The Los Angeles Lakers are heading into an important offseason, for a multitude of reasons, and their immediate need of significant upgrades cannot be overstated.
Let’s take a look at their situation, and how one recent development could help them add high-level talent to their organization.
LeBron basically told them it’s time to get serious
When LeBron James picked up his $52.6 million player option on Sunday, it came with a message to the Lakers, via his agent Rich Paul.
“LeBron wants to compete for a championship,” Paul told 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 understand the difficulty in winning now while preparing for the future. We do want to evaluate what’s best for LeBron at this stage in his life and career. He wants to make every season he has left count, and the Lakers understand that, are supportive and want 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.
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.
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.
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 pieces together
The Lakers are hard-capped at the second apron, meaning they can’t exceed it. They’re also currently below the first apron, by almost $20 million.
That means they have access, as currently constructed, to the full non-tax midlevel exception of $14.1 million. (As underlined on these pages before, the name of the non-tax MLE is a bad one, because you are allowed to use it even if you are a tax team. You’re just not allowed to exceed the first apron in doing so.)
The Lakers could, in theory, just sign Ayton into that exception, and they’d be fine. But the team also wants to hang on to Dorian Finney-Smith, which makes a lot of sense. If Finney-Smith, who is an unrestricted free agent, is seeking money in the range of $12-15 million per year as well, the Lakers would have a problem. They cannot, under any circumstances, sign Ayton to the full non-tax MLE, and later exceed the first apron.
So, then, perhaps there’s a compromise to be found with Ayton here.
The Lakers could make the case that they would be the best possible display window for him for next season. With James turning 41 during the season, and the Lakers most certainly wanting to optimize their flexibility for when he retires, as to build around Dončić, it might even benefit them to not fork over long-term money to Ayton to begin with.
As such, if the Lakers only use a part of the non-tax MLE to sign Ayton, such as $5 million, they can re-sign Finney-Smith using Bird rights, up to — but not exceeding — the first apron. That will basically remove any possible flexibility they have going forward, but they’ll have made an upgrade, and kept one of their main guys.
The end product would be a starting 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 team still feels a trade or two away from becoming genuinely dangerous, mostly because no one really knows what they can expect out of Vincent, Kleber and Vanderbilt in particular.
However, that could be a problem for the Trade Deadline Lakers, and not the Offseason Lakers.
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