Lakerholics

A Lakers Fan Community

Posts

Darvin Ham Expects Lakers To Make Best Of ‘Tough Situation’ They Put Themselves In

By 1 Comment

The Los Angeles Lakers squandered a chance to improve their playoff positioning after losing to the Golden State Warriors in their final home game of the regular season.

Los Angeles was shorthanded as Anthony Davis was ruled out before tipoff with headaches and nausea, while LeBron James was less than 100 percent with flu-like symptoms. However, this was a game the Lakers needed to win if they wanted to avoid the Play-In Tournament.

Now, L.A. is in danger of falling into the 10th seed as Golden State owns the tiebreaker. Head coach Darvin Ham and the rest of the group will potentially need to win two road games in order to make the playoffs.

Despite the long odds, Ham expects his team to bounce back in their final two regular season games. “If we think we are as competitive as I think we are and then we really look within, yeah, it’s a difficult situation, but it’s not impossible,” Ham said.

“Again, we just need to do what we’ve always done, look at the things, and every team is not going to be like Golden State offensively, but just look within ourselves and see how bad we want it. Just come ready to work. That’s it. It’s not a mystery or secret formula. If you are a competitor and you have to be to make it to this level, whether you’re a player, coach, executive, owner, whoever. If you are a true competitor, then you’ll make the best of a tough situation, and so I expect us to do that.”

A surprising development may transform Lakers summer plans

By 1 Comment

With only a few days remaining in the regular season, we now know that the Los Angeles Lakers are headed for the Play-in Tournament. Not only that, but one loss during the tournament would see them miss the playoffs entirely and be among the 14 NBA lottery teams.

Although that would be disappointing, it would give them a valuable asset, which they can use to try and improve their team this summer. Of course, the New Orleans Pelicans have the rights to that pick thanks to the Anthony Davis deal. Or, the Pelicans could choose to defer and acquire their pick next year.

It was generally assumed that the Pelicans would take advantage of that ability this summer, with the Lakers potentially being a lottery team. However, according to The Ringer’s Kevin O’Connor, the Pelicans are likely to let the Lakers keep their pick this year. If true, it would transform L.A.’s offseason and give them a chance to make a serious upgrade.

What the Los Angeles Lakers could do with their 2024 first-round pick.

The Lakers are rumored to be planning a big offseason deal for a third star, with Trae Young potentially being an option. If they miss the playoffs, they could offer up a lottery pick as well as their 2028 and 2030 picks, as well as Rui Hachimura, Austin Reaves, and Gabe Vincent for Young.

That might actually be a competitive deal and could potentially net them a third star to pair with LeBron James and Anthony Davis. Also, with Bronny James likely being a second-round pick, they could scoop him up, all but ensuring that LeBron stays put with the Lakers for another season or two. With their 2024 pick potentially in play, it allows the Lakers to more easily construct offseason deals to improve their roster.

Or they could conceivably keep that pick in hopes of landing a cheap rotation player with upside and try to trade other first-round picks in a deal for a third star. That would allow them to have their cake and eat it too. Ultimately, if O’Connor is correct, the Lakers keeping their 2024 first-round pick could dramatically alter their offseason plans for the better.

What LeBron James Opting Out Would Mean for Los Angeles Lakers

By 1 Comment

LeBron James briefly contemplated retirement after the Los Angeles Lakers’ surprising run to the 2023 Western Conference Finals. How would the NBA’s all-time leading scorer react to an early postseason exit next week?

If the Lakers don’t advance past the play-in tournament, the spotlight will swing back to James, who has a $51.4 million player option for the 2024-25 season.

James’ choice might not be driven by finances. The difference between signing a new contract in July after opting out (approximately $162 million) and the amount he’d get if he opted in and extended in August (roughly $163.7 million) isn’t significant.

Assuming James and the Lakers want to continue their marriage for a maximum of three years (through 2026-27), James may want to opt out to better exert his influence on the franchise.

James May Want Changes

Does James, who will turn 40 in December, still have that cachet with the Lakers? Does he want to tie what could be his final few years to the franchise as is?

There was some buzz in NBA circles that James wasn’t happy with head coach Darvin Ham when the team struggled earlier in the season. If the Lakers don’t win a playoff series this year, will James try to make the team pick between him and the coach?

That assumes the Lakers intend to invest in James at his advanced age, but all intel suggests they won’t give up on one of the league’s top headliners. This is the same franchise that paid Kobe Bryant after his Achilles injury and even Kareem Abdul-Jabbar until he was 42. L.A. may have an eye on a post-James future, but it doesn’t appear to be the main focus for now.

James could push for the Lakers to draft or sign his son, Bronny James, after one year at USC. He could also urge the team to trade for Atlanta Hawks point guard Trae Young (a fellow Klutch Sports client) over Donovan Mitchell, who might move on from the Cleveland Cavaliers as soon as this offseason. He can fight for a no-trade clause, too.

The Lakers might have some leverage over James. How many teams will have almost $50 million in cap room to max James out at $157.5 million over three seasons? The most obvious answer might be Philadelphia, but most NBA sources believe the 76ers are targeting Paul George. If George re-signs with the L.A. Clippers, the Sixers could give James an alternative.

Those same sources believe James won’t want to relocate to the East Coast, even to potentially chase a title with Joel Embiid and Klutch client Tyrese Maxey. Would Sixers president Daryl Morey draft Bronny James in an attempt to lure his father in free agency?

“If someone were going to do it, it’d be Daryl,” one Eastern Conference executive said.

However, the Lakers could take a harder stance with James if the Sixers don’t emerge as a threat to sign him. That might make for a dramatic offseason, but competing executives expect L.A. to err on capitulation.

Expensive Roster, Limited Flexibility

While James’ player option is for $51.4 million, his max salary as a free agent this summer projects to be just under $50 million (based on a $141 million salary cap for 2024-25).

He could help the Lakers by taking a slightly lower salary. They’re a repeat luxury-tax offender facing restrictive aprons next season ($178.7 million for the first and $189.5 million for the second).

With James on the books at $50-51.4 million, the next big decision is D’Angelo Russell, who can decline his $18.7 million player option to explore free agency or re-sign with the Lakers. He may try to get a bigger or longer deal than last year’s two-year contract with a player option. But like most free agents, Russell may find there are few teams with significant money to offer this summer.

Christian Wood ($3 million), Jaxson Hayes ($2.5 million) and Cam Reddish ($2.5 million) can also decline their respective player options. Only Hayes may have marginally increased his stock this season. The Lakers can also re-sign their own free agents at the following starting salaries: $5.4 million for Taurean Prince, approximately $13 million for Max Christie and $4 million for Spencer Dinwiddie.

Should everyone but Christie return, the Lakers would be just under the second apron, which may be the team’s internal upper spending limit. That’s also assuming the New Orleans Pelicans decide to take the Lakers 2024 first-round pick instead of deferring it until 2025 as part of the Anthony Davis trade.

The Lakers wouldn’t be hard-capped, but at that payroll level, they wouldn’t have the $5.2 million taxpayer mid-level exception. However, they could have access to the taxpayer MLE if they don’t re-sign Prince or if another player unexpectedly opts out.

Trade Pieces

Since the Lakers will be relatively limited in free agency, trades may be their only real path to improvement with James and Russell under contract. Assuming Davis wouldn’t be available, the Lakers could shop everyone else, including Austin Reaves, Rui Hachimura, Jarred Vanderbilt, Gabe Vincent, Jalen Hood-Schifino, Maxwell Lewis and, if they opt in, Russell, Wood, Hayes and Reddish.

The Lakers can trade either their 2024 or 2025 first-rounder (depending on the Pelicans’ decision), along with first-round picks in 2029 and 2031.

The Lakers seem to want a third star—presumably a guard who would partner with Davis as James’ career winds down. That could be Young or Mitchell, who may be available this offseason. Alternatively, the Lakers may want to add a defensive-minded wing who can score, although a player like Mikal Bridges of the Brooklyn Nets isn’t likely to be on the trade block this summer.

The next few weeks and months—including the playoffs and draft lottery—will set the stage for what’s to come, as the trade market has yet to emerge.

Or James Leaves

Should James depart after opting out, the Lakers would shed $50 million in payroll, dropping under the tax and potentially under the salary cap (depending on Russell’s option).

If the Lakers stayed over the cap, they would gain access to the $12.9 million non-taxpayer mid-level exception. If they used it, they’d be hard-capped at $176.7 million. That may be enough to get a good player, but probably not a great one, and certainly not one who could replace James.

Can the Lakers compete with Davis, Hachimura, Russell and Reaves? They would have more flexibility to reshape the roster, and the defense might improve without James, but that’s probably not the core of a title contender.

The Lakers would have the power to make additional moves and trades to try to avoid a rebuild. However, they might be better off steering into the skid and looking to relocate Davis and adequately reset.

While that remains a possibility, the Lakers will likely try to keep the imperfect status quo together and hope for better health and luck next season with James playing out his final years with the Lakers.

Alarming new report on Darvin Ham, Lakers heading into NBA Playoffs

By Leave a Comment

Los Angeles Lakers head coach Darvin Ham sat on the bench inside Crypto.com Arena Tuesday night watching his team get blown out by the conference-rival Golden State Warriors.

With Anthony Davis sidelined, it was an ugly defensive effort from the Lakers as they dropped a second consecutive game. By all accounts, Golden State put up one of the best three-point shooting performances of all-time. It shot 26-of-41 from beyond the arc in what ended up being a 134-120 Lakers loss.

As all of this was playing out, Lakers star LeBron James could be seen pretty much tuning Ham out. Heck, this replay shows the entire team walking away as Ham was drawing up a play with the game out of hand late in the fourth quarter.

The loss dropped Los Angeles to 45-35 on the season. It is just a half game ahead of Golden State for the ninth seed in the Western Conference with two games remaining. It also lost the season series to the Warriors by a margin of 3-1.

Locked into a spot in the NBA Play-In Tournament, this is not necessarily how James and the Lakers expected the 2023-24 season to unfold. There is also a telling report as it relates to the situation in Southern California.

Los Angeles Lakers players wanted to replace Darvin Ham earlier in the season

Lakers insider Ashish Mathur of Hoops Wire provided some information as it relates to Ham’s relationship players. It’s not great.

“A source told Hoops Wire that Lakers players wanted assistant coach Phil Handy to replace Ham earlier in the season. However, Los Angeles owner Jeanie Buss is a fan of Ham and she has never thought about firing him as coach, the source said.”

This is interesting for a number of reasons. First off, it seems as if Buss is continuing to push back against influence from James when it comes to coaching and player personnel. What we saw from the team ahead of February’s NBA trade deadline was the most-recent example of this. Typically, James has has a lot of say throughout his career.

Secondly, this also comes on the heels of another report indicating that King James will opt out of his contract and test NBA free agency during the summer. Could some drama be brewing behind the scenes in Los Angeles? If James’ body language at the end of the Lakers’ loss to Golden State Tuesday night is any indication, that’s a real possibility.

As for Phil Handy, he has obvious connections with James. The veteran was a Cleveland Cavaliers assistant when they won the NBA title over Golden State back in 2016.

Per the aforementioned report, Lakers players are expected to have a conversation with general manager Rob Pelinka after the season about Darvin Ham and his future. Whether that includes James remains to be seen.