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With most of the free agents off the market, Los Angeles Lakers and Miami Heat, having missed out on the their two big targets, were busy picking up the pieces on Friday in order to fill up the remaining roster spots.
Here’s what transpired on Friday, day 18 of the Free Agency:
Lakers waive Kendall Marshall and resign three players
Despite an amazing second half of the season with the Los Angeles Lakers, the franchsie decided to waive off point guard Kendall Marshall. Marshall started 45 games for the purple and gold after a rash of injuries to the team’s point guards resulted in a call up for him from their D-League team.
The call up brought good fortunes to the point guard spot for the Lakers as Marshall exceeded expectations, averaging 8 points and 8.8 assists (second only to Chris Paul) in the 45 games played. The Lakers currently have Jeremy Lin, Steve Nash and Jordan Clarkson, the team’s second round pick in this year’s draft, listed in the roster for the point guard position.
Friday was a busy day for the Los Angeles-based franchise which re-signed as many as three former players from last season’s team. By re-signing Xavier Henry and Wesley Johnson, the team addressed the concern of lacking a legitimate Small Forward in the starting 5. Re-signing the two young players not only gives the team range shooting but also useful production along with the much-needed depth at the 3 spot. The team also signed Ryan Kelly. another player who was called in mid-season from their D-League team.
While the contract specifications of none of the players have been made public, reports suggest that Henry was offered a one year deal and the other two players are also expected to be offered a contract of the same duration.
Miami Heat inks two players
He has been in all of his 11 seasons with the Miami Heat, and Udonis Haslem will remain in South Beach for another two years at a salary of 5.6 million dollars. Haslem is the all-time leader in rebounds for the franchise and along with Dwyane Wade, is the only other player to appear on all of the three championships that the Heat have won in their franchise history.
''Udonis Haslem has beeen a team player, an encompassing all-purpose player that would play just about any position or role in order to win. It's been such a privilege and honor to have him with the organization and I'm so happy that he decided to come back.'' – Pat Riley, General Manger of the Miami Heat.
The Miami native opted out of his contract which would have paid him 4.6 million dollars, and just like Wade, took a paycut to give the team much needed financial flexibility. So within a week after LeBron James’ departure to Cleveland, the Heat’s roster has gone from two players to 12, with 10 of those roster spots filled with former team players from last season.
Following Haslem re-signing with the team, Miami also made official their 24th overall pick in this year’s Draft – Shabazz Napier. Napier finalised the deal with team which will see him earn 1.2 million dollars the next coming season. There was never a question about whether he would get the deal, it was always going to be the moment of signing the contract that would remain memorable.
