Well, while none of us are excited that the summer for the Lakers has begun, here we are. With the beginning of the offseason for the Lakers comes questions. 3 big ones, a couple smaller ones, and a philosophical dilemma. This post assumes the following:

-That Luka Doncic won’t be asking for or granted a trade.
-That LeBron James wants to play at least one more season.
-That J.J. Reddick will remain the head coach.

It’s the NBA so, in reality, none of the above are guaranteed. Still, they feel like a fairly safe bet. For now. At this moment in time the payroll stands at $192,057,940. A hefty sum. Still, once the season officially ends we’re going to free up some major coin so let’s dive into that for now so we can better understand the ramifications of future moves.

Players whose contracts are expiring:
Markieff Morris – $3,303,771
Jaxson Hayes – $3,036,040
Cam Reddish – $2,463,946
Christian Wood – $2,463,946
Alex Len – $1,177,206
Quincy Olivari – $578,577
Armel Traore – $578,577
Christian Koloko (TW) – $578,577
Trey Jamison (TW) – $286,325
Grand total (not counting Two Ways): $13,602,063

That’s a big chunk and one could argue that the Two Way players had as much, if not more, of an impact than the vet minimum guys. These are the only players who are guaranteed to face unrestricted free agency, not with Team or Player options. We’ll get into those on down the line. On the list above Hayes is the only one I’d consider retaining/re-signing and with a Qualifying Offer of $0.00 it makes sense to at least tender him another vet minimum offer unless something vastly better comes along I think it makes sense to do so. Other options from last year’s team (Jamison, Koloko and Len) either couldn’t crack the rotation, under-whelmed, or don’t bring enough of an improvement to justify the cost. of them, Christian Koloko with a QO of $2,048,494 makes sense if Hayes moves on quickly. The Lakers should extend that QO to Koloko only if they feel there’s any kind of market for his services otherwise it’s quite likely he could be gotten back on a TW deal.

Honestly? If it’s me? I let all of them walk and pocket that $13.6 mil and try and see what other players could be had for the vet minimum that better compliment Luka. If Luka feels better with Morris on the team, fine, bring him back for the vet minimum because he’s also buddies with LeBron and has a positive impact on locker room chemistry and leadership. After that, no big loss seeing the rest of that list find employment elsewhere.

We have one player with a team option and it’s possible, although not probable, the Lakers pick it up. Jordan Goodwin at $2,349,578 could be a bargain at that price. There could also be better options that could be had for the vet minimum than him. barely played in the playoffs but Jordan was a pretty important factor down the stretch in us securing the 3 seed. Could break either way for the young man. He feels redundant with Gabe Vincent on the roster, however. We’ll keep an eye on this one because it could be a solid player retained for cheap if nothing better seems likely.

There are but two player options the Lakers must contend with after dealing with a swarm of them last season. LeBron James ($52,627,153) and Dorian Finney-Smith ($15,378,480). Let’s start with DFS. A rugged, rangy defender who can get hot from three but also has a tendency to disappear the bigger the moment (see Playoffs, NBA). My bet is he declines that option but that poses a mild financial risk…for him. His regular season impact is higher than his playoff, although his efficiency is good on both. It’s just that he takes a lot fewer shots in the playoffs and had a lot less impact even though he saw his minutes increase. That makes a bigger deal a little less likely. Being a role-player, however, I expect he’ll try and lock himself into a 3-4 deal with some guaranteed money coming his way to take him into his early 30’s. If he and the Lakers are smart they can maybe look into something like a DLO level contract. Something starting at $18 mil and scaling up every season. DFS has until 6/30/2025 to pick up or decline his option.

LeBron James and his player option will be the topic of a lot more debate. Starting with the “will James retire?!” hoopla followed by “will James take a pay cut?!?!” hoopla my honest expectation is for things to unfold about how they did last summer. LeBron will opt out, he will give Rob time to make a move or two, LeBron will sign for whatever the max amount that he can after that. This isn’t to say i expect us to go out and sign 2-3 quality players with his $52 million. Rather i expect Rob to add one quality player of Luka and LeBron’s liking and then LeBron will get something between $45 and $55 million. It would be beyond insulting to ask/expect LeBron James to play for anything less. Still, I’m sure we’ll all scroll past multiple articles and posts suggesting he do just that. Here’s my iron clad guarantee: He won’t sign for anything less than $5 million US dollars. You read it here first. My bet is it’s closer to the max than not.

With the $13,602,063 coming off the books and expected $16,236,330 in 2nd apron space that gives the Lakers some room to maneuver (roughly $29.8 mil). With guys like Brook Lopez, Clint Capella, Malcom Brogdon and of course the ever-popular trade target of the Blog, Myles Turner, coming into unrestricted free agency there are a lot of ways that money could be spent. I think it vital the Lakers retain DFS and add quality players at just about every position. The center spot takes priority but we could stand to add a guard or two. If we keep DFS I’m cool rolling into 2025-26 with DFS, Rui and Vando at the 3/4 spot. Adding Bruce Brown or Duncan Robinson wouldn’t hurt from an options point of view, though.

Eventually I’ll get into trades but this post is about things that will come to be no-matter-what. The guy hitting free agency are hitting free agency. The player options will be decided on by July 1. I’m sure we’ll start seeing plenty of “Vincent/Kleber/Vando and our three meager draft picks for ________ soon enough and, honestly, that mental exercise has always felt pretty useless to me. Most good/big trades you don’t see coming from the dredges of the internet. The professionals are too good at playing it close (see Doncic, Luka). So it will be interesting to see how that pretty decent chunk of change is used and, if a big trade happens at all, who it might be for.

LAKERS SHOULD PURSUE YOUNG CENTERI agree with you, Y. Besides what you have to give up in matching salaries and how a vet center's salary will make it harder to build a championship roster, there's the issue of matching Luka's 25-year old timeline.I still see Walker Kessler… https://t.co/ePKBbaNKIn pic.twitter.com/wQgAQT0i6J— LakerTom (@LakerTom) May 7, 2025

TYRESE HALIBURTON GAME WINNER 😳PACERS TAKE A 2-0 LEAD OVER THE CAVS 🔥pic.twitter.com/FtNEwxIPen— HOOPS HIGHLIGHTS 🎥 (@_HoopsNation) May 7, 2025

KNICKS COME BACK FROM 20 DOWN IN BOSTON 😱 pic.twitter.com/ZsVoB2omKc— ESPN (@espn) May 6, 2025

AARON GORDON 3 FOR THE WIN!!!@nuggets take Game 1 in a THRILLER 🤯 pic.twitter.com/fxV2ReRPZA— NBA (@NBA) May 6, 2025

Aloha,

I have read quite a few articles on our series loss to the TWolves and honestly, I get a bit annoyed. You read words like embarrassing and humiliating dropped. It was as if they blew us out every game. Yet the last four games came down to the wire. Luka playing with the flu in game 4 and a bad back in game 5 didn’t help. Also LeBron injuring his knee in the 5th didn’t help and evidently Austin played the series on a bad toe. Still we lost the series for the very 3 reasons I was afraid of going into the playoffs.

1. Lack of size and rim protection at center.

2. Very little bench scoring.

3. And the team still trying to figure out how to play together in such a short period of time after the Luka trade.

I never believed that we could compete for a ring this year. But I actually came away encouraged by what I saw. I believe our core of Lebron, Luka, Austin, Rui and DFS is a championship core that needs a couple of additions.

Our small ball line up is one of the best in the league. But it takes a tremendous amount of energy to play that swarming, switching defense when you don’t have a big. Being forced to play that way most of the game, wore us down and we ran out of gas in every 4th quarter.

So naturally center is at the top of the list for the team this summer. For me it doesn’t have to be a high priced star center. Go after one of them and then it will require part of the core and now you have another hole or holes to fill. The center just needs to be starter quality. He doesn’t need to be a star, because we will continue to go small because it’s effective.

As for trades, everyone would love Walter Kessler from the Jazz and I would not be surprised if Rob hasn’t already called Danny but Kessler had a break out year and I doubt Danny will give him up, at least for what we have to offer.

I look around the League and it seems like the Magic might be the most logical trading partner. They have an abundance of bigs and no shooting. We have a shooter in Dalton.

Wendell Carter Jr would be an excellent fit for the Lakers. He is a big body at 6’ 10” and 270 pounds. He rebounds well and can occasionally knock down a corner 3. He is a lob threat as well but honestly has been utilized because the Magic lack a true playmaking PG. They also have Goga Bitadze . He’s 6’ 11” 250 and great rebounder. While he is not a shooter he is a better shot blocker with 1.5 blocks a game in only 20 minutes. Either would be perfect for what we need and they wouldn’t break the bank.

LeBron is the wild card in our off season plans. LeBron said last year he was willing to take less to sign a good player. Klay was his guy but fortunately for us Klay chose Dallas. If LeBron is willing perhaps he would give up enough to sign Clint Cappella if we can’t trade for a center. Clint saw his role diminish last year because the Hawks had a young center they were grooming, but he was still good for 9.5 boards and a block in a little over 20 minutes a game. And he still catches those lobs. Clint will probably fall into MLE or even mini MLE territory. He would be enough for us.

So let’s say we can trade for a center. We could also use a wing defender that can score some. If LeBron cooperated I would go after Alexander-Walker from the TWolves. He would definitely require the full MLE. With Randle and Nazz Reed both having player options that could push them into the 2nd apron they may not be able to keep Alexander-Walker. He would be the perfect addition.

When you look at the cap situation around the League, there isn’t a lot of cap space out there. Like last year there will be bargains available for the minimum. We could have had several good players including Gary Trent Jr if we had a roster spot available. Well this year we do. And with Luka we will be a top destination for those free agents.

I feel like we are close with the players we have and we only need a couple of guys to push us over the top. The Lakers as usual will be attached to every star and mentioned in blockbuster trades. But that isn’t what we need. A few smaller moves will be enough.

AUSTIN REAVES – TRADE BAIT OR 6MOY CANDIDATE?It seems inevitable that the Lakers pair Luka Doncic with an elite oversized point-of-attack defensive guard like Dyson Daniels in a bully ball lineup with positional size advantage at every position.And Austin Reaves seems… https://t.co/ggDWlsFsPL pic.twitter.com/prH8GnSPeC— LakerTom (@LakerTom) May 5, 2025