Los Angeles Lakers: 3 buyout candidates to consider

1. J.R. Smith

Moving on with yet another meme-type of player, it appears that J.R. Smith has emerged as the favorite to join forces with his former teammate, were the Lakers to release a member of their current squad.

Smith was a core piece of the championship roster that earned Cleveland its first championship in 52 years. He was a starter for three-and-a-half years, before ultimately being waived at the beginning of the previous season.

Unfortunately for him, his legacy has taken a significant fall and people only seem to remember him by his darkest moments.

Despite all that, Smith is a terrific scorer, a past Sixth Man of the Year award winner and currently ranks 13th in 3-pointers made in league history.

He and James share the same agent, Rich Paul of Klutch Sports. James has used this ability to his advantage to team up with players on countless occasions, the most recent one being the Anthony Davis trade.

Signing J.R. Smith would be a risky move. Perhaps the riskiest one out of the aforementioned. Regardless, we’ve seen the James-Smith combo work and that was before James’ complete transition to a point forward and league assist leader.