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The Los Angeles Lakers are one of the most storied franchises in the history of the sport. But like any other organization, they have made their fair share of bad personnel decisions.
Attracting free agents to come to play for the Lakers and this city has never been an issue. Notably, LeBron James decided to leave his hometown Cavs to play for them. A franchise littered with history, the Lakers always have an eagerness to spend money and consistently produce a winning product on the court. However, it has come back to haunt them at times.
Here are the biggest free-agent mistakes in Lakers history:
3. Signing Timofey Mozgov
After missing out on several marquee free agents, the Lakers decided to sign Timofey Mozgov to a four-year contract worth $64 million. Fresh off of an NBA championship, Mozgov received $16 million a year to play for the Lakers.
While Mozgov was part of the Cavs’ 2015-16 championship roster, his contributions were minimal. During the Cavs’ postseason run, he averaged under six minutes per game and started zero games. Perhaps the Lakers were hoping that Mozgov could regain his form from 2014-2015 when he averaged 9.7 points per game to go along with 7.3 rebounds, and 1.2 blocks per game.
The Lakers’ general manager at the time, Mitch Kupchak, had cap space to work with and was looking to make a splash. Unfortunately for him and the Lakers, things went south quickly. Mozgov averaged 7.4 points per game, 4.9 rebounds, and 0.6 blocks per game in his only season with the Lakers.
The team finished with a 26-56 record and Kupchak was ultimately fired in 2017. We can’t blame Mozgov for the firing of Kupchak, however, it did not help Kupchak’s case that the next player on this list was also signed in the same free-agency period.