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Los Angeles Lakers fans hoping for a big three in Los Angeles may be disappointed when NBA free agency starts on June 30. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that the Lakers’ cap space likely means that L.A. is out of the running for another star player and are expected to use the remaining money on multiple players.
“They needed a July 30th completion of this deal with that No. 4 pick in it to be able to have around $32 to $33 million in cap space to have enough for a max deal,” Wojnarowski reported on Sportscenter. “Right now, they are closer to $24 million and there is no A-list star that is going to take that kind of discount. Really, even any of the b-list stars [are unlikely]. Right now, it looks like they would probably want to break up that $23 to $24 million to bring in multiple players. Given how barren the rest of their roster is right now, they don’t even have a starting five, that’s probably the better route for the Lakers to go.”
Normally, a team in this situation could aim for a sign-and-trade with potential free agents but with only four players on their roster (two of which are LeBron James and Anthony Davis) that makes it very difficult to trade away the necessary pieces to make a deal work. There have been plenty of max-level players linked to the Lakers.
Kawhi Leonard, Kyrie Irving and Jimmy Butler are a few of the players Lakers fans are hoping to pair with their new dynamic duo. As Wojnarowski mentioned, it would take one of these players taking a serious discount for it to become a realistic possibility. It is important to note that the Lakers do not have any draft picks this year and currently only have four players on their roster.
Even if a player was willing to take a discount, the roster would have to be completed with minimum-contract players outside of the starting five.
Kawhi Leonard Would Have to Take Nearly an $8 to $9 Million Discount to Play for the Lakers
Based on the current projections, Leonard could earn a max salary of $32.7 million next season, per Hoops Rumors. This means Leonard would have to take about an $8 to $9 million discount to play for the Lakers next season.
We have seen a few instances where players have been willing to take a little less money to be on the team of their preference, but this number is substantially more than most All-Stars are comfortable leaving on the table. Keep in mind, this would be millions of dollars lost per year based on the contract, not just for 2019-20 season.
It would also mean the majority of the roster would be filled with players on minimum contracts. This is a less than ideal scenario for a team trying to build a contender.
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