A High-Upside Magic Free Agent LA Should Target

Your 3-2 Los Angeles Lakers currently have some personnel matters to sort out. But in looking ahead to next year, 

On Monday, we took a look at three great trade candidates for LA to potentially poach from the Magic ahead of their first meeting, an eventual 106-103 win. 

Today, I've got a sorta-maybe-future-free agent who's worth a look, assuming he does actually reach free agency this summer or, heck, even before that: reserve power forward Jonathan Isaac.

The oft-injured big man's current contract is only partially guaranteed because he missed the entire 2021-22 season. Only $7.6 million of Isaac's current agreement this season is guaranteed. Should Orlando want to hold onto Isaac, his contract will become fully guaranteed, to the tune of $17.4 million, on January 10th. 

Let's assume for the sake of this column that the Magic opt to cut him loose prior to that January 10th deadline. Los Angeles could either sign him right then and there, or another club could ink him to a rest-of-season deal, which feels quite possible, given that he has already missed two straight seasons (2020-21 and 2021-22) and played just 11 contests last year while recovering from a lingering ACL injury. 

Although the 6'11" big man no longer has the same upside that made him a highly-coveted lottery pick, Isaac remains a really intriguing defender, and his injury history almost guarantees that his next deal will be pretty limited, or at least will be loaded with availability-aligned incentives. He'd be worth a flyer, much like what LA did this year in inking Christian Wood, Cam Reddish and Jaxson Hayes to minimum deals (so far, Wood and Reddish are looking decent, Hayes only in spurts).

The Lakers' frontcourt is crowded enough this season, to the point where it might be a little too crowded. When everyone returns (Rui Hachimura and Jarred Vanderbilt are both hurt), someone is going to be unhappy with their minutes allocation. A trade to consolidate that tally could make sense, and adding a hypothetically released Isaac could be a solid backup option.

Prior to his ACL tear, Isaac averaged 11.9 points on .470/.340/.779 shooting splits, 6.8 rebounds, 2.3 blocks, 1.6 steals and 1.4 assists per game in the 2019-20 season. This season, in just 11.5 minutes per, he's averaging a considerably more pedestrian 4.3 points on 40% field goal shooting, three rebounds, 1.3 blocks, 0.8 steals and 0.5 dimes. His performance against LA wasn't really his best work this season. Isaac exclusively shot triples, going 1-for-3 from long range. He also chipped in three rebounds and one steal. 

But it's not about the raw numbers, darn it, it's about what he can give LA defensively, essentially as a Hayes replacement on a minimum deal. 

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