Getty LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers, who should have an active offseason.
From jumping up to the fourth pick in the NBA Draft Lottery to being linked to nearly every big name free agent, the Los Angeles Lakers have had an eventful offseason so far. Armed with a ton of cap flexibility, exciting young pieces, and a top draft pick, the Lakers have a number of different ways in which they could take things this offseason.
From making a trade for a big name player to signing another superstar, the Lakers could look like an entirely different basketball team in just a few short months. While any blockbuster trades aren’t likely to happen until either the draft or after free agency (once recently signed players can be traded),
1. Lakers Free Agency & NBA Draft Moves for 2019: Sign Max Player & Trade For Anthony Davis
This is an interesting move for the Lakers and something that their cap flexibility thankfully gives them the ability to pull off. As things currently stand, the Lakers would need to trade nearly every player in their young core to be able to simply match salaries to make the Davis trade happen. What might be a bit more likely is to orchestrate a trade involving the fourth pick roughly a month after the draft – once the pick can be traded. This way, the Lakers might be able to save at least one of their young players to stay on board.
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However, bringing three stars together would put the Lakers almost flush against the salary cap of $109 million. LeBron is already owed $39,219,565 next season while Anthony Davis is owed $31,200,000 (including his trade kicker). Assuming they sign someone like Kyrie (eight years) as opposed to Kevin Durant (10+ years), they can save themselves a bit of money and pay the max salary of $32,700,000.
Those three salaries alone put the Lakers at $103,012,584, well actually $108,012,584 thanks to Luol Deng and just one million under the salary cap. In order to make this work, the Lakers will need to be incredibly strategic in free agency as they choose how and when to allocate their money so as to best take advantage of the few cap exceptions available.
2. Lakers Free Agency & NBA Draft Moves for 2019: Sign Max Player in Free Agency
Probably the most likely scenario is that the Lakers don’t wind up trading for Davis and instead make a splash in the free agent market. Assuming the Lakers don’t trade anyone, they’ll be heading into this offseason with $71 million accounted for (including the fourth overall pick salary). This gives the Lakers JUST enough money to sign any of the available free agents to a max contract. However, with just $38 million to spare, should they sign a player with over 10 years of experience to a max deal (a-la Kevin Durant) they would have no money to go out and address the remaining holes in the roster.
What is more likely is that they chase after someone like Kawhi Leonard, Kyrie Irving, or Jimmy Butler as all three would save them nearly five and a half million towards the cap next season as they all have eight years of experience. With this money, the Lakers could go out and land a role player before resorting to signing players to minimum deals and cap exceptions.
3. Lakers Free Agency & Draft Moves for 2019: Trade For Anthony Davis
If the Lakers strike out across the board on top tier free agents, they still stand to offer a relatively strong trade package for Davis. After the draft, the Lakers should be able to move their recently signed fourth pick along with some of the other young assets and picks in order to match Davis’ salary and bring him to LA.
While the Lakers are probably unwilling to part with ALL their assets for a single year of Anthony Davis, it would be realistic to see three out of the four in Ball, Ingram, Hart, and Kuzma be shipped off alongside some picks. The Lakers would most likely want to hold onto Brandon Ingram given the fact he has taken a major step forward.
Should Ingram have another big year alongside LeBron and Davis, the Lakers could bring him back as they hold his restricted free agency rights and can go past the salary cap to keep the homegrown talent onboard. While they would be biting a major luxury tax bullet, the Lakers are so desperate for success that they would almost certainly break the bank to keep an improved Ingram around.
4. Lakers Free Agency & Draft Moves for 2019: Trade for Established Shooting Guard
The Wizards seem to be open to the idea of shopping around Bradley Beal and the Lakers could use another scoring threat. Beal is an elite scorer at all three levels and on paper looks to be an excellent fit alongside LeBron. Beal would be a bit cheaper to acquire compared to someone like Anthony Davis and the Lakers could give up far less in terms of their future picks to get the deal done.
For this deal, they wouldn’t have to mortgage the entire core to match salary as long as they provide enough cap relief to bring the Wizards down below the cap. This could provide the Lakers with a way to potentially keep most of their young assets while giving LeBron an established second option.
5. Lakers Free Agency & Draft Moves for 2019: Extend Brandon Ingram and Sign Role Players
While the Lakers have been out looking for a secondary star for LeBron, they might actually have one under their nose. Brandon Ingram had a breakout performance after the all-star break before his season was unfortunately cut short by injury. Ingram should be back to full health next season and ready to go out and prove a point. Especially if the Lakers aren’t able to land a top-shelf free agent, they might want to consider giving Ingram his rookie contract extension early and locking him up on an affordable deal while they can.
Should Ingram ball out next season, he could cost quite a bit more money when he hits restricted free agency. Ingram’s stats are in line with all three of this past season’s MVP candidates in their third years and he has looked markedly better in each and every season. Adding in another top four draft pick to an already exciting young core makes things even more interesting for the Lakers in the long run as well.
If the Lakers go this route, would be able to adequately fill out the roster with quality shooters off the bench. Assuming Ingram takes the next step, the team could potentially contend for a title right away, especially if Golden State loses one or more of their star players this offseason.
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