When it was reported the Lakers signed Marcelo Huertas, part of my analysis focused on my thoughts that his contract was likely to be fully guaranteed and, thus, his roster spot was basically set in stone. Well, it turns out that is not the case. Not at all, in fact:
I hear Lakers' deal with Marcelo Huertas is just a summer contract, non-guaranteed rookie minimum at $525k with limited injury protection
— Eric Pincus (@EricPincus) September 9, 2015
Huertas taking a fully non-guaranteed deal is a bit of a shocker to me. Considering he could have more than likely continued his career in Europe with guaranteed money, coming to the NBA on the equivalent of a make-good training camp invite is not something I saw coming.
This leads me to two conclusions. First, Huertas really wanted to come to the NBA this season. When he told Yahoo! Sports in April that “now is the right time”, that was clearly not him just blowing smoke. He put his money where his mouth was, putting his desires to come stateside over what were surely more fruitful guarantees overseas.
Second, Huertas likely sees himself as having a good chance to make the Lakers’ final roster. Training camp invites, much like Summer League choices, are all about finding a team where 1). adequate opportunity to play exists and 2). a path to a potential roster spot is clear enough to inspire a fair shot at making the team. The Lakers, for what it’s worth, look to offer both to Huertas.
While D’Angelo Russell is clearly the PG of the future and Jordan Clarkson played well at that spot last season, the team does not currently have a veteran signal caller who could play behind either player. Add to this Byron Scott’s affinity for veteran players and Mitch Kupchak’s on the record comments about wanting to add a veteran signal caller and Huertas’ chances only increase.
With all these variables working (at least somewhat) in his favor, Huertas is taking his chance. Now all he has to do is play well enough in camp to make the front office want to keep him around.
Robert Webb says
I hope he is a very good point guard. I think he can help the team.