Player options, team options and Free Agents, oh my!

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.