. He's grown on both sides of the floor, especially defensively on a very stingy Pistons squad. A first-time All-Star, Duren is averaging a career high of 19.
5 points a game for the best team in the Eastern Conference by record (60-22). Duren should get a sizable raise to stay, but if the Pistons aren't willing to max him out, the Lakers have plenty of cap room for an offer sheet,” Pincus wrote. As Pincus noted, Duren averaged a career high 19.