NBA

Lakers Near Final Cuts For 2016-17 Roster

The Los Angeles Lakers have a tough decision to make, as the team needs to cut its roster down to 15 players for the 2016-17 season

Entering the final week of the 2016-17 preseason, the Los Angeles Lakers have 17 players on their current roster, which means two names need to be cut within the next week. NBA teams can only carry a total of 15 players in the regular season, and LA has two more preseason games to figure out which two players will not be part of the team.

With Nick Young playing defense, making passes and hitting shots in the preseason, he exited the discussion for the final cut before the team arrived at this point. As such, the three players fighting it out for the final spot appear to be Yi Jianlian, Metta World Peace and Thomas Robinson.

World Peace is a fan favorite and a former teammate of Luke Walton, but "The Panda's Friend" has only featured for six minutes in the 2016-17 preseason. Though he has a chance at making the squad as a veteran presence in the locker room considering the 15th man on a team rarely plays in games, World Peace's chances of surviving the final cuts are slim, at best.

Yi is a marketing goldmine and a particularly strong gravitational force when it comes to attracting Chinese media. The Lakers' international brand would benefit from having Yi on the roster. If he makes the cut, Yi would be the team's third center, behind Timofey Mozgov and Tarik Black but ahead of Ivica Zubac. Working in Yi's favor is that he provides the Lakers a different look at the position and an opportunity to spread the floor offensively. Working against Yi is his defensive foot speed.

Robinson is a 25-year-old former lottery pick that impressed at the team's training camp at UC Santa Barbara and continued to impress with his hustle late in games. Hurting Robinson is that the Lakers already have two capable power forwards in Larry Nance Jr. and Julius Randle. Robinson has only averaged 8.0 minutes in his four preseson appearances, and he would be lucky to average half those number of minutes if he made the squad.

"It's going to be a very tough decision," Lakers coach Luke Walton said on Monday in reference to the final two cuts.

World Peace's lack of playing time combined with the fact that Luol Deng, Brandon Ingram and Anthony Brown are all guaranteed contracts sitting ahead of him in the rotation makes it tough to see the 36-year-old surviving the final cuts.

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Robinson may be the players' choice and a tough player to cut based on his showing at camp and in practices, but the Lakers would have a tough time finding time to utilize the forward. Ingram has occasionally featured at power forward, and the Lakers are more likely to go with smaller lineups than bigger lineups.

Off the court, Yi's trade-friendly contract gives him a slight edge over Robinson, to go along with his international marketing appeal. Also, Yi's size could see him as being an insurance policy considering Mozgov's injury history. Zubac has displayed promise, but the 19-year-old rookie does not expect to play notable minutes during the 2016-17 season.

Entering the final week of preseason, Yi appears to have the edge in the race for the Lakers' final roster spot, but it's close.

Note: Quotes courtesy of Lakers.com

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