With a really important offseason in front of the Lakers, it probably shouldn’t be too much of a surprise that there were a lot of questions you guys wanted answered in our latest mailbag.
So many, in fact, that we have to split them up.
There was plenty of discussion and questions about LeBron James, his impending free agency, how much the Lakers should prioritize him and whether they’re better off without him. There were also a lot of other general questions.
To avoid turning the mailbag into a LeBron-centric
piece, we’re going to split that up into it’s own piece for Thursday. This one will be focused on the “other” questions, which involve the Lakers’ own free agents, potential centers in free agency and via trade and how the team is and could change owner Mark Walter.
So, let’s dive in!
As I thought about this question, I actually wondered if there were any that were “absolute” keepers. It’s a subjective phrase, but to me, it means you have to pay them whatever is necessary to retain them.
The only person I feel that way about would be Austin Reaves, who was taken out of the conversation. After that, would you argue that anyone else is someone the Lakers must keep?
With LeBron, there is a price point that certainly will determine how much the Lakers want to re-sign him. Rui Hachimura feels like the next most important free agent, but there is a price point where it would feel too rich to retain him.
After that, I’m not sure you would quantify any of the other free agents as “absolute” keepers. Luke Kennard was valuable during the regular season and the first round of the playoffs, but also tailed off offensively as the postseason progressed and was targeted often by the Thunder.
Marcus Smart and Deandre Ayton could be free agents, but I doubt anyone views Ayton as an “absolute” keeper. Smart could be on that list, but if a team comes in with an offer around $10 million annually, does it make sense for the Lakers to retain him?
The good news for the Lakers in all this is that not many teams have cap space. They won’t be able to outspend LA unless they devote their mid-level exceptions to these players. The Lakers are in a good place in this regard.
Let’s take this one at a time.
A center rotation of Mitchell Robinson and Robert Williams III would be incredible…for the seven games they are healthy together. Both are set for free agency this summer, so they would be attainable. But both have big injury concerns.
Robinson has played 59, 31, 17 and 60 games in the last four seasons. Time Lord has played 35, 6, 20 and 59 games in his last four seasons. I don’t want to be the team buying high on them having a rare healthy season.
Now, let’s look at the wings. I’m not going to rank them, but I have been making a list of players to take a look at before free agency. Here’s a look at that (non-extensive) list right now:
Peyton Watson, Herb Jones, Lu Dort, Tari Eason, Trey Murphy III, Lu Dort, Sadiq Bey, Kelly Oubre, Derrick Jones Jr., Andrew Wiggins
Lastly, the Giannis Antetokoumpo superteam route. In a scenario where they somehow have acquired Giannis, convinced LeBron to sign for the minimum and retained Austin, they would have a fantastic core…and little else.
Giannis would eat up all of the Lakers’ cap room. You’re going to have to build the roster with the exceptions they would have and veteran’s minimum deals. It’s a path the Lakers were forced down during the Russell Westbrook days with mixed results.
But, having said that, you’d be hard-pressed to find a quartet better than those four.
I think there’s a nuanced conversation to be had about Rob Pelinka and his role with the team. It’s something I plan on diving into more in-depth at some point. But the gist of it is that I always felt that he was going to get this summer to make moves, but he’ll be heavily judged on them.
In short, this is a make-or-break summer.
You don’t spend years building up this summer with talks about optionality and draft picks and flexibility and then be allowed to miss on it. He has to get things right this summer or he should lose his job.
Now, if you’re looking for some optimism on if he can do that, take a look at the last calendar year. Starting with the draft and buying up to select Adou Thiero through free agency and the trade deadline, Pelinka has hit on basically every move.
I’m not trying to write away his misses, because they’ve been big and set the team back years. Watching Alex Caruso still hurts. But is it possible those were mistakes he learned from?
For the sake of the team this summer, it’s best to hope so.
Well, I can’t give you a complete breakdown in this short time, but we do have plans for our very own Bryan Toporek to detail some things in the coming weeks.
I would also direct you to the top of our page, under “Sections.” If you click “Salary Cap Info,” it will take you to our salary page, which is updated throughout the season. It will also show you the breakdown from our friends at Salary Swish.
There hasn’t been any talk about changes to the G League team outside of the move to Coachella Valley. While there was some discussion about the negatives that would come with the move, including not having the G League team in-house anymore, it will allow the Lakers to reallocate some of the space in the UCLA Health Training Center with new medical and recovery labs.
Circling back to the G League side, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the coaching staff and front office expanded to some degree. It’s one of the ways the team can flex their financial muscle outside of the salary cap and finding those diamonds in the rough is already a Lakers specialty even before Walter took over.
You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude or on Bluesky at @jacobrude.bsky.social.
