After eight years, LeBron James’ time with the Los Angeles Lakers is officially over. He informed the Lakers on Tuesday that he’ll be moving on and signing with another team once he becomes a free agent.
That means the Lakers’ cap-space plan is now full steam ahead.
Barring a last-second change of heart, James’ departure will wipe his $57.75 million cap hold off their books, freeing the Lakers up to open as much as $52 million in cap space. Granted, getting to that number would require them to renounce
their rights to Rui Hachimura, Luke Kennard and the rest of their free agents. That doesn’t seem likely, at least for now.
Still, James was the first domino that needed to fall for the Lakers this offseason. Now that they know that he isn’t returning — and didn’t have to wait until August to find out — they can proceed accordingly with the rest of their free-agency plans.
A-list center incoming?
In mid-June, Dave McMenamin of ESPN reported that Luka Dončić had been in “constant communication” with the Lakers and made “one roster preference clear” to them: an “A-list center.”
Detroit Pistons center Jalen Duren and Utah Jazz center Walker Kessler both appear to be on the Lakers’ radar. And both may actually be gettable.
On Monday, Sam Amick of The Athletic reported that Duren has a call with the Lakers scheduled once free agency officially begins. Amick and others have reported that there’s a wide gulf in negotiations between Duren and the Pistons and that he’s open to explore sign-and-trade possibilities.
The Sacramento Kings are preparing to offer Domantas Sabonis in exchange for Duren, according to Amick, although McMenamin reported that Detroit “thus far is uninterested in pursuing a sign-and-trade” with Duren. Would the Pistons change that stance if the Lakers were a real threat to sign Duren outright, leaving them empty-handed?
Meanwhile, Kessler is planning to meet with three teams on Tuesday, according to Marc Stein and Jake Fischer of The Stein Line, and the Lakers are “strongly believed to be one of those three teams.” Tim MacMahon of ESPN reported in mid-June that the Jazz offered Kessler a five-year deal worth roughly $140 million, but Kessler wanted more.
If the salary cap lands at exactly $165 million, the Lakers can offer either Duren or Kessler a four-year, $177.4 million max contract beginning at $41.25 million. That would wipe out most of their cap space — and likely cost them a shot at re-signing Hachimura — but they still could have upward of $10 million in spending power, plus the $9.4 million room mid-level exception.
James’ departure does free up the Lakers to seriously pursue Duren, Kessler or any other up-and-coming big man on the free-agent market. However, they’ll need to be mindful of how those players fit into their larger cap-space puzzle.
Why July 6 matters for the Lakers
While free agents can agree to contracts with new teams as early as 6 p.m. ET Tuesday, few of those deals will become official until after the moratorium lifts on July 6. Restricted free agents can’t even officially sign offer sheets until then.
Having a few days to work out the finances of their moves could benefit the Lakers. Once they find out how much it’d cost them to land Duren, Kessler or another big man (whether via free agency or trade), they’d have some time to figure out the sequence of their ensuing moves.
For instance, Hachimura has a $27.4 million cap hold. If the Lakers plan to bring him back, they’ll likely need to officially sign him to his new deal first — which figures to start below that number — before doing anything else.
Even though Austin Reaves has already agreed to a four-year, $185 million max contract, he’ll be the last official move that the Lakers make. Until they officially sign him to that deal, he’ll be on their books for his $20.9 million cap hold instead of his new $41.25 million salary, which is what enables them to open $50-plus million in cap space this offseason.
The Lakers also don’t have to renounce their rights to LeBron right when free agency begins. In fact, they shouldn’t. If he’s interested in rejoining the Cleveland Cavaliers, a sign-and-trade involving Jarrett Allen might be their only way to outbid the Golden State Warriors or other interested suitors.
In that scenario, the Lakers would keep LeBron’s cap hold on their books, and the sign-and-trade to Cleveland would likely be their first official move. Even after swapping LeBron for Allen, they could still have $25.4 million in spending power, although again, that would require them to renounce the rights to all of their other free agents.
Because of the cap-hold trick with Reaves’ new contract, order of operations was always going to be the key to the Lakers’ offseason. They needed to deal with James’ massive cap hold first and Reaves’ cap hold last, but what they do between those two moves remains a mystery for now.
Unless otherwise noted, all stats via NBA.com, PBPStats, Cleaning the Glass or Basketball Reference. All salary information via Spotrac and salary-cap information via RealGM.
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