Lakers are reportedly ‘frontrunners’ to land Andre Drummond in free agency

There are quite a few personal ties that might be driving Andre Drummond towards joining the Lakers in free agency.

In 2011, a year before Andre Drummond was drafted by the Detroit Pistons, he let all his Twitter followers at the time know about one of his basketball dreams:

Nearly a decade later, Drummond has an opportunity to make that dream come true. With the Cleveland Cavaliers finalizing their buyout with Drummond on Friday, he’ll clear waivers on Sunday and become a free agent, able to sign with any team that has an open roster spot. The Lakers currently have two open roster spots, and can sign any player that is bought out before April 9.

Los Angeles is also expected to be one of several teams he’ll meet with, and Brad Turner of L.A. Times says his sources see the Lakers as the favorites to land the veteran big man:

This isn’t entirely surprising. Teams around the NBA have viewed Drummond joining the Lakers as basically inevitable since before the trade deadline, and Lakers players are reportedly already putting in their recruiting pitches to him. There is always a chance he heads elsewhere — like the New York Knicks — in search of more money than the Lakers can offer, but in terms of giving him an opportunity to win a ring, play with his “close” friend Anthony Davis and fulfill his dream of being teammates with LeBron James, the Lakers are clearly his best option. There have also been reports that Drummond has already been spending his time away from the Cavaliers in Los Angeles, so he wouldn’t even have to move, if those rumors are true.

That’s probably why the Lakers are considered the frontrunner, but we’ll see if they end up in the lead once all the recruiting is done, and the race for buyout market help is completed.

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