Los Angeles Lakers work out deals for Lou Williams and Roy Hibbert

Finally! The Los Angeles Lakers are making SOME moves in free agency, and to the surprise of some, they’re good moves!

The Purple and Gold are ready to welcome Indiana Pacers big man Roy Hibbert and Six Man of the Year Lou Williams to their roster. Per Yahoo! Sports:

The Los Angeles Lakers have reached agreement to sign free-agent guard Lou Williams to a three-year, $21 million contract, league sources told Yahoo Sports.

Williams, 28, was the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year last season after averaging a career-high 15.5 points with 2.1 assists and 1.1 steals in 80 games for the Toronto Raptors. In 10 NBA seasons with the Philadelphia 76ers,Atlanta Hawks and Raptors, Williams has averaged 11.9 points while making 34.1 percent of his 3-point attempts.

Williams’ agent Wallace Prather completed the deal with Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak on Sunday.

As constituted, Williams would join Kobe Bryant, D’Angelo Russell, Jordan Clarkson and Nick Young in the Lakers’ guard rotation.

Williams’ agreement comes one day after the Lakers negotiated a trade to acquire center Roy Hibbert from the Indiana Pacers.

And with regard to Hibbert, Adrian Wojnarowski reports:

The Indiana Pacers are finalizing terms on a trade to send center Roy Hibbert to the Los Angeles Lakers, league sources told Yahoo Sports.

Hibbert was informed on Saturday that he can expect to be moved to the Lakers once an agreement in principle is reached, league sources told Yahoo Sports. The Pacers have informed some rival teams – including those with an interest in Hibbert – that they had found a deal for him, league sources said.

The final hurdle in the deal centers on the 15 percent trade kicker that activates with Hibbert and his $15.5 million salary for the 2015-16 moving to the Lakers. Los Angeles has the salary-cap space to take on that salary and the $2.3 million trade kicker – essentially a bonus the Pacers must pay Hibbert – but Los Angeles wants to find a creative way to preserve more cap room in the deal, league sources told Yahoo Sports.

After the Lakers absorb the $2.3 million trade kicker, it will leave them with less than $5 million available under the cap to spend elsewhere in free agency. There are several possible solutions to the snag, but both sides believe they will find a resolution and the deal will be formalized when the NBA’s moratorium on player business ends on Thursday, sources said.

The Pacers will receive a future second-round pick as part of the proposed deal, sources said. Indiana has been determined to unload Hibbert’s contract and move forward with a sleeker, faster offensive style without him. Indiana reached an agreement to sign guard Monta Ellis to a four-year, $44 million contract this week. Veteran forward David West also opted out of the final year of his contract to pursue a deal with a championship contender.

The Lakers need frontcourt help after missing out on their top two free-agent targets: LaMarcus Aldridge, who agreed Saturday to sign with the San Antonio Spurs; and Greg Monroe, who accepted a maximum contract offer from the Milwaukee Bucks.

For Hibbert, the former two-time All-Star gets a chance to restart his career with the Lakers after his production dropped over the past two seasons with Indiana.

Hibbert, 28, averaged 10.6 points, 7.1 rebounds and 1.6 blocks in 76 games with the Pacers last season. Hibbert had spent all seven of his NBA seasons with the Pacers after they took him with the 17th overall pick in the 2008 draft.

1 good thing the Los Angeles Lakers did in Free Agency so far

Psych! That was an intentionally misleading headline because I realized it’s super easy to rag on the Los Angeles Lakers these days instead of praising them. Well, what exactly do they deserve praise for, with regard to free agency? NOTHING!

According to analysts on Twitter, from every major outlet imaginable, when the Lakers put all of their eggs in one basket for LaMarcus Aldridge, they completely screwed up. The meeting took place as soon as it possibly could and they barely focused on basketball issues, which should be terrifying to fans because it shows where the front office’s minds are right now, in terms of what they think is important and what they have to offer. If the Lakers had a good product on the court to offer LaMarcus, they would have spent more time talking about that. Instead, they played to their other strength: Hollywood and brand-building. Neither of which were of interest to LaMarcus. Further, Kobe Bryant was in the meeting, which should just stop happening in general. Kobe is only going to be around one more year, so he won’t affect a new player’s contract that much. And even moreso, players have made it very clear that they either don’t want to play with Kobe or don’t care either way; all of this to say that Kobe isn’t the draw the Lakers seem to think he is. Did I mention he casually showed up to the meeting in flip flops? Classy, Kobe.

Now, the meeting aside, the Lakers screwed up the rest of their Free Agent options by promoting the hashtag #LAtoLA, thereby alienating anyone else who may even want to come to play for the Lakers. Let’s say DeAndre Jordan was even considering them (he wasn’t), and sure, he’s technically already in LA because of the Clippers, but why would he want to play for a team that didn’t try as hard to recruit him?

In the end, LaMarcus signed with San Antonio, and the Lakers are left with rumors of an unsigned Robert Sacre as their big man as of now.

So, you tell me, am I being harsh, or did they do anything right so far this free agency?