The Los Angeles Lakers are heading into an important offseason, for a multitude of causes, and their quick need of vital upgrades can’t be overstated.
Let’s take a look at their scenario, and how one latest development could help them add high-level expertise to their group.
LeBron principally informed them it’s time to get critical
When LeBron James picked up his $52.6 million participant option on Sunday, it came with a message to the Lakers, via his agent Rich Paul.
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“LeBron wants to compete for a championship,” Paul informed ESPN. “He knows the Lakers are building for the future. He understands that, but he values a realistic chance of winning it all. We are very appreciative of the partnership that we’ve had for eight years with Jeanie [Buss] and Rob [Pelinka] and consider the Lakers as a critical part of his career.
“We perceive the issue in successful now while getting ready for the future. We do need to consider what’s best for LeBron at this stage in his life and profession. He needs to make every season he has left depend, and the Lakers perceive that, are supportive and need what’s best for him.”
For the uninitiated, let’s translate that into what it really means: You better make serious upgrades right now, or I’ll be calling for a trade to somewhere else where I can win a title.
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That’s why James picked up the option in the first place.
With only the Brooklyn Nets having cap space, there wouldn’t be any external team that could pay him a max-level salary, or even close to it. By picking up an option of nearly $53 million, James now gets paid, and can direct his own trade to a destination more or less of his choosing.
The 40-year-old remains an elite talent, and he’s well-aware of the fact that the clock is ticking. In recent years, James has hinted that his time in the NBA is soon coming to an end, and it should come as no surprise if he has a date in mind for when he leaves the game for good.
But, until that moment comes, he’s actively seeking a situation where he can win another championship.
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Fortunately for James, something happened late Sunday that could help the Lakers give him, and the team at large, a talent injection.
Is it time for Deandre Ayton to go to California?
The Portland Trail Blazers and center Deandre Ayton are finalizing a buyout that would make Ayton an unrestricted free agent this summer.
It’s a move that’s shocking in its headline, but entirely logical when you dig into it a bit more.
Ayton was entering the final year of his contract, and with Portland going for centers in the first round in each of their last two drafts, his future was looking increasingly uncertain.
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The 26-year-old was the top overall pick of the 2018 draft, and if he is to sign with the Lakers, he’d step in as the immediate no-nonsense starter of that team, given the team’s lack of depth at that position.
Ayton isn’t perfect. His play can be inconsistent, as can his effort, but he will give the Lakers quality rebounding (10.5 for his career), and a reliable scoring presence (16.7 points), with strong interior defense to boot.
Is he the best theoretical player to pair with James and Luka Dončić? No. But given that he could just sign outright with the organization, and thus save the team from relinquishing trade assets, is he the best option for the Lakers in their current situation? That would be a resounding yes.
Putting the items collectively
The Lakers are hard-capped at the second apron, that means they can’t exceed it. They’re also presently below the first apron, by nearly $20 million.
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That means they have access, as presently constructed, to the full non-tax midlevel exception of $14.1 million. (As underlined on these pages before, the title of the non-tax MLE is a dangerous one, because you are allowed to use it even if you are a tax workforce. You’re just not allowed to exceed the first apron in doing so.)
The Lakers could, in concept, just signal Ayton into that exception, and they’d be positive. But the workforce also needs to cling on to Dorian Finney-Smith, which makes a lot of sense. If Finney-Smith, who is an unrestricted free agent, is looking for money in the vary of $12-15 million per yr as nicely, the Lakers would have a downside. They can’t, under any circumstances, signal Ayton to the full non-tax MLE, and later exceed the first apron.
So, then, perhaps there’s a compromise to be discovered with Ayton here.
The Lakers could make the case that they would be the best doable show window for him for next season. With James turning 41 during the season, and the Lakers most actually wanting to optimize their flexibility for when he retires, as to construct around Dončić, it might even benefit them to not fork over long-term money to Ayton to start with.
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As such, if the Lakers only use a half of the non-tax MLE to signal Ayton, such as $5 million, they can re-sign Finney-Smith utilizing Bird rights, up to — but not exceeding — the first apron. That will principally take away any doable flexibility they have going ahead, but they’ll have made an improve, and saved one of their most important guys.
The finish product would be a beginning group of, presumably, Dončić, James, Ayton, Rui Hachimura and Austin Reaves, with Finney-Smith, Dalton Knecht, Gabe Vincent, Maxi Kleber and Jarred Vanderbilt in the rotation.
That workforce still feels a commerce or two away from changing into genuinely harmful, largely because no one actually knows what they can expect out of Vincent, Kleber and Vanderbilt in explicit.
However, that could be a downside for the Trade Deadline Lakers, and not the Offseason Lakers.
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