News broke last week that LeBron James will be sidelined for at least 3-4 weeks due to sciatica on his right side (aka, DNP-Old). The Lakers do have one open roster spot, but help won’t be on the way anytime soon.
After splitting the non-taxpayer mid-level exception between Deandre Ayton ($8.1 million) and Jake LaRavia ($6.0 million), the Lakers are now hard-capped at the $195.9 million first apron. They are not allowed to cross that salary threshold at any point between now and June 30, 2026.
With
the 14 players whom they already have on standard contracts, the Lakers are currently at $194.8 million in total salary. That leaves them only $1.1 million below the first apron. A veteran-minimum contract is roughly $2.3 million at the moment. You don’t need an advanced math degree to recognize the problem there.
Luckily, the value of rest-of-season minimum contracts begins to prorate once the regular season begins. Since there are 174 days in the regular season this year, it will drop by roughly $13,200 per day (1/174 of the value of the full $2.3 million contract). The Lakers will need it to fall by nearly $1.2 million before they have enough space under the first apron to sign someone and stay under the hard cap.
How long will that take, exactly? Divide the value that it needs to decline ($1,172,077) by the value of the daily proration ($13,197) and you get 88.81, which would round up to 89 for these purposes. Unless the Lakers shed salary between now and then, they won’t be able to fill their 15th roster spot with a minimum contract until Jan. 17 at the earliest.
That’s not an ideal position to be in when James is already projected to miss the start of the season. Two of their 13 other players under standard contract are Bronny James and Adou Thiero, their second-round picks from the past two drafts. Fortunately, the offseason additions of Ayton, LaRavia and Marcus Smart could go a long way toward helping the Lakers hold the fort until James’ return. (Svelte Luka could, too.)
James’ absence could be a chance for the Lakers to get their two-way players some run as well. Nick Smith Jr. was a late first-round pick two years ago, so it’s worth seeing what they have in him. If he pops, they could use that open roster spot to convert him to from a two-way contract to a standard deal later in the year. The same goes for Christian Koloko, who showed some promising flashes last season.
James’ absence isn’t necessarily an early-season death sentence for the Lakers, but it will have some major trickle-down effects on the rest of the rotation. Anyone who’s clamoring for some external reinforcements to help them stay afloat until his return shouldn’t get their hopes up, though. Barring a larger shakeup, the hard cap makes that impossible for the time being.
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