To some, it may seem like the Los Angeles Lakers should hang up a banner that says “Mission Accomplished” for the summer of 2024.
After all, they hired JJ Redick as their new head coach and drafted Bronny James, the son of a certain LeBron, which was what most Lakers fans seemed to care about most.
(They should be much more excited about Dalton Knecht, who the Lakers took 17th overall in the NBA Draft, but that’s a story for a different day.)
The mission, however, is not fully accomplished, even after both James signed new contracts, with LeBron reportedly agreeing to a two-season, $104 million deal and Bronny signing for $7.9 million. in four years.
As it stands, the Lakers roster remains unfinished, or at least uncalibrated, with the team approaching second yard territory, which would further limit the maneuverability of their transactions moving forward.
So let’s take a look at their situation.
It was reported by Adrian Wojnarowski that LeBron might be willing to accept US$1 million less in salary for the Lakers to avoid going beyond the second apron.
As it is currently constructed, the Lakers have no cap hit, meaning they could, in theory, get past the second apron by re-signing their own players.
That’s not their plan, however.
Because they are not limited, the Lakers still have a bullet in the chamber to upgrade their roster and will need to use it wisely.
If they add salary, they will not be able to get more money back. They are, however, allowed to take less, but it will set them back in the second yard, meaning they cannot exceed it for any reason.
This brings D’Angelo Russell, Rui Hachimura, Jared Vanderbilt and Gabe Vincent to the party.
If the Lakers can consolidate some of these contracts and get back a superior player who is paid less than the combined salary the Lakers send, it will do three things:
-
They sign another key player, likely helping them in their efforts to go far in the playoffs.
-
They get hit on the second apron.
-
By getting back less pay, they provide themselves with some level of wiggle room under their now capped second apron, making the fact that they were capped inconsequential.
Sounds too good to be true, right?
Except it comes at a price.
As a hypothetical, let’s say the Lakers focus on Brooklyn’s Cam Johnson, who is making $23.6 million this year.
They offer the Nets Russell and Vanderbilt, sending $29.4 million, and take back Johnson and Noah Clowney, for a combined total of $26.8 million.
Due to how little wiggle room the Lakers have, and knowing that this is essentially the only way to upgrade their roster, Brooklyn – and other teams the Lakers engage in trade talks with – would unquestionably try to squeeze them for as many as possible. of draft selections, both to align commercial value, but also to take advantage of the situation.
Additionally, any team that trades with the Lakers and receives back more salary than it sends will have a cap hit. This will also influence what teams would like to receive in return in a potential trade.
Then there are the teams that simply don’t want to break the luxury tax, like the Chicago Bulls, the most recent employer of DeMar DeRozan, who is from Compton and has flirted with the Lakers before.
DeRozan has never been uninteresting for the Lakers. But the path to acquiring it is, to say the least, difficult.
Even if the Lakers were able to offload enough contracts to open the non-tax MLE, DeRozan is unlikely to accept a deal that starts at around $13 million.
The Lakers could offer him a lot more money in a sign-and-trade scenario, but that would require them to send a salary that would force the Bulls to pay the luxury tax — a place they insist they won’t go.
Now, Los Angeles could try to involve a third team to absorb a significant amount of the outgoing contracts, but any team that absorbs any of Los Angeles’ deals will ask for preliminary compensation to help them out, and rightfully so. The Bulls would also seek compensation for their role in DeRozan’s departure.
It should also be noted that using the non-tax MLE, or performing the sign-and-trade above, would impose a cap on the Lakers on the first apron, rather than the second, necessitating more contract dumping.
Ultimately, this is the price the Lakers will have to pay if they want to make further upgrades, and it’s the complicated path they must take to improve.
Now the question is: Are the Lakers prepared to give up future assets to improve this season, even if they overcome the above set of challenges?
Only Rob Pelinka, Lakers vice president of basketball operations, can answer that. But they should be if they want to be competitive this season.
LeBron will turn 40 later this year. Anthony Davis is 31 years old. They were defeated in the first round of the playoffs just a few months ago, hoping to redeem themselves this season.
It’s probably fair to assume they’re not thinking long-term at this stage, knowing full well there’s an expiration date for this team.
So whoever they pick, whether it’s Johnson in Brooklyn, DeRozan in Chicago or even Jerami Grant in Portland, this summer is the time to strike, and probably before teams fill out their rosters and lean on luxury taxes or aprons.
However, attacking, as described above, requires immense creativity. The Lakers can finally get there with a few players, allowing themselves to hang the aforementioned banner. But it will be difficult.
