We’ve been saying this for a week now, we’ve reached the “hey, wait, I’m worth more than the veteran minimum” portion of the summer.
Jodie Meeks, come on down, you’re next at the podium.
Meeks, who started 50 games for the 76ers last season, is talking to the Lakers, reports the Los Angeles Times. However, his agent David Bauman isn’t sure how long the conversation will go on.
That’s a very agent thing to say. Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak has said he is only offering the veteran minimum from here on out, as the Lakers are again way over the luxury tax line.
Meeks — who shot just 40.9 percent on his way to 8.4 points a game and was generally pretty pedestrian last season — would make a nice backup guard somewhere. But this is the impact of the new CBA — teams are not paying much for backups and role players. Ideally they will pay the minimum.
The Lakers are not a likely landing spot (they have 12 guys under contract including Andrew Goudelock, they likely will add one or two more on minimum deals before camp opens). But there are not teams out there still looking to spend their mid-level exception on players. So guys like Kenyon Martin and Meeks and other guys out on the market are in for a rude awakening.