Lakerholics

The better 23-year old shooting guard Lonnie Walker IV plays, the more Lakers fans bemoan the fact there’s a good chance the Lakers will lose their young star to free agency this summer like they lost Malik Monk last year. 

That Lonnie’s been far better than expected only adds to the pain. He’s now averaging 16.6 points, 2.4 rebounds, 1.9 assists in 31.5 minutes per game shooting 47.7% from the field, 36.3% from deep, and 84.4% from the line. Walker smartly bet on himself and signed a 1-year contract with the Lakers that will make him an unrestricted free agent next summer, when he will be looking to beat Monk’s 2-year $19.4 million contract with the Kings.

That’s where the problems begin because there’s a good chance the Lakers will lose Walker to as a free agent next summer just like they lost Monk last summer since the most they will be able to offer will be $7 million MLE. When your roster is short three or four legitimate rotation players, losing a young star like Monk or Walker, who’s even better, without compensation is a bitter pill to swallow, which is why the Lakers need a rethink what to do.

Last offseason, the Lakers let two valuable role players become free agents without any compensation. The Lakers lost Malik Monk to the Sacramento Kings and Alex Caruso to the Chicago Bulls receiving nothing in return. 
Next summer, the Lakers will face the potential loss of a player in Lonnie Walker IV who has a greater ceiling than Monk or Caruso. This time, they need to make sure to not let Lonnie walk for nothing as a free agent.

The Lakers have three options to avoid losing Lonnie to free agency for nothing. They can create cap space and re-sign him as free agent, trade him before the deadline, or sign-and-trade him this summer.

---

1. The Cap Space Option

The Lakers have already explored a scenario where they keep Russell Westbrook for the full season and allow his $47 million contract to expire, which would then give them $35 million in cap space for free agents.

Were the Lakers to utilize this option, re-signing Lonnie Walker IV as a free agent should be at the top of the team’s list of targets for their $35 million. Walker is better than Monk and could receive offers as high as $15 million. Unfortunately, not trading Westbrook for needed size and shooting would doom the current Lakers squad to a second straight year as a lottery team, with their first round draft pick this time owed to the Pelicans in a swap. 

While there are those in the Lakers front office who believe the team should not trade their two available first round picks, it’s hard to imagine the Lakers sacrificing the season for a hope and prayer next summer.
Not with LeBron soon to turn 38 and AD playing better than Bubble AD. The Lakers essentially promised James to trade the picks to get him to sign an extension. They’re not going to break their word with LeBron James.

There’s also a scenario where the Lakers keep Westbrook but trade Patrick Beverley, Kendrick Nunn, and an unprotected 2027 first round pick for an difference-making player who could give them a long shot at winning. Frankly, there’s probably little to no chance the Lakers will not trade Russ unless they’re able to convince the Pacers to trade Myles Turner, the Jazz to trade Lauri Markkanen, or the Nets trade Kyrie Irving for that package.

The Lakers would have to pull of a blockbuster one-pick trade with Beverley and Nunn in order to keep Westbrook and allow his $47 million contract to expire to create $35 million in cap space next summer.

---

2. The Trade Option

Unless they get an opportunity to upgrade their roster without trading Russ and decide to go the cap space route, the Lakers should seriously consider trading Lonnie Walker IV rather than losing him for nothing in free agency.

One of the reasons the Lakers recently pushed the deadline to decide whether to trade Westbrook and their two available first round draft picks to December 15 could have been that was when they could trade Lonnie. 
Not only will free agents that signed with other teams last summer become eligible to be traded to the Lakers on December 15, but the free agents the Lakers signed this summer, including Walker, will be eligible to be traded.

Lonnie earns $6.4 million per year. He, Beverley and Nunn earn $24.6 million and could bring back player(s) earning $19 to $30 million. Adding Russ raises total to $71.6 million and could bring back $54 to $89 million. 
Financially, including Lonnie Walker IV in any trade package enables the Lakers to make a bigger trade that could bring back more legitimate rotation players, including more shooters, playmakers, and defenders.

Strategically, Lonnie Walker IV could give the Lakers a valuable stealth trading chip that could be the difference maker in getting a Westbrook trade to elevate this team to be legitimate championship contenders. 
Being able to include an exciting 23-year old two-way young star like Lonnie with his elite athleticism and 3-level scoring ability is almost like having a third first round draft pick that’s ready to play right now.

Of course, the Lakers will have to trade Lonnie to a team who will have the cap space to re-sign him but all of the teams willing to trade for Westbrook not only are looking for picks and young talent but have lots of cap space.

---

3. The Sign-And-Trade Option

If the Lakers decide to keep Lonnie Walker IV or were unable to find an acceptable trade for him before the trade deadline, they should then work with Lonnie to find a trading partner willing to sign-and-trade for him.

Teams who receive players in sign-and-trades are automatically hard capped but not teams who send out players. Thus, the Lakers would not be hard capped if they sign-and-traded Lonnie Walker IV next summer.
Since Lonnie should be a coveted prospect and his agent is Rich Paul of Klutch Sports, the Lakers should be able to find a team willing to trade a good player or players for a budding young star with upside like Lonnie.

A sign-and-trade would prevent the Lakers from losing Lonnie Walker IV to free agency for nothing and bring back a valuable player or players who earn around $15 million per year or whatever amount Lonnie signed for. 
While the Lakers likely opted not to let Monk and Caruso go for nothing to cut their luxury tax bill, they need to get a return for Walker, who has great value in a sign-and-trade because of his age, performance, and upside.

The reason unrestricted free agents like Lonnie Walker IV should look for teams willing to sign-and-trade for him is it expands the number of teams beyond just those who have $15 million in cap space to sign free agents. 
For players like Walker, who want to play for a contender, their best path to being traded to a championship contender is often done via sign-and-trade as the top teams rarely have significant cap space because of superstars.

If the Lakers do not trade Lonnie Walker IV before the trade deadline or re-sign him as a free agent next summer, then they need to sign-and-trade him to a team to avoid losing him to free agency without compensation.

As expected, the Los Angeles Lakers front office has once again moved the goal posts for making a final decision on trading Russell Westbrook and their first round picks from the end of November to December 15th.

The move was not unexpected in the aftermath of the Lakers winning three of the last four games with Anthony Davis playing the best basketball of his life without LeBron James, who missed the games with an injured groin.
Not only will players who signed as free agents last summer be eligible to be traded on December 15th but that will give the Lakers 11 more games to accurately access what the best moves would be to upgrade the team.

Beginning this Friday against the Spurs, the Lakers will have to figure out how to integrate LeBron James back into the starting lineup and rotation while still allowing Anthony Davis to continue to dominate at MVP level. 
It may have taken longer to happen than planned but Friday’s game should hopefully be the game that officially starts the transition of the Los Angeles Lakers from being LeBron James’ team to becoming Anthony Davis’ team.

Here are four smart moves Darvin Ham can do to ease the Lakers’ transition from James to Davis while still taking advantage of LeBron as a superstar without taking away touches or opportunities from AD:

---

1. Reduce LeBron’s Minutes To Preserve Him for Playoffs

If the Lakers want to preserve and extend LeBron’s career in purple and gold, they need to start load managing his minutes and back-to-backs. This season, LeBron’s averaging 35.7 mpg vs. a career average of 38.2 mpg.

The Lakers should consider limiting LeBron to 32 minutes per game during the regular season. They should also hold him out of back-to-back games to give him time to shake off nagging injuries and be fresh for the playoffs. 
Having James play 3 to 4 minutes less per game would result in a reduction in minutes over the rest of the season equal to taking of 5 games. That would also represent additional minutes for Anthony Davis to dominate.

With Anthony Davis suddenly playing at an MVP level, the time has come for the Lakers to give him the torch as the team’s top player and to start managing the load soon-to-be 38-year old LeBron James had to bear.

---

2. Have LeBron Focus on Facilitating Rather Than Scoring

While they spent three offseasons searching for point guards to take the main playmaking load off LeBron’s shoulders, the Lakers smartest move right now could be for James to focus on facilitating rather than scoring.

Russ has been excellent at getting the ball to AD, especially off pick-and-rolls. To take full advantage of MVP AD, LeBron needs to the same when he’s in the game. Takes advantage of Ham staggering Russ and LeBron. 
During the 4-game stretch where AD dominated, the Lakers did a great job of getting the ball to him on isolations on the left side or via pick-and-rolls with Russell Westbrook, Lonnie Walker, or other Lakers guards.

For the rest of this season, I’d like to see LeBron running a heavy diet of pick-and-rolls that get him and AD both going downhill to the basket. On offense, we need LeBron to focus on facilitating rather than scoring.

---

3. Stagger LeBron and AD Minutes So One’s Always On Court

Other than to start or close halves, Darvin Ham should stagger LeBron James’ and Anthony Davis’ minutes to ensure that one of the team’s two superstar was on the court all of the time during the regular season.

Aside from always having a go-to superstar on the court, staggering their minutes gives both James and Davis opportunities to go one-on-one or choreograph a scoring opportunity with one the team’s other players. 
Another benefit to staggering James’ and Davis’ minutes is it will increase the time Anthony Davis does not have to share the court with LeBron James and allow him to continue to dominate when James is on the bench.

Besides giving both superstars opportunities where they’re the focus of the offense, staggering James and Davis also allows the Lakers to have one of their two superstars on the court for almost all of the minutes of the game.

---

4. Ignore LeBron Chasing Kareem‘s Career Scoring Record

Despite his public support for Anthony Davis taking the torch from him, Anthony Davis understands it’s not easy to become the main man and face of the Lakers while LeBron James is still playing like a top-10 NBA player.

Kareem’ scored 38,387 regular season career points, a record many thought would never be broken. LeBron has 37,311 points, short by 1,076 points. James would need to average 16.3 points in last 66 games. to break record. 
That means LeBron’s pursuit of Kareem’s career points scored record should not prevent him from focusing more on facilitating than scoring for the rest of this season. Like to see LeBron James averaging 20/10/10.

While LeBron has always wanted Anthony to take the torch from him, it’s still going to be up to AD in the end to go out and continue to play the dominating MVP caliber basketball that we saw in the last 4 games.

LeBron James cannot give the baton to AD. Anthony has to take it.

While the Lakers lost to the Suns last night, the fourth straight dominating performance by center Anthony Davis, this time against a much tougher opponent in Deandre Ayton, was more important than winning the game.

The resurgent Lakers gave the more talented Suns everything they could handle, almost overcoming a 36-point disadvantage in 3-point shooting by making 26 more free throws and scoring 10 more points-in-the-paint. 
While the Lakers’ poor 3-point shooting doomed them to lose this game, the continued dominance by AD is looking more and more like the real thing. Last night’s performance was Davis’ best in the last four games.

Rob Pelinka has promised the Lakers would trade both first round draft picks if the team proved worthy of that investment and if the trade would actually transform the team into a legitimate championship contender. 
The Lakers should win the next 4 games and finish November 9–11, winning 7 of their last 8 games with AD as the featured superstar and proving to management the team was worthy of trading the two picks.

Here’s a three-team, three-player mega trade between the Los Angeles Lakers, Brooklyn Nets, and Indiana Pacers that will transform the L.A. from a likely lottery team to a legitimate NBA championship contender:

---

The Three-Team, Three-Player Trade

The Lakers trade Russell Westbrook and an unprotected 2027 pick to the Nets for Kyrie Irving and Seth Curry plus Patrick Beverley, Kendrick Nunn, and an unprotected 2029 first round pick to the Pacers for Myles Turner.

The trade is salary neutral for all three teams, meaning no increase in current season payroll or luxury taxes. None of the involved players qualify as recently traded or signed so there is no need to wait before trading. 
Another benefit for all the teams is the six players involved are on expiring contracts so the trade would thus be ‘cap space neutral’ and ‘salary neutral.’ Teams would have the same amount of cap space after as before the trade.

The big question is whether these three teams really want to trade. The Lakers talk about sacrificing this season to keep their picks for a mega trade this summer. Who knows what the Nets and Pacers are going to do. 
For them, the trade is not about the players coming back. Whether this trade happens or not comes down to the value Brooklyn and Indiana assign Los Angeles’ post-LeBron James unprotected first round draft picks.

This trade solves each of the team’s major personnel issues without hurting their current salary, luxury tax, or cap space situations. Lakers move Russ. Nets dump Kyrie, Pacers avoid losing Turner to free agency for nothing.

---

Why the Los Angeles Lakers Make the Trade

The Lakers make the trade because it transforms them from a lottery team to legitimate championship contender. Adding Irving and Turner to James, Davis, and Walker could give the Lakers’ the league’s best starting lineup.

Swapping Russell Westbrook, Patrick Beverley, and Kendrick Nunn for Kyrie Irving, Seth Curry, and Myles Turner gives the Lakers three players who can shoot the three and a stretch five center who can protect the rim.
In addition to solid bench contributors like Dennis Schröder, Seth Curry, and Austin Reaves, the Lakers should have dramatically improved depth along with the improved versatility to play jumbo big or super small.

Besides upgrading the starting lineup and depth, the trade essentially swaps one package of expiring contracts for a different package, meaning the Lakers will still have $35 million in open cap space this summer. 
That will give them the option of using Bird rights or some or all of their $35 million in open cap space to re-sign or extend Irving, Curry, Turner, and/or Walker or use some or all of the cap space to sign free agents.

This is the perfect trade for the Lakers as it not only gives them a chance to win their 18th NBA championship this season but also gives them three elite players who could easily be valuable teammates going forward.

---

Why the Nets and Pacers Make the Trade

The Brooklyn Nets and Indiana Pacers are interested in trading with the Los Angeles Lakers for one simple reason. They both want the opportunity to trade for the Lakers 2027 and/or 2029 unprotected first round draft picks.

The reason these picks are projected to be so valuable is the fact that they’re unprotected and are for seasons when superstars LeBron James and Anthony Davis will both likely have retired and no longer with the team. 
Opposing teams remember the Lakers picking 7th, 2nd, and 2nd in the NBA Draft in the years immediately following Kobe Bryant’s retirement. That’s why there’s so many teams looking to acquire those Lakers picks.

Like the Lakers, the Nets and the Pacers will also appreciate that the trade does not affect the team’s current salary, luxury taxes, or open cap space. What it does do, however, is accomplish major goals for both teams.
For the Nets, the main goal is to get rid of Kyrie Irving so they can move on. For the Pacers, it’s getting maximum return for center Myles Turner so they don’t have to risk losing him for nothing in free agency this summer.

The Nets want to dump Irving and the Lakers are their only possible trading partner. The Pacers want to move Turner before they lose him for nothing in free agency. What they both want are the Lakers’ picks.