Lakers Rumors: Latest Buzz Surrounding Nick Young, Mo Harkless

The Los Angeles Lakers jumped into action in the early stages of free agency when they signed Timofey Mozgov and Luol Deng to upgrade the team.

However, little buzz has surrounded the Lakers since the first couple of days. This once-glorious team has had to sit on the sidelines and watch superstars sign elsewhere. The big free agents have barely given the Lakers any thought and have not considered them in any serious manner.

New head coach Luke Walton will have his work cut out for him to turn this 17-win team in 2015-16 into a moderately respectable unit.

At this point, the biggest news may be that the Lakers are most likely going to enter the 2016-17 season without point guard Nick Young.

Better known for his nickname of Swaggy P and his relationship with Iggy Azalea, Young is scheduled to earn $11 million over the next two seasons.

While that amount seems to be minimal compared to the huge deals that many of this year's free agents are signing, Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times does not expect Young to be in a Lakers uniform by the time the team returns to training camp in the fall.

The Lakers are going to do everything they can to trade Young, but if they can't, they will likely cut him rather than bring him back.

Young averaged 7.3 points per game last season in slightly more than 19 minutes of action per night. He shot a career-low 33.9 percent from the field. 

Young didn't help himself with his reckless off-the-court behavior July 4. According to a TMZ report, Young nearly had an "artillery shell" blow up in his hand. He picked up a tube with a lit fuse and barely got rid of it prior to it exploding.

Jae C. Hong/Associated Press

The Lakers also remain in the mix for Maurice Harkless, who played last season with the Portland Trail Blazers. Harkless has been mulling his choices since the start of free agency, but he had not signed as of Wednesday morning.

According to Bresnahan and Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders, the Lakers are considering Harkless, and several other teams are also interested in his services.

Harkless, 23, is a 6'9", 215-pound small forward who has four years of NBA experience. He averaged 6.4 points and 3.6 rebounds per game last year, but he was much more involved in the postseason.

Harkless averaged 11.0 points and 5.1 rebounds per game during the playoffs and appeared to get into a good flow, as the Blazers defeated the Los Angeles Clippers before losing to the Golden State Warriors.