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shortened season would not hurt Lakers as much as competitors

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There are other potential benefits to a compact season. Teams with continuity tend to perform better during the regular season, though that’s partly because good teams make fewer changes year-to-year. Even so, the advantages of continuity would theoretically be heightened when there is a shorter preseason and less time to practice throughout the year. The Lakers will probably bring back their full pre-bubble starting lineup and at least two other key rotation players. So while other teams adjust to new coaches and new teammates, the Lakers can basically run back what was successful in 2019-20. It might even be prudent to do that, given the time constraints of trying to integrate new players.

This season could also be an opportunity for James to pass the torch on to Davis. When Davis arrived from New Orleans, James said that his goal was to make Davis MVP, but the offensive load James had to assume given the team’s roster construction made that impossible. If, however, James is limited in the regular season by the shortened schedule, it could make Davis the No. 1 option on the team by default. At some point, that transition would have to happen — even if James seems like an ageless cyborg — and the special circumstances of this season could expedite that process. There’s a certain magic when NBA players turn 27, and that’s how old Davis is now.

The Lakers probably wouldn’t enjoy returning to play so soon after the physically and emotionally demanding experience of finishing the season in the bubble; Green admitted as much. A team this old, relatively speaking, needs its rest, and the Lakers will get the least of any team except for Miami due to their Finals run. Even if players start off on a high with the motivation of defending their title, that energy will dissipate, and the regular season could be a slog.

But the beauty of starting a season so soon that it essentially feels like an extension of the prior one is that the Lakers did really good work last year, and that will carry over. Usually, momentum fades away during the offseason after winning a title. There might not be enough time for that to happen this year, and that momentum could be enough of a benefit to override the other concerns of this hastened timeline.

How Lakers Roster Could Be Even Better For 2020-21 Season

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There will be bargains out there and that makes the Lakers an intriguing option for any number of players. After all, we’ve already seen what playing alongside James can do to boost a player’s value, and if they have to take a short, below-market-value deal somewhere, it might as well be in a sunny place like L.A. and with a Lakers team that can win a championship.about:blankabout:blank

Coming off of a championship, the key players will undoubtedly look for raises, but the lack of money on the market could put the Lakers in a strong position.

For example, the Golden State Warriors have been linked to Howard, and if they come in strong with an offer that the Lakers aren’t comfortable competing with, other bigs on the market include Hassan Whiteside, DeMarcus Cousins, Nerlens Noel, Marc Gasol, Aron Baynes, Serge Ibaka, Derrick Favors, Paul Millsap, and Tristan Thompson (who already has experience playing with James and is a Klutch Sports client).

The free-agent landscape is also filled with solid guard and wing players like Dario Saric, Chris Boucher, Jae Crowder, Marcus Morris, Goran Dragic, Carmelo Anthony, Jeff Teague, Kent Bazemore, Justin Holiday, Maurice Harkless, Jeff Green. The list goes on and on.

Some won’t get the offers they are hoping for, and that will provide Lakers vice president of basketball operations and general manager Rob Pelinka with the opportunity to grab even more depth.

How Lakers Can Re-Sign Their Top Free Agents and Still Upgrade Roster

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With the salary cap likely to remain flat for next season, it’s going to take creative cap management for the Lakers to re-sign all five of their core free agents and still be able to sign other free agents to upgrade their roster.

While the Lakers would like another reliable scorer, capable playmaker, elite wing defender, or stretch big, they also need to re-sign their own five top free agents to maintain their continuity and win another NBA championship. While Davis is a lock to re-sign a $32.7 million max contract, the Lakers will face a challenge re-signing Caldwell-Pope, Rondo, Morris, and Howard, all of whom will be highly coveted free agents deserving of pay raises.

Since the Lakers are over the cap but below the tax threshold, they will not have cap space to spend on free agents and will have to rely on salary cap exceptions to re-sign their own free agents plus other teams’ free agents. That means the Lakers will be forced to choose between two options with different advantages and disadvantages to sign free agents this offseason. For simplicity, we’ll call the two options the soft cap and hard cap.

If the Lakers choose the soft cap, they can use their Bird rights to re-sign AD, KCP, and Rondo and give them maximum raises but will only have $5.7 million to re-sign Morris and Howard as well as other teams’ free agents. This means the Lakers can pay AD or KCP as much as $32.7 million and Rondo as much as $10.1 million but will only have $5.7 million left to keep Morris and Howard and upgrade their roster with other free agents.

The soft cap is the conservative option since it would allow the Lakers to go over the cap to pay Davis and Caldwell-Pope whatever they need to up to $32.7 million and pay Rondo as much as $10.1 million for the next season. While the Lakers would have no problem paying AD the $32.7 million max salary, they only need to give KCP a raise to $11 million, and Rondo a raise to $6 million to pay them more than what competing teams will likely offer.

That means the Lakers should be able to limit the raises they give AD, KCP, and Rondo to $3.9 million, $2.5 million, and $3.3 million respectively for a total of $9.7 million, which is not enough to justify choosing the soft cap. More problematic is the $5.6 million taxpayer MLE is not enough to re-sign Morris and Howard and upgrade the roster with a key free agent, which means not being able to field a better team to defend their championship.

But if the Lakers choose the hard cap, they’ll have up to $12.9 million to sign Morris, Howard, and other free agents but will be limited to a hard cap limit of $138.9 million for all their player salaries, including AD, KCP, and Rondo. With $119.5 million in current salaries, the Lakers will have $19.4 million available, which by coincidence will leave $9.7 million for Morris, Howard, and other free agents after $9.7 million in raises for AD, KCP, and Rondo.

The Lakers can still make another roster move to increase the $9.7 million for Morris, Howard, and other free agents to $12.4 million by waiving and stretching the guaranteed $1 million of Quinn Cook’s $3 million contract. That will get them close to being able to utilize the full $12.9 million that is available in the form of the $9.3 million non-taxpayer MLE and the $3.6 million BAE allowable to teams who choose the hard cap option.

That $12.4 million should enable the Lakers to keep Morris and Howard in addition to AD, KCP, and Rondo as well as being able to add one or two key free agents from other teams to significantly upgrade next season’s roster. The other advantage the hard cap allows is sign-and-trades, which could enable the Lakers to pursue free agents like Fred VanVleet, Christian Wood, and Maurice Harkless who will demand higher offers than the MLE.

Unless the NBA surprises everybody and raises the salary cap, the Lakers will be forced to become hard capped if they want to re-sign their key free agents and build a better team to defend their championship next season.