Lakerholics

As their strategy to go big and pursue a modern starting center like Myles Turner, Kristaps Porzingis, or Naz Reid slowly implodes, the Lakers would be smart to try to steal center Brook Lopez from the Milwaukee Bucks.

Realistically, Brook Lopez may be the Lakers’ last chance to acquire a modern starting center this summer. The Pacers may be unwilling to trade Turner and Porzingis and Reid have already been traded to competitors. The Lakers believe their conference finals run ended partly due to their lack of positional size advantage against the Nuggets. Starting Lopez at center and moving James and Davis down a position would solve that.

While Lopez is 35 and injury prone, he’s also coming off what could be his career best season, shooting 37.4% from deep, blocking the 3rd most shots in the league, and finishing a close second to Jaren Jackson, Jr. for DPOY. Frankly, Brook is not only a perfect a fit for what L.A. needs at center as he can stretch the floor and protect the rim but now he may also now be the last available, affordable modern starting center left this summer.

Let’s look at what Brook Lopez’ is worth today as a free agent, whom the Lakers will be competing with to acquire him, and what the Lakers sign-and-trade deal, depth chart, and salary cap will look like post-trade.

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What Is 35-Year Old Brook Lopez’ Market Value?

Lopez just finished a 4-year $52 million contract with the Milwaukee Bucks, who are at a franchise crossroads with Mike Budenholzer being fired and both Brook Lopez and Khris Middleton hitting unrestricted free agency.

Brook averaged 15.9 points, 6.7 rebounds, 1.3 assists, 2.5 blocks, 0.5 steals in 30.4 minutes per game while shooting 53.1% from the field, 37.4% from deep, and 78.4% from the line on 11.5 shots, 4.7 threes, and 2.4 free throws. Were he 25-years old rather than 35-years old, Lopez would be worth a max salary. Regardless of age, Brook had a year for which he deserves a raise from the $13 million per year he earned in his last contract with the Bucks.

The maximum deal Brook can sign with the Bucks is $54 million over three years due to the “over-38-rule,” which prevents him from signing a deal for four years or longer since he would turn 38-years old during that contract. Right now, it’s unknown whether the Bucks are going to bring back Lopez and/or Middleton. Milwaukee knows their core is getting older and the first round exit in the playoffs could motivate the front office to get younger.

Most NBA prognosticators project 35-year old Brook Lopez’ contract value as between $40 to $60 million over three years but the Milwaukee Bucks are rumored to want to sign him to a 2-year deal for between $30 to $35 million. The Athletic’s John Hollinger’s BORD$ value for Lopez is $16,241,034 though he says: “I don’t think the money gets quite as low as this, but maybe something in the range of $55 million to $60 million over three years?”

The Los Angeles Lakers have a unique opportunity to steal Brook Lopez from the Milwaukee Bucks and other NBA teams. Brook Lopez is likely going to command a fully guaranteed 3-year contract for $50-60 million.

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Who Are Lakers’ Competition For Brook Lopez?

The NBA teams listed as free agent destinations for Brook Lopez include the Houston Rockets, Sacramento Kings, Dallas Mavericks, Atlanta Hawks, New Orleans Pelicans, Los Angeles Clippers, and Los Angeles Lakers.

The Bucks have to be considered to be the favorites to re-sign Brook Lopez and it would not be a complete surprise if they made a move before free agency to lock him up similar to what the Timberwolves did with Naz Reid. Of the other teams interested in signing Lopez in free agency, the Rockets, Spurs, Thunder, Hawks, and Kings can all create enough cap space to sign Brook Lopez in free agency this summer for 3-years and up to $60 million.

While the Lakers could make moves to pursue Lopez in free agency, it makes more sense for them to pursue a sign-and-trade for him even though that would hardcap them at $172.7 million total payroll for next season. The difference is the Lakers would have to renounce D’Angelo Russell to create the cap space to sign Brook Lopez as free agent, which would then limit the Lakers to only being able to offer Russell the $12.4 million MLE.

Bottom line, there’s going to be no shortage of NBA teams interested in signing Brook Lopez in free agency next week but the big question is how many will be willing to give 35-year old center a guaranteed 3-year deal? The fact that Brook Lopez played for and has great respect for Lakers’ head coach Darvin Ham during his years as an assistant for Mike Budenholzer on the Milwaukee Bucks could give the Lakers an edge over other teams.

Brook Lopez is likely looking at the last contract of his career so there’s always the chance he will chase the most money. In any event, the Lakers need to offer him three years and $60 million guaranteed to sign him.

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How Do Lakers Look After Brook Lopez Trade?

While the Lakers could renounce players they do not plan to keep to create cap space to sign Brook Lopez to a guaranteed 3-year $60 million free agent contract, the cleaner and smarter route would be to sign-and-trade for him.

While signing-and-trading for Lopez would hard cap the Lakers’ total team salaries at $172.3 million for next season, they would still be able to bring back the core of the roster that made it to the Western Conference Finals. James, Davis, Vanderbilt, and Christie were under contract. Lakers used Bird rights to re-sign Russell, Reaves, and Hachimura and the BAE to bring back Lonnie Walker IV. Along with Lopez, that’s a solid 9-man rotation.

Note this scenario assumes the Lakers plan to rely on the acumen of their scouting staff to fill out the roster with more less-expensive two-way and undrafted players and fewer more-expensive minimum-salary veterans. Here’s a detailed breakdown of the salary cap that shows the salary for each player next season and the total team payroll and then compares that total to the two luxury tax aprons and calculates how much the team is under.

The Lakers have a unique opportunity to approach Brook Lopez with a proposed 3-year $60 million sign-and-trade to return to Los Angeles as the team’s starting center with a special lifetime Gold Pass to Disneyland.

With the Nuggets officially crowned and the Warriors and Suns building superteams, the Lakers’ path to this season’s NBA championship is likely to be tougher and more difficult and challenging than faced last season. While the Lakers plan to bring back most of the core from their conference finals team and have pledged to upgrade the team to championship caliber. The surest and easiest way to do that is to sign-and-trade for Brook Lopez.

Signing-and-trading for Brook Lopez and adding him to the core of their conference finals team is the kind of move that should transform the Los Angeles Lakers into the favorite to win the 2023-24 NBA Championship.

While the Lakers couldn’t pull off a draft day trade to upgrade their roster, Jesse and Joey Buss and their scouting department may have found exactly what they needed in undrafted gems Colin Castleton and D’moi Hodge.

At 23 and 24-years old with five years of college basketball, Castleton and Hodge give the Lakers a gifted young center who can rebound and protect the rim and a volume 3-point shooter who’s an elite perimeter defender. Castleton’s size and rim protection and Hodge’s volume 3-point shooting and perimeter defense are exactly what the Lakers desperately needed but didn’t get from backup center Mo Bamba or shooting guard Malik Beasley.

The Lakers went into draft day hoping to leverage the #17 pick in the first round and Malik Beasley’s and Mo Bamba’s expiring contracts to upgrade their starting lineup “to put a championship-level product on the court.” While the hoped for trade never happened, Jesse and Joey were able to find a young undrafted ready-to-play rim protector to backup Anthony Davis and volume 3-point shooter and elite defender to backup Austin Reaves.

So where does that leave the Lakers as they get ready for free agency? Hood-Schifino and Lewis are now trading chips, Lakers are still focused on Turner and Hield, and Castleton and Hodge could break into rotation.

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Hood-Schifino and Lewis Are Now Trading Chips

While the Lakers could end up keeping Jalen Hood-Schifino and Maxwell Lewis, there’s a good chance one or both of them will be packaged along with Malik Beasley’s and Mo Bamba’s expiring contracts in a mega trade.

There’s some sentiment that the Lakers were trying to have their cake and eat it too by spending their 17th and 40th pick in the draft on two talented young players who are great for the future but not any help for the present. The truth is the Lakers simply picked players who not only fit their needs but were solid values they could flip. Hood-Schifino at #17 should have been a lottery pick and Lewis at #40 should have been a first round pick.

As Rob Pelinka publicly announced, the Lakers’ goal this offseason is to upgrade the team’s roster to be championship caliber. All that’s changed is the Lakers will now have two additional young players as trading chips. They can still offer either their 2029 or after June 30th their 2030 first round draft pick. Their most likely trade partners and targets are still the Pacers’ Turner and Hield and the Nets’ Royce O’Neale and Dorian Finney-Smith.

While the Lakers were disappointed not to be able to find an acceptable draft day trade to upgrade their roster, they’re still committed to trading Beasley and Bamba along with newly drafted Hood-Schifino and Lewis.

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Lakers Still Focused On Turner And Hield

The Los Angeles Lakers desperately need greater positional size and better 3-point shooting to transform themselves from a conference finals finisher to a legitimate contender to win the franchise’s 18th NBA championship.

That’s why it’s not a coincidence that the Lakers traded for Mo Bamba and Malik Beasley, signed Colin Castleton and D’moi Hodge as two-way players, or could be seeking to trade for the Pacers’ Myles Turner and Buddy Hield. Lack of front court size and efficient 3-point shooting were why the Lakers championship run failed when they ran into the Denver Nuggets. Trading for the Pacers’ Myles Turner and Buddy Hield is the logical solution.

Before the start of training camp, the Lakers backed out of a proposed Turner and Hield trade at the last minute because they were uncertain whether the trade would make them a legitimate championship contender. After the major upgrades Pelinka engineered before the trade deadline, there’s no question that adding Turner and Hield today would likely make the Lakers the preseason favorites to win their 18th NBA championship.

The Lakers goal this week and next should be to trade Mo Bamba, Malik Beasley, Jalen Hood-Schifino, Max Lewis, and their 2029 top-5 protected first round pick to the Indiana Pacers for Myles Turner and Buddy Hield.

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Castleton and Hodge Could Break Into Rotation

While they’ll start out as undrafted two-way players, Colin Castleton and D’moi Hodge will both have an opportunity to follow Austin Reaves path and earn rotation minutes and convert two-ways to standard contracts.

Colin Castleton is an undrafted 24-year old, 6′ 11″, 240 lb center with a 7′ 3″ wingspan from the University of Florida who has five years of college basketball experience and looks ready to contribute as a backup center. Colin is has a diverse skill set for a center. An elite defender, he averaged 3.0 blocks and 0.9 steals per game. He has a great handle, can go coast-to-coast with rebounds, and averaged 2.7 assists per game as a playmaker.

Like Malik Beasley and Buddy Hield, D’moi Hodge is a high volume, high percentage 3-point shooter who shot 40.1% on 7.0 3PA per game last season. What sets Hodge apart is he is also an elite perimeter defender. Last season, D’moi averaged 2.6 steals and 0.5 blocks per game. The problem the Lakers always face when they get elite shooters is whether they can play good enough defense to stay on the floor. D’moi Hodge can.

While Castleton and Hodge are older and have less upside than Hood-Schifino and Lewis, they both also have more mature games and should be ready to make a positive contribute as a rotation player this coming season.

The formula for the Lakers winning their 18th NBA title next season is to add Myles Turner and Buddy Hield to a core of LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Austin Reaves, Rui Hachimura, Lonnie Walker, and Max Christie.

The Lakers almost traded Russell Westbrook for Turner and Hield before the start of training camp last season but ultimately decided to wait until the trade deadline, which in the end looks like it was the right decision. Having made it to the conference finals, the Lakers still need more size and better shooting and defense to truly compete for an NBA championship. Ironically, what they need right now is Myles Turner and Buddy Hield.

Ultimately, the Lakers decided not to trade for Turner and Hield last summer because they did not believe adding them to the roster the team had at that point in time would have made them a championship team. Obviously, Pelinka’s trade deadline makeover changed the answer to that question. Adding Myles Turner and Buddy Hield to the conference finals team would make the Lakers favorites to win their 18th championship.

Let’s look at what a Lakers’ trade for Myles Turner and Buddy Hield might look like, why the Lakers and the Pacers would make the trade, and what the Lakers’ depth chart and salary cap would look like after the trade.

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The Turner and Hield Trade

The Lakers trade Malik Beasley, Mo Bamba, Jarred Vanderbilt, #17 pick in the 2023 NBA draft, and team’s unprotected first round pick in the 2029 draft for Myles Turner, Buddy Hield, and Indiana’s #29 pick in this draft.

The Pacers have the #7, #26, #29, #32, and #55 picks in this draft, which is more picks than they have roster spots. Their goal is to combine their #7 pick and the Lakers #17 pick to move up into the top-5 in the current draft. Because they have more picks than they’re able to use, the Pacers are willing to give the Lakers their #29 pick, which they originally received from Boston. The Lakers give up two high first rounders for one low one.

One interesting aspect of the trade is the two teams are swapping stretch centers and 3-point shooting guards. In Bamba and Beasley, the Pacers essentially receive poor man’s versions of Myles Turner and Buddy Hield. Bamba and Beasley could slide right into the rotation spots occupied by Turner and Hield. Since both are on reasonable contracts, the Pacers could also flip them before the trade deadline for younger players or picks.

While Beasley and Bamba have value as players and trading chips, it’s Jarred Vanderbilt and the Lakers’ #17 pick in this draft and their 2029 first round pick unprotected that make the trade a big win for the Pacers.

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Why the Lakers Make the Trade

While trading for Myles Turner and Buddy Hield last summer might not have made the Lakers a championship team, adding the modern two-way center and elite 3-point shooter now could make L.A. the title favorites.

Despite successfully making it to the conference finals, the Lakers need more size and better shooting and defense to be a legitimate championship contender. That’s exactly where Myles Turner and Buddy Hield come in. Turner gives the Lakers an elite modern two-way center to anchor the defense, allowing Anthony Davis to split his minutes between the 4 and 5 and giving the Lakers solid positional size advantage in the front court.

27-year old Myles Turner had a career last season, averaging 18.0 points, 7.5 rebounds, 1.4 assists, 2.3 blocks, and 0.6 steals in 29.4 minutes per game while shooting 54.8%/37.3%/78.3% on 11.8/4.0/4.5 shot attempts per game.
30-year old Buddy Hield also enjoyed an excellent last season, averaging 16.8 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 2.8 assists in 31.0 minutes per game while shooting 45.8/42.5/82.2% on 13.0/8.5/1.6 shot attempts per game.

Trading for Myles Turner and Buddy Hield dramatically improves the Lakers’ size, shooting, and defense and transforms last season’s conference finals team into a legitimate contender to win the NBA championship.

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Why the Pacers Make the Trade

It looks as if the Indiana Pacers’ refusal last summer to lower their price of two first round draft picks for Myles Turner and Buddy Hield could end up paying off big this summer as the Lakers could revisit an Indiana trade.

Despite wanting to make the playoffs, the Indiana Pacers should move on from 27-year old Myles Turner and 30-year old Buddy Hield and rebuild around 23-year old Tyrese Haliburton and 20-year old Bennedict Mathurin. The Pacers want to upgrade their roster this summer with a small or power forward with star upside and are said to be interested in packaging their #7 pick with other assets to move up and draft a specific player in the top-5.

Besides finally landing the Lakers’ 2029 unprotected first round pick they coveted last year, the Pacers could package their #7 pick with the Lakers’ #17 pick to move up for whatever player they’re targeting in the top-5. Finally, receiving a talented young defensive wing like Jarred Vanderbilt and two tradable players on expiring contracts whom they can flip at the trade deadline make this trade a big winner for the Indiana Pacers.

The Pacers rebuilding efforts will get a big boost by landing the Lakers #17 pick in this month’s draft, L.A.’s unprotected 2029 first round draft pick, and a promising young, defensive wing in 24-year old Jarred Vanderbilt.

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Lakers Roster After the Trade

The Lakers’ starting lineup after the Pacers trade includes Austin Reaves, Buddy Hield, LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Myles Turner with backups of Chris Paul, Max Christie, Lonnie Walker, Rui Hachimura, and James Nnaji.

Adding Myles Turner, Buddy Hield, and Chris Paul to the conference finals core of LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Austin Reaves, Max Christie, Rui Hachimura, and Lonnie Walker gives the Lakers an elite 9-man rotation. That rotation would enable the Lakers to have an elite rim protector on the court for 48 minutes of every game. They would be able to go jumbo-big with Turner and Davis or small-ball-on-steroids with Davis and James.

From a long-term perspective, adding two major pieces who are 27 and 30-years old and share the same championship window as Anthony Davis just continues the Lakers’ savvy efforts to become younger and more athletic.
The Lakers are betting on two more years of LeBron James as a superstar and are smartly preparing themselves to be ready to use the $50 million in cap space that will open up when James retires for another superstar.

Adding Myles Turner, Buddy Hield, and Chris Paul and two draft picks to the core six players from the Lakers’ conference finals team should give the Lakers the size, shooting, and defense to win their 18th NBA championship.

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Lakers Salary Cap After the Trade

While they’ll need to set limits to what they’ll pay free agents like Reaves, Hachimura, Walker, the Lakers’ total salaries will be under the $169 million hard cap without actually triggering any of the actions to force a hard cap.

Since the Lakers have not used their NT MLE or BAE or received a player via a sign-and-trade, they are not required to stay under the hard cap. They could easily decide to make moves, add payroll, and become a taxpayer. They could also hard cap themselves at $169 million by receiving a player via a sign-and-trade or deciding to use the $12.2 million NT MLE (Non-Taxpayer Mid Level Exception) or $4.4 million BAE (Bi-Annual Exception).

Pelinka and the Lakers front office have done a great job putting together an impressive portfolio of valuable players on tradable contracts that give them extensive ability to pounce on any opportunities that might come up. Rob should have won Executive of the Year for the masterful job he did making over the Lakers roster at the trade deadline. If he can pull off this Turner and Hield trade, he’ll finally be rewarded with next year’s award.

The bottom line is the Lakers would be in a very advantageous salary cap situation after trading for Myles Turner and Buddy Hield. The team would be championship favorites with a talented roster full of tradable assets.

The Lakers need a new point guard to replace broken D’Angelo Russell and the Hawks need to trade Dejounte Murray to fix their backcourt chemistry and avoid risk of losing him for nothing as a free agent after next season.

While the Lakers should be proud of their post-trade deadline run to the Western Conference Finals, they still face major challenges this offseason. At the heart of those problems is polarizing point guard D’Angelo Russell. There’s no question the Lakers would not have made it to the conference finals without the solid play of D’Angelo Russell. But it’s also obvious from media reports that the Lakers appear to prefer to move on from Russell.

The problem of moving on from Russell is three-fold. First, he’s a free agent who’s no longer worth what he was before the conference finals. Second, any team signing-and-trading for him would be hard capped. Third, you need to find a replacement if you decide to trade him or let him walk in free agency and the feasible options that fit on and off the court are limited, which is why keeping Russell keeps popping up as an option.

Getting the Mavs to agree to sign-and-trade Kyrie to the Lakers or agreeing to to pay VanVleet $30 million per year seem like impossible pipe dreams and those two may be the only available point guards better than Russell. Yet stories about the poor fit between Young and Murray, Dejounte’s decision to decline any extension, and the Hawks’ need to reduce payroll could be hints that the Lakers and Rich Paul are working on a solution.

The Lakers’ top priority is a point guard to take the primary scoring and playmaking workload off of LeBron James and be the team’s aggressive point-of-attack defender with size and length to harass opposing points. Dejounte Murray has the size at 6′ 5″ and length at 6′ 10″ to be the attack dog Darvin Ham and Anthony Davis need to make the Lakers’ defense the best in the league. Murray could ultimately be the Lakers’ future third star.

Let’s look at the details of the proposed trade, why the Lakers should make the trade, why the Hawks should make the trade, and whether the Lakers’ roster and depth chart after the trade are a championship caliber team.

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Proposed Lakers-Hawks Trade

In proposed trade, the Los Angeles Lakers send Malik Beasley, Mo Bamba, Max Christie, #17 pick in 2023 NBA draft, and top-5 protected 2029 first round pick to the Atlanta Hawks for Dejounte Murray and Saddiq Bey.

The trade brings the Lakers an elite young two-way starting point guard in Dejounte Murray to replace D’Angelo Russell, who struggled mightily in the conference finals and whose contract would now just be allowed to expire. The Lakers would also receive a young 3&D wing in Saddiq Bey, who would help fill a void in small forwards to backup LeBron James and help defend the bigger wing scorers that so many of the better teams in the West have.

Dejounte Murray is a 24-year old 6′ 5″ point guard with a 6′ 10″ wingspan who averaged 20.5/5.3/6.1 with 1.5 steals while shooting 46.4/34.4/83.2% in 36.4 mpg while playing shooting guard 70% of his minutes with Hawks. Playing 70% of his time at point guard with the Spurs the year before, Murray averaged 21.1/8.3/9.2 with 2.0 steals while shooting 46.2/32.7/79.4% in 34.8 mpg. That’s the Dejounte Murray the Lakers are going all-in on.

The Hawks get two vets on expiring contracts they can easily flip at the deadline, the Lakers #17 pick this year’s draft, the Lakers’ top-5 protected 2029 first round draft pick, and a promising young guard in Max Christie. Christie is poised to become a regular part of the Lakers’ rotation next season and was essentially untouchable at last year’s trade deadline. He’s clearly worth a solid first round draft pick, which is why he is included.

The beauty of the trade is it’s simplicity. For the Lakers, they upgrade the starting point guard position with a younger, better player who’s the elite point-of-attack defender with size they desperately need to be contenders. Meanwhile, the Hawks get a mulligan for the failed Dejounte Murray trade instead of overreacting and looking to trade franchise face Trae Young in the wake of the disappointing season and the firing of their head coach.

The Dejounte Murray trade is a win-win trade that gives both the Lakers and Hawks a clear and easy way to fix broken backcourts without making complicated risky moves that could backfire and stall their progress.

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Why Lakers Make The Trade

The Lakers’ top offseason priority has now become to replace D’Angelo Russell with a better starting point guard who can take over much of the primary scoring and playmaking responsibilities from LeBron James.

While there’s been online chatter about trading for Hawks’ point guard Trae Young, who like LeBron James is a Klutch Sports Group client, the better fitting target is Trae Young’s backcourt partner Dejounte Murray. While Murray has struggled playing shooting guard while Young plays point guard, his size and skillset as a legitimate 3&D player are perfect fits to play alongside Austin Reaves in the Lakers’ backcourt of the future.

That Murray is also a Klutch Sports Group client should only make the trade more feasible. Rich Paul has already let the Hawks know that Murray is not willing to sign the $25.4 million extension for which he is eligible. Instead, the 24-year old Murray plans to exercise his right to become an unrestricted free agent after the next season, hopefully looking for more than $30 million per season. Hence his availability on the trade market.

Knowing the Hawks gave up three first round picks and a pick swap to get Murray from the Spurs, the Lakers have to make sure their offer gives the Hawks enough incentive to make the trade. That’s where things get tough. The Lakers have to not only give up the #17 pick in this draft and their 2029 first round pick with top-5 protection but also promising young guard Max Christie, who looks like a sure fire bet to be part of next year’s rotation.

Trading for Murray would not only be a difference-maker that could make the Lakers early favorites to win their 18th NBA championship but also a move that raises the team’s ceiling and smooth its post-LeBron transition. Should James decide to retire when his extension ends in two years, the Lakers have been working hard to make sure the team he leaves behind will be the premiere landing spot in the league for top-10 superstars.

The opportunity to trade for a dynamic, young two-way star like Dejounte Murray who has all the tools and talent to become the franchise’s point guard of the future is one the Los Angeles Lakers cannot allow to pass by.

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Why Hawks Make The Trade

The Atlanta Hawks find themselves in difficult position as their move last summer to pair Spurs guard Dejounte Murray with their franchise point guard Trae Young now looks like a major on-court and off-court disaster.

Theoretically, the pairing of Young and Murray was supposed to provide the Hawks with a dynamic backcourt that could both score and defend. The problem is Trae and Dejounte simply do not work well together on-court. When they’re both on the court, the Hawks are only plus 1.6 points per game. When Young is on-court alone, the Hawks are plus 3.8 points but when Murray is on-court alone, Atlanta’s a minus 6.0 points per game.

The Hawks gave up three first round draft picks and a pick swap to trade for Murray last summer, expecting the investment to pay off by the team going further than a 41–41 record, 8th place finish, and first round exit. Now with the new CBA changing the rules and a new head coach in Quin Snyder taking over, the Hawks need to reduce their payroll to better match their prospects, which means probably means trading Dejounte Murray.

A Klutch Sports Group client, Dejounte Murray will be in the last year of his contract and will be looking for a significant raise in excess of $30 million per year summer after next when he becomes an unrestricted free agent. The word is Murray is not willing to sign extension with the Hawks, which means there’s a very strong possibility Atlanta will be looking to move him this summer to avoid the risk of losing him for nothing to free agency.

The Lakers’ offer of Malik Beasley, Mo Bamba, Max Christie, the #17 pick in this draft, and their top-5 protected 2029 first round pick won’t recover what they paid to trade for Murray but it will make them almost whole. Christie and the two picks are obviously the key assets that help the Hawks recover most of what they paid for Murray in the trade with the Spurs. Christie could conceivably start and step right into Murray’s minutes.

As difficult as it is to admit a mistake, the Hawks would be wise to realize trading for a point guard like Dejounte Murray to paid with a point guard like Trae Young was a mistake. Lakers trade gives them a chance to recover.

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Lakers’ 18th Championship Roster

There’s a consensus the Lakers are likely to hard cap themselves for the coming season to avoid luxury taxes and take advantages of exceptions that would enable them to sign free agents they could not sign as a taxpayer.

The above depth chart assumes the Lakers re-sign Austin Reaves and Rui Hachimura with Bird rights and Lonnie Walker IV with Early Bird rights to join returning players LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and Jarred Vanderbilt. The Lakers sign Brook Lopez with NT MLE, two veteran minimum salary players, Chris Paul from the buyout market, and James Nnaji via the #47 pick in the draft. Finally, they trade for Dejounte Murray and Saddiq Bey

That leaves the Lakers with 13 active players signed and 2 open roster spots, one for a veteran on a minimum salary and one for the $4.4 million BiAnnual Exception the Lakers can use sign a player later in the season. Critically, the Lakers were able to assemble this roster while staying under the $169 million hard cap so they could use the NT MLE and BAE. They will also be able to receive a player via a sign-and-trade at the trade deadline.

The Lakers’ starting lineup of Dejounte Murray, Austin Reaves, LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and Brook Lopez should be a dramatic upgrade. The added talent and size should unleash LeBron James and Anthony Davis. The backups are also significantly improved with a fivesome of Chris Paul Lonnie Walker, Saddiq Bey, Rui Hachimura, and James Nnaji, an 18-year old center whom the Lakers choose with the #47 pick in this year’s draft.

Besides filling and upgrading roster holes, the Lakers continue to get younger and more talented while bringing back everybody from the core of their conference finals team. The additions of Murray and Bey matter. They not only upgrade the Lakers’ starting lineup and rotation but also give Rob Pelinka an even more impressive portfolio of valuable and tradeable contracts to use to make midseason adjustments at the trade deadline.

The trade for Dejounte Murray would be the kind of unique, out-of-the-box solutions that not only completely solve the Lakers’ point guard problems but also allow them to bring back and significantly upgrade their core.

If you see Jeanie Buss wildly dancing and dropping dollars on TicToc like Ja Morant at Shotgun Willie’s, it’s because her L.A. Lakers have finally figured out how to compete for championships without having to pay luxury taxes.

If the Lakers are committed to bringing back and upgrading the core of last season’s conference finals team, the best roster building strategy to elevate the team to championship level could ironically be to hard cap themselves. Being hard capped at $169 million brings a set of advantages beyond paying zero luxury taxes. Hard capped teams can receive sign-and-trade players and have $16.6 million in exceptions to sign free agents under hard cap.

The Lakers’ ownership, front office, and coaching staffs should be proud of the team’s great finish last season and looking forward to even more this season. The Lakers still need a few roster tweaks to reach full potential.
They need to figure out what to do with D’Angelo Russell. Per Jovan Buha, the Lakers prefer to sign-and-trade him, wasive him, or re-sign him in that order. Fortunately, Pelinka did a great job giving the Lakers great options.

The Lakers also need to decide who will be the fifth starter to replace Vanderbilt. Will it be Hachimura? Or do the Lakers trade for a starting center like Turner? Both of those solutions leave LeBron defending the 3. Ideally, the best solution might be to find a legitimate 3&D small forward so James can play power forward. The only problem is every team in the league is looking for that same exact player, an O.G. Annuby clone.

Besides avoiding luxury taxes, here are four reasons why the Lakers hard capping themselves offers the most flexibility and would be the best roster building strategy to upgrade the team to championship level this summer.

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1. New CBA Favors Teams That Hard Cap

The NBA’s new CBA includes major changes designed to prevent teams like the Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Clippers from willingly paying whatever crazy and exorbitant luxury taxes it takes to win a championship.

At the heart of the change is a second luxury tax threshold set at $17.5 million above the $162 million tax line or $179.5 million. Exceed that tax threshold and a team loses its MLE and has other severe limitations. Overall, the penalties are so draconian that $179.5 million will likely become the ‘de facto’ hard cap going forward. The effect will be to even the total salaries a team can pay and further even the competitive landscape.

NBA teams who exceed a second $179 million luxury tax threshold will incur harsh competitive penalties like not being able to use their MLE, take back more salary in a trades, or sign candidates from the buyout market. The league also reduced the Taxpayer MLE to $5 million, meaning a team with salaries over the luxury tax apron will only have $5 million available to sign free agents for whom they do not have either Bird or Early Bird rights.

Overall, the new CBA was targeted directly at the rich owners of the Golden State Warriors, Los Angeles Clippers, and Brooklyn Nets who treated luxury tax penalties as just another necessary cost to win an NBA championship. Look for those teams to lose free agents and trade players under contract to make sure they get under the $179.5 million second tax threshold. Expect the Lakers to be closely looking at those teams’ free agents and rosters.

By opting to hard cap themselves, the Lakers will be able to spend a total of $16.6 million via MLE and BAE instead of just $5 million to sign their own free agents without Bird or Early Bird rights or other team’s free agents.

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2. Hard Cap Lets Lakers Bring Back Core

Despite being hard capped, the Lakers could still bring back their 9 best players from last season’s conference finals team, including James, Davis, Christie, Vanderbilt, Russell, Reaves, Hachimura, Schroder, and Walker IV.

James, Davi, Vanderbilt, and Christie had contracts while Russell, Reaves, and Hachimura were re-signed using Bird rights. Schroder was signed with MLE and Walker with BAE. Lively and Livingston were 2023 draft picks. Three open roster spots for minimum salary players brings the Lakers’ active roster to 14-players, 9 of whom were part of the team that made the conference finals and finished as one of the best 4 teams in the league.

What we’re seeing is the Lakers can build a championship contending team while being hard capped provided they pursue a two-superstar and deep roster model rather than the three-superstars model had with Westbrook. The Lakers don’t need to pay luxury taxes to bring back the core of their conference finals team. They can still bring back the 9 best players from that roster while still remaining below the $169 million NBA hard cap.

Rob Pelinka deserves kudos for the job he did in making over this roster. Not only are they near championship caliber, They’re young with real upside and they can bring most of them back despite being hard capped.

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3. Hard Cap Gives Lakers $12.2 Million MLE

But the Lakers may not want to spend their $12.2 million MLE or their $4.4 million BAE on Dennis Schroder and Lonnie Walker IV. They could waive them both and instead use the exceptions to sign other team’s free agents.

We know the Bucks may have to dramatically reduce payroll due to the new CBA, which means that the Lakers might be able to convince free agent center Brook Lopez to accept the $12.2 million NT Mid Level Exception. Lopez might love the opportunity to play again for Ham rather than a new coach in Milwaukee and reuniting in Los Angeles with the Lakers where Disneyland is just a short drive away could be a very feasible move.

Top free agents whom the Lakers might pursue with their $12.2 million non-taxpayer MLE could include Brook Lopez, Bobby Portis, Bruce Brown, Naz Reid, Kyle Kuzma, Kelly Oubre, Dillon Brooks, and Alec Burks. Alternatively, the Lakers can split the $12.2 million MLE between two players and the $4.4 million BAE between two players to upgrade the roster so that the backups for each position were not minimum salary players.

Having $16.6 million rather than $5 million in exceptions to sign their own or other teams’ free agents is a huge advantage for a team like the Lakers who usually operate over the cap and just need one or two more players. Being able to offer an unrestricted free agent from your team or another team the $12.2 million non-taxpayer MLE versus the $5.0 million taxpayer MLE is one of the major advantages of a team hard capping themselves.

The Lakers should seriously consider offering their $12.2 million non-taxpayer MLE to an impact two-way player like Brook Lopez who’s exactly what they need since the path to the championship goes through Jokic.

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4. Hard Cap Lets Lakers S&T for 3rd Star

While being hard capped would limit the Lakers to a total payroll of $169 million, it would also give them the ability to pull off a sign-and-trade for Kyrie Irving to join superstars LeBron James and Anthony Davis in L.A.

LeBron James and the Lakers’ have long coveted superstar Kyrie Irving, who will be an unrestricted free agent this summer, although there were rumors that he already has a ‘handshake’ deal to re-sign with the Mavs.
But there is a scenario where Kyrie Irving decides he has a better chance of winning an NBA championship with LeBron James in LA than with Luka Doncic in Dallas and the two teams pull off a mega double sign-and-trade.

While unlikely, here’s how it could happen. The Lakers sign Russell to a 3-year $60 million deal, exercise Beasley’s team option, and trade the two to the Mavs for Kyrie Irving, who would sign a 3-year $112.5 million contract. Kyrie gets 3 years at $37.5 million to play with LeBron. The Lakers lose Russell and Beasley in trade and waive Bamba. They also no longer have space under hard cap to use MLE and BAE to re-sign Schroder and Walker.

Despite being hard capped, the Lakers could still sign-and-trade for Irving, assuming he would accept $35 million per year, and still be able to bring back James, Davis, Reaves, Hachimura, Christie, and their two draft picks.

Major changes in the CBA, ability to bring back their core, opportunity to offer free agents the $12 million NT MLE, and ability to sign-and-trade for a superstar are the four reasons why the Lakers should hard cap themselves.

Hard capping not only would eliminate any luxury tax for this season but also start the process of reversing their current status as a repeat offender, which has suddenly become much more urgent with the tougher new CBA. There’s no question Jeanie Buss and the Lakers were one of the teams in favor of the harsh new second luxury tax threshold. It should bring back sanity to team building that was undone by the Warriors and Clippers.

One of the most impressive parts of the masterful job Rob did setting the stage for the Lakers to take the next step in building a championship roster was the flexibility that the collection of players he signed gives the team. Rob has all his ducks in a row. Reaves and Hachimura are restricted free agents. Beasley, Bamba, and Vanderbilt have team options on non-guaranteed contracts. The team also has two tradable first round picks.

By hard capping, Rob has three exciting options available to him. He can bring back everybody from last year’s team including Dennis Schroder and Lonnie Walker by using the $12.2 million MLE and the $4.4 million BAE.
Or Rob can use those exceptions for other team’s free agents. The MLE might be enough to sign free agent center Brook Lopez. Or the Lakers can go all-in and try to pull off a mega double sign-and-trade for Kyrie Irving.

Bottom line, the Lakers would be smart to hard cap themselves this season so they can take advantage of the new CBA rules and either bring back last season’ team, upgrade it with a star player, or trade for a third superstar.