Lakers Looking to Keep Vujacic, Turiaf

Late last night Lakers General Manager Mitch Kupchak announced that the team had extended qualifying offers to restricted free agents Sasha Vujacic and Ronny Turiaf.

The Lakers are expected to remain essentially intact for next season, and Kupchak has stated previously that he expects to resign both Vujacic and Turiaf. As restricted free agents, Vujacic and Turiaf may sign an offer sheet with any other team, but the Lakers have the right to match any offer.

So far, it appears as if the Lakers are willing to pay up to $5 million a year in order to keep Sasha, who became one of the team’s best shooters off the bench, in Los Angeles. It would be wise to keep him, because he has actually developed into a very nice contributor off the bench, who has a keen grasp of the triangle offense and can play some tough defense as well. After glancing at the list of free agents available this offseason, there is not anyone out there who would be a better player for the Lakers than Sasha.

Look for Turiaf’s worth to hover around $2 million next season, which certainly makes him an affordable and viable option for the Lakers. Unlike Sasha, his skill set is much easier to replace with guys like Primoz Brezec and Francisco Ellison available this summer. However, there aren’t too many free agents who’d be willing to come to Los Angeles for much less than $2 million, and Turiaf means much more to the team than just his energy. He’s certainly a solid big off the bench, but it’d be much harder to replace his infectious energy and dancing, which has defined his Laker career to this point.