Pursuing Lance Stephenson

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NBA free agency has progressed very far to this point, but there is still one name on the market that many teams are on the fence about. That guy is Lance Stephenson. Memphis decided not to pick up Stephenson's team option for next year making him an unrestricted free agent. Stephenson has not had much success since leaving Indiana in 2014. Stephenson had a miserable year with Charlotte before getting traded to the Clippers during the 2015 off-season. Stephenson did not see much playing time in L.A. averaging about 15 minutes per game in the 43 games he suited up for. Here is what makes Stephenson an attractive free agent right now. Stephenson was traded to Memphis at the trade deadline and not long after being traded all of Memphis' key players went down with injuries. This allowed Stephenson to get more playing time and be the primary ball handler. Stephenson played very well during his short stint with Memphis averaging 14.2 points, 2.8 assists, and 4.4 rebounds per game. He managed to achieve these numbers while playing only 26 minutes per game. To put in a better perspective Lance averaged 19.2 points, 3.8 assists, and 6 rebounds per 36 minutes. Those are respectable numbers in the NBA.

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The question is what team does Lance Stephenson fit on. Stephenson is good at creating for himself and others when he is on the floor so he would be a good primary ball handler for a team lacking someone that can create. Also Stephenson has not played very well coming in as a deep bench guy. He plays at his best being the sixth man or as a starter. That means teams with plenty of depth might take a look at him, but probably won't extend an offer. And finally Lance has a reputation of being a locker room problem. Now in his last two stops we didn't here much of this, but he had two very well respected coaches and many veterans around him.

With all this said Stephenson may fit in on multiple teams. His best fit would probably be Orlando or Brooklyn. Orlando just traded their primary offensive ball handler so adding Stephenson to the team would slightly make up for losing Oladipo. Plus him and coach Vogel have a good relationship that they developed when Stephenson was under him in Indiana. The only problem here is it could stunt the growth of Elfrid Payton. Payton is in position to become the leader of this team. Each play would start with him and he would be the floor general. This is great opportunity for Payton who is in his third year in the league. Bringing in Stephenson could ruin this opportunity.

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For Brooklyn, they are in bad shape right now. Brooklyn seems all over the place. They have quite a few young players now, yet they signed four veterans. I would hope they are just there for locker room presence because the Nets should be developing all their young talent. With that said, the Nets don't have a primary ball handler that can create and make things happen. The closest thing they have would be Jeremy Lin or Randy Foye. Caris Levert and Sean Kilpatrick might become players that can create their own shot, but they are still young and really have to prove it next season. So bringing in Lance Stephenson to this team could be a plus. He would get plenty of playing time and would become the number 2 option on the team behind Brook Lopez. The problem again with bringing Lance to Brooklyn is he would stunt the growth of all the young players by taking up playing time and he could also become a locker room problem. For a first year coach having a guy that is know for disrupting a locker room, it might not be the ideal situation.

That leads me to my final two teams. The Warriors and the Cavaliers. These teams will fit the same categories since they offer the same situation for Stephenson. Stephenson would go to a team that is looking to compete for a championship and would most likely replace any bench depth that these teams lost this off-season. It would be a great opportunity for Lance to grow and learn from the best. The down fall to playing on these teams is Stephenson will not play much at all. He will be there to play on nights where guys need rest or if an injury plague hits. If he can accept a back seat roll one of these two teams would be the best option for him.