Eventually, the clocks turn to 3:00 PM Pacific Time, and all back-channel conversations, predictive models, and speculation converge into action.
Teams change. Players move. Your money will be wasted. A dream roster is built. Hope will grow.
It’s hard to know exactly what will happen. Separating rumor from fact during this time can be as difficult as building a champion team. And things can change in the blink of an eye (i.e. James Harden). But we have an informed idea of how we’re going to look for the Lakers to try to build on their record in the Western Conference Finals.
The big questions are:
Will the Lakers fully use the mid-level exception? The idea started gaining momentum over the last week or so, as the team weighed its options post-draft. When the Lakers couldn’t find a contract they liked in Malik Beasley or Mo Bamba on draft night, they were operating as a team with full use of the non-taxpayer midlevel exception. That plan solidified on Thursday when the team fired Bamba before his $10.3 million deal was guaranteed and rejected a team option with Beasley next season. Those moves sent the most obvious signal that the Lakers would likely use the MLE and impose a hard cap of $172 million.
With this $12.4 million exception, the Lakers could land an influential free agent at the table. Milwaukee’s Brook Lopez, Denver’s Bruce Brown and Golden State’s Donte DiVincenso are all possible teams with mid-level exceptions.
Another option for the Lakers is to split that $12.4 million into Dennis Schroder, George Niang, Jevon Carter, Eric Gordon, Taurean Prince, Joe Ingles, Yuta Watanabe, Trey Lyles and Seth. It would target a large group of players, including curry.
Schroeder, the only pending free agent from the Lakers on this list, is expected to draw strong interest after becoming one of the NBA’s biggest bargains last season. Reuniting with Billy Donovan in Chicago is one of the things that could keep him from returning to the Lakers.
But to answer your question, yes, that intermediate level seems to be used.
Will any team let the Lakers test Austin Reeves or Rui Hachimura? You don’t have to be so cynical to see why the Lakers are so enthusiastic about it. Reeves and Hachimura. On the one hand, Reeves became the Lakers’ third-best player in his first postseason streak, and Hachimura took center stage in the playoffs. On the other hand, the Lakers could have kept both markets in check by telling everyone they were willing to accept an offer put to one of them as a restricted free agent.
The big mystery is Reeves, who will play for Team USA this summer. Reeves has probably graduated completely from the underdog narrative to become an NBA starter. His value is definitely higher than the roughly $52 million the Lakers can offer in four years (a three-year deal with player options could end up here). But due to restricted free agency rules, another team would have to come up with an offer for Reeves to grab more wins.
Houston has long been rumored to be interested in Reeves, and with Harden heading for a trade, perhaps the Rockets will try the Lakers. San Antonio is a more frequent destination as the Spurs begin building teams around No. 1 pick Victor Wenbanyama.
The message so far has been that these teams should consider the downsides of signing Reeves on an offer sheet they know the Lakers will match, in addition to their assessment of Reeves. Despite Reeves playing in his second season in the NBA, it’s highly murky whether such an offer will materialize.
What are your reasons for keeping D’Angelo Russell? Russell’s free agency is certainly stranger than Reeves’ or Hachimura’s, with the 27-year-old guard having two results after his second stint with the Lakers. For one, he helped lead the team to the Western Conference Finals. Second, he barely answered some of the biggest questions about himself.
His durability was a concern in the locker room, especially since Schröder has played through multiple ankle injuries. He had a lot of high notes in the Lakers’ playoffs, but a lot of low notes and was eventually sidelined for Game 4 against Denver.
But what exactly are the alternatives? For both?
“When I see [point guard] Class,” one Eastern Conference executive said in a text message, “It’s totally—”
There’s probably no other team that wants Russell as ambitious as the Lakers, and they probably don’t have a point guard on the market that produces shots and plays. And if the market is soft against Russell on Thursday afternoon, the Lakers could probably get a good deal.
It’s not the most romantic love story of all time, but it’s also practical and has a place in society.
The Lakers crushed it on the minimum market last year. Will they be able to do it again? It’s going to be a big deal. The Phoenix Suns will make sure of that.
Given their limited flexibility after being traded to Bradley Beal, they will fill their roster with a lot of bare bones players. The Suns are proposing a sizable invitation to play one season as a candidate, get plenty of opportunities and live somewhere warm.
Bradley Beal will wear a Phoenix Suns uniform next season.
(Related media outlets)
As for the Lakers, Tristan Thompson, Wenen Gabriel and Troy Brown are possible return candidates. The team could be eyeing former LeBron James teammate Kevin Love. (Wow, is this really the first time we’ve mentioned James? FYI, no one expects him to retire.)
Kam Reddish, whom the Lakers fired before the trade deadline last year, is also likely a target. Of course, with the Lakers getting lucky and someone on the top list seeing their market dried up, LA might get a bargain similar to Schroder’s a year ago.
But replicating success on the cheapest free agency deal in the NBA is pretty hard.
But what about in the West? The Lakers have done a good job of presenting a less responsive plan to their Western rivals.
The Lakers, who have just struggled all season with an unbalanced roster thanks to three big deals, are blindly trying to catch up with the Suns, catch up with the Nuggets, or keep pace with a potential future home team. I’m not chasing stars. James Harden, Clippers.
Despite the sirens blaring every time an All-NBA type player hits the market, the team and vice president and general manager of basketball operations Rob Pelinka seem to be united on this front. So far they have resisted. For reasons of the past and an awareness of how little we have to offer.
Pelinka said the Lakers are targeting players who can thrive in Durbin Hamm’s system. That means you can expect the Lakers to focus on defenders and shooters (ideally both) when reviewing last season’s roster, which was full of players who succeeded with Hamm’s system.
The Lakers haven’t made headlines this summer, but that doesn’t matter. A commitment to improvement, even if modest, seems to be the driving force behind them.
Staff writer Broderick Turner contributed to this report.
