Dark-Horse Destinations for Top 2020 NBA Free Agentshttps://t.co/hu09BY8XCA via @BleacherReport
— LakerTom (@LakerTom) September 26, 2020
Danilo Gallinari: Los Angeles Lakers
Danilo Gallinari isn’t landing with the Los Angeles Lakers without help—a lot of help.
Getting the Oklahoma City Thunder on board with a sign-and-trade is paramount. The Lakers will only have the non-taxpayer mid-level at their disposal, and Gallinari should fetch more. That’s not the end of the world.
Oklahoma City appears headed for the rebuild it was supposed to enter after it traded Paul George and Russell Westbrook last offseason. That reset won’t include a 32-year-old Gallinari. Some teams might be reluctant to break bread with the Lakers, but if the Thunder aren’t itching to immediately contend in the Western Conference, they won’t be among them.
Netting compensation for a player they may otherwise let walk is more in line with their future. The Lakers don’t have any prime-time assets to offer, but they can build packages around expiring contracts and the No. 28 pick.
Cobbling together enough outgoing money without including Danny Green will be the real challenge. It depends on where Gallinari’s price point falls and how many incumbents exercise their player options. Avery Bradley, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, JaVale McGee and Rajon Rondo all become useful salary filler if they forgo the chance to explore free agency.
A package assembled around Bradley, McGee and Quinn Cook (non-guaranteed) would let the Lakers start Gallinari at around $17.2 million. They can drive up that number by dealing the No. 28 pick as an actual salary, including yet another player or subbing in KCP’s money for anyone.
Is this enough to get the Thunder to bite? Debatable. It is definitely more appealing if they’re saving immediate cash in any eventual Chris Paul trade.
This is much less of a question for the Lakers. Gallinari forces Anthony Davis to play more 5 or for head coach Frank Vogel to roll out supersized lineups with two bigs, Gallo and LeBron James, but that shouldn’t be a deal-breaker. The Lakers can get creative with how they stagger minutes if AD won’t, finally, warm up to being a full-time 5. Gallinari is most valuable to them as a shot creator (and foul-drawer) who can inoculate their half-court offense against huge drop-offs without LeBron anyway.
I actually love the idea of a sign-and-trade for Gallinari. He would give us the third scorer and an elite (>40%) 3-point shooter with size. An upgrade over Morris and Kuzma for Bradley, McGee, Cook, and a pick. The kind of creative deal Rob needs to make to upgrade the roster for next season.
I don’t think it’s likely to happen Tom. Avery played himself into a raise and I can’t see him picking up his player option for only 5 mil, especially to go to OKC and a rebuild. He will get better offers from more desirable locations. Same with KCP. I think he could pick up his player option because it’s his market value. But not to go to OKC. OKC isn’t exactly the kind of city that NBA players dream of playing in and if they can do the same or better somewhere else, they will.
You could be right, Michael, but there are a lot of factors to consider. Players with options will have to make their decisions the first half of October. I would presume one of the due diligence steps their agents would take would be to talk to Pelinka to find out what the chances of their being traded would be. Players always want to control where they play. The flip side is the cap will likely be flat, which means there won’t be a lot of available cap space and, with coronavirus likely still hurting bottom lines, teams and players alike are likely to be conservative.
I could see Bradley leaving, especially since he was not part of the bubble playoff team and could be part of a trade. KCP is a Klutch client so I don’t see him leaving or being traded. McGee could decide to leave, especially considering his role is in danger and he is trade bait. Rondo will likely stay because of his relationships with LeBron and AD. So chances are Bradley and McGee might exercise their player options. If they do, we might have $10M in cap space to spend plus the MLE. We’ll see.