Lakers Targets - Free Agent Class 2020

[DanishLakerFan]

I dont think the Lakers will make any splashes in FA in 2020, theyre gonna preserve ALL of the 2021 cap space for a run at 3rd superstar.

in 2020 FAI see KCP opting out, then resigning an inflated 1+1 team option deal liek say at 20ish mil.

Sign MLE and BAE at 1+1 team options. Ideally the team can resign DHo and Rondo to minimums, but if they want mroe money, might just have to sign them using the MLE and BAE to give them raises while not giving an extra year.

http://www.shamsports.com/capulator?id=968466675f7d07440a1d8495578418

Hell the biggest surprise might be AD opting into his player option then re-signing to the super max veteran designation deal next FA. According to Capulator if AD opts in next year, his cap hold is only at 35% of the cap, then renounce ALL of the FAs, including Lebron, and there's space to sign a 3rd superstar for 35% max, and then sign Lebron to like 32-33mil.

If Lebron wants to stack rings, he needs to bring in another younger superstar, so he can transition fulltime to a playmaker role. And the only way to bring in another star is to be willing to take a paycut.

Re-signing AD really is the only thing that matters in this offseason. Everthing else will sort itself out. Imagine if he left and joined the Heat...

[Vae Victus]

I dont think the Lakers will make any splashes in FA in 2020, theyre gonna preserve ALL of the 2021 cap space for a run at 3rd superstar.

in 2020 FAI see KCP opting out, then resigning an inflated 1+1 team option deal liek say at 20ish mil.

Sign MLE and BAE at 1+1 team options. Ideally the team can resign DHo and Rondo to minimums, but if they want mroe money, might just have to sign them using the MLE and BAE to give them raises while not giving an extra year.

http://www.shamsports.com/capulator?id=968466675f7d07440a1d8495578418

Hell the biggest surprise might be AD opting into his player option then re-signing to the super max veteran designation deal next FA. According to Capulator if AD opts in next year, his cap hold is only at 35% of the cap, then renounce ALL of the FAs, including Lebron, and there's space to sign a 3rd superstar for 35% max, and then sign Lebron to like 32-33mil.

If Lebron wants to stack rings, he needs to bring in another younger superstar, so he can transition fulltime to a playmaker role. And the only way to bring in another star is to be willing to take a paycut.

Re-signing AD really is the only thing that matters in this offseason. Everthing else will sort itself out. Imagine if he left and joined the Heat...

Excellent point. The safe move is for the Lakers to re-sign AD to a veteran designated deal after he opts out. However if that happens, kiss the 2021 FA 3rd Superstar plan good bye, unless Lebron is willing to take a massive paycut down to like 25 mil a year.

The Lakers have no trade assets to get anything done, so the team is basically locked in as old man Lebron + AD + meh, if AD is re-signed to the Veterans SuperMax. The guts and glory move would be to convince AD to opt in and roll the dice on A) Lebron proving he's still Lebron B) Lebron willing to take a paycut and become 3rd fiddle to the new incoming 3rd Superstar and AD.

That's the ONLY move for sustained greatness for the Lakers franchise and for Lebron to stack rings into his twilight years.

[chefy]

Conley would solve all our problems.

[DanishLakerFan]

I dont think the Lakers will make any splashes in FA in 2020, theyre gonna preserve ALL of the 2021 cap space for a run at 3rd superstar.

in 2020 FAI see KCP opting out, then resigning an inflated 1+1 team option deal liek say at 20ish mil.

Sign MLE and BAE at 1+1 team options. Ideally the team can resign DHo and Rondo to minimums, but if they want mroe money, might just have to sign them using the MLE and BAE to give them raises while not giving an extra year.

http://www.shamsports.com/capulator?id=968466675f7d07440a1d8495578418

Hell the biggest surprise might be AD opting into his player option then re-signing to the super max veteran designation deal next FA. According to Capulator if AD opts in next year, his cap hold is only at 35% of the cap, then renounce ALL of the FAs, including Lebron, and there's space to sign a 3rd superstar for 35% max, and then sign Lebron to like 32-33mil.

If Lebron wants to stack rings, he needs to bring in another younger superstar, so he can transition fulltime to a playmaker role. And the only way to bring in another star is to be willing to take a paycut.

Re-signing AD really is the only thing that matters in this offseason. Everthing else will sort itself out. Imagine if he left and joined the Heat...

Excellent point. The safe move is for the Lakers to re-sign AD to a veteran designated deal after he opts out. However if that happens, kiss the 2021 FA 3rd Superstar plan good bye, unless Lebron is willing to take a massive paycut down to like 25 mil a year.

The Lakers have no trade assets to get anything done, so the team is basically locked in as old man Lebron + AD + meh, if AD is re-signed to the Veterans SuperMax. The guts and glory move would be to convince AD to opt in and roll the dice on A) Lebron proving he's still Lebron B) Lebron willing to take a paycut and become 3rd fiddle to the new incoming 3rd Superstar and AD.

That's the ONLY move for sustained greatness for the Lakers franchise and for Lebron to stack rings into his twilight years.

The paycut would only be for one year. After that they could pay him using his bird rights.

[king_james_vers]

I dont think the Lakers will make any splashes in FA in 2020, theyre gonna preserve ALL of the 2021 cap space for a run at 3rd superstar.

in 2020 FAI see KCP opting out, then resigning an inflated 1+1 team option deal liek say at 20ish mil.

Sign MLE and BAE at 1+1 team options. Ideally the team can resign DHo and Rondo to minimums, but if they want mroe money, might just have to sign them using the MLE and BAE to give them raises while not giving an extra year.

http://www.shamsports.com/capulator?id=968466675f7d07440a1d8495578418

Hell the biggest surprise might be AD opting into his player option then re-signing to the super max veteran designation deal next FA. According to Capulator if AD opts in next year, his cap hold is only at 35% of the cap, then renounce ALL of the FAs, including Lebron, and there's space to sign a 3rd superstar for 35% max, and then sign Lebron to like 32-33mil.

If Lebron wants to stack rings, he needs to bring in another younger superstar, so he can transition fulltime to a playmaker role. And the only way to bring in another star is to be willing to take a paycut.

Re-signing AD really is the only thing that matters in this offseason. Everthing else will sort itself out. Imagine if he left and joined the Heat...

Excellent point. The safe move is for the Lakers to re-sign AD to a veteran designated deal after he opts out. However if that happens, kiss the 2021 FA 3rd Superstar plan good bye, unless Lebron is willing to take a massive paycut down to like 25 mil a year.

The Lakers have no trade assets to get anything done, so the team is basically locked in as old man Lebron + AD + meh, if AD is re-signed to the Veterans SuperMax. The guts and glory move would be to convince AD to opt in and roll the dice on A) Lebron proving he's still Lebron B) Lebron willing to take a paycut and become 3rd fiddle to the new incoming 3rd Superstar and AD.

That's the ONLY move for sustained greatness for the Lakers franchise and for Lebron to stack rings into his twilight years.

I really appreciate the breakdown. The cap is so esoteric, it's relieving that there are people out there like yourself that understand it well and can spell it out like this.

[BEazy]

We really need some shooting. This season could of been much more easier on LBJ and AD's bodies if they had adquate space to work with. If we can package Kuz and Green for a reliable sharp-shooter and perhaps a scoring guard, I'd be all over it.

[lazybatman]

Fellows,
I'm on a different beat than you all about the kinda transfer window we need this off season. This team is by no means a lock to win next year, given that the Clips, Rockets, Heat, Celtics, etc might tool up. Golden State are gonna flip that pick and Wiggins into role players around the Splash bros to compete. Th Nets gonna add cuckoo KD+Kyrie to a playoff team, which I feel is much better than the Clippers, sans Kawhi+PG13.

THIS HERE, RIGHT NOW, IS A CHAMPIONSHIP WINDOW. LEBRON JAMES IS THE DAMN DYNASTY.

This is not real life, where you save up for a bigger down payment and get the bigger house in the end. Championship windows don't work like that. Even the Lakers have only seen 2 championship windows in the last 30 years. If we wanna milk it for another title or two, knock the Celtics off their perch for good, I don't think we take our foot off the throttle. The two greatest dynastic teams of my lifetime - 90s Bulls went on to sign Rodman for the second 3-peat and GSW signed KD after winning 73 and losing to the Cavs by a hair.

I figure the BAE+MLE, thanks to Vae Vincus' explanations, should more than enable us to flip deadwood like DG, McGee, Howard(I get the lovefest with his redemption story, but the dude's been unplayable 75% of the playoffs cos of matchups or pure stupidity), Cook, Kuz, Dud, JR, Waiters, etc into three to four valuable role players - minimums(Korver, Boogie), trades(Reddick, Buddy Heild) and sign and trade FAs(Ibaka, Bertrans, Gallinari, Hardaway, Whiteside).

[slifersd]

I think there are a few areas that we need to address to differing degrees:

Another playmaker: Playoff Rondo was great, but is this what we can count on going through an 82 game regular season? What if either LBJ or Rondo gets hurt? I think we need another guard who can run the offense and set up everything. Doesn't have to be a superstar, unless we can get one for cheap;

Shooting, lots of shooting: I know we just won the chip, but if I am being honest, our offense this year was far from great. A big reason for that is because of our terrible parameter shooting. Teams often times gambled by packing the paint to limit space for LBJ and AD, and dared us to shoot the threes. If we had a couple of real shooters (not Danny Green or Avery Bradley), our offense can become extremely difficult to contain;

Wing depth: Jimmy Butler showed us something, and that is what the Clippers/Jerry West saw, we cannot defend wings. Jimmy, when he is not completely burnt out, was out there putting up Shaq like numbers even when he is being guarded by LBJ. If we had played against Clippers or Celtics, their army of wing scorers would've killed us if that's what Jimmy can do. We need at least two guys who are 6'8, 6'9 with long arms and can defend at high level. A guy like Trevor Ariza, for example, would be perfect.

[No-Man]

I think the Lakers should;

cut Cook
try to get the best they can for Green, 28th, McGee (enough for Oladipo, Jrue or AGordon if you add Kuzma? those are the 3 names really)
keep Bradley, should he execute his PO, +Rondo, Howard, KCP, Morris on 1 year deals if possible, not much money out there should make it doable maybe KCP wants years
Obviously AD is coming back, Dudley likely retires
full MLE and bi-annual should be good to bring in some real talent, some may be needed to retain Howard, Morris (no BRY)

Caruso-Rondo
KCP-Bradley
James-THT
Kuzma-Morris
Davis-Howard

[DanishLakerFan]

Lebron’s window is NOW and perhaps the next couple of seasons so unless they know they’re getting Giannis and they know Lebron is willing to take a pay cut they should focus on next season.

If I’m the Lakers I would do whatever I can to keep current roster in place because I think continuation is a key component of all good teams. Get KCP and Rondo to opt in so they get full bird rights in 2021.
Danny Green is super important defensively and still have a lot of gravity as a shooter, despite his playoff shooting slump.

After that its more difficult.

Bigs: Would like to have two of Boogie, Dwight, and McGee for the least possible amount of money. If Dwight is greedy, let him walk and the use min. or BAE on Boogie. If Dwight takes the BAE, then perhaps sign Boogie for cheap and trade McGee.

Quinn Cook, Avery Bradley, McGee, Kuzma and perhaps the 28th selection should be packaged together in a trade. The dream would be Davis Bertans, but maybe Reddick is more realistic for Cook, AB and Kuz. Then split MLE on Kieff and Josh Jackson. Sign a few min. guys. Draft BPA.

That would give us:

Caruso / Rondo / THT
KCP / Redick
Green / Josh Jackson
Lebron / Kieff
AD / Boogie / McGee

[No-Man]

As an example of my post before, got this after playing around for LA's roster next season;

KCP-Rondo-Bradley
Oladipo-Caruso-Waiters-Merrill
James-THT-Roberson
Davis-Morris-Gill-Cacok
Leonard-Howard-Cousins

Oladipo and 54th (Merrill) for Kuz, Green, McGee and 28th, not sure Indiana is getting a much better offer knowing that a) they wanna compete, b) they know he is gone, c) other teams do too and won't offer much+Oladipo's recent performance/injury risk
The upside is worth it for LA, and he is not compromising your 2021's capspace

Howard, Morris paid with part of the MLE and bi-annual, the other part left for Leonard, who would alleviate your spacing issues during the RS and part of the POs, while keeping rim protection and is a proven locker room +, all 1 year deals, Morris gets a 2nd year partially guaranteed

Rondo early BRY, paid over the cap, don't care how much for one year as long as it doesn't **** up the tax too much; KCP full BRY, paid over the cap, 2 years, frontloaded, 2nd year only partially guaranteed to open up 2021's capspace, around $35M total

Anthony Gill (played in europe but is a NBA player and versatile, and would fit a real need), Roberson, Waiters, Cousins for the vet minimum, upside signings at the end of the roster

Merrill on the 2nd two-way, Cacok has another year left on his deal

In tough playoffs series you most likely end up playing

KCP-Rondo
Oladipo-Caruso
James-Caruso
Davis-Gill
Morris-Leonard

closing games with Caruso-KCP-Oladipo-James-Davis

[Spanish_Laker]

We really need two things:

1. Perimeter shooting. We really need reliable shooters, not fake shooters. Someone who can hit 40%+ for once in a Laker jersey.
2. Wing defender: we were lucky not to have to deal with KD, Kawhi, Giannis or Tatum. We don't have the personnel to guard those guys (unless it's LeBron). We need a Jerami Grant type player.

[Ball so hard]

I'm in favor of making minimal changes to our current roster.

Players i'm in favor of either trading or not resigning:
Kuzma
McGee
Dudley
Waiters
J.R

Players i'd like to keep, assuming the price is right:
Howard
Morris
Rondo (unless we can find a better floor general)

I would prioritize finding another 3 and D wing if possible. I'd target players such as Covington/Otto Porter Jr/Wesley Matthews. Ideally i'd like to pair Danny Green with one of these players if possible.

Though i'm not eager to get rid of Rondo, i'm open to upgrading the backup PG spot if someone become available. Players like Dragic/VanVleet would be nice but seem unlikely.

[Spens1]

S&T Targets (with Green and/or Kuzma)

Demar Derozan
Evan Fournier
Bogan Bogdanovic
Davis Bertrans
Jerami Grant
Fred Van Vleet (highly unlikely)
Malik Beasley (Kuzma for Beasley ain't a bad swap honestly but he did ball out for the Timberwolves in that short stint so they may laugh that out the door)

MLE targets
Dragic (highly unlikely but like you wouldn't take him)
Joe Harris
Tim Hardaway Jr (just please don't go back to shooting 32% from 3)
Jerami Grant (if he's willing somehow to take a big paycut over what he'll probably earn on the market)
Derrick Favours
Christian Wood (very unlikely but worth a shot)
Dario Saric
Aaron Baynes (not sure if he takes the paycut cause he could get the MLE easily if not more, but absolutely worth chasing him)

Bi-Exemption:
Tristian Thompson
Wiley Cauley Stein (better version of Javale honestly)
Nerlens Noel
Serge Ibaka (i'd put him with the glory hunters but chances are he's not leaving Toronto anyway)
DeMarcus Cousins (ideally, bring him back into the fold)

Minimum/Glory hunting:
Jeff Teague
Hassan Whiteside (maybe if he buys in)
Paul Millsap

Other trade targets in general (non-fa)
Victor Oladipo (Indiana would have to be convinced Danny Green and/or Kuzma is going to be a beast or there is no market for him)
JJ Redick (Green-Redick straight swap)

Other then that, just run it back for the most part.
Buddy Hield (same as Redick pretty much)

[LAKESHOW]

There are a heckuva Lotta good takes in this thread dayum. Solid takes i didnt think about or many Laker fans have never thought of. I'll only add this.
The difference with us vs most teams. And what teams and opponent coaches often mention in post game and pre game interviews...OUR SIZE. Trail blazers. Rockets. Nuggets. Heat. All have stressed our size differential and how over matched they were versus our Size. We out rebounded. Out glassed. Got 2nd chance possessions. Just Dominated the boards with our Size and Length. This is why I didn't worry too much about the Clippers, because we have that advantage over those guys.
If we can retain, or improve on our interior dominance, I would be good.

[king_james_vers]

S&T Targets (with Green and/or Kuzma)

Demar Derozan
Evan Fournier
Bogan Bogdanovic
Davis Bertrans
Jerami Grant
Fred Van Vleet (highly unlikely)
Malik Beasley (Kuzma for Beasley ain't a bad swap honestly but he did ball out for the Timberwolves in that short stint so they may laugh that out the door)

MLE targets
Dragic (highly unlikely but like you wouldn't take him)
Joe Harris
Tim Hardaway Jr (just please don't go back to shooting 32% from 3)
Jerami Grant (if he's willing somehow to take a big paycut over what he'll probably earn on the market)
Derrick Favours
Christian Wood (very unlikely but worth a shot)
Dario Saric
Aaron Baynes (not sure if he takes the paycut cause he could get the MLE easily if not more, but absolutely worth chasing him)

Bi-Exemption:
Tristian Thompson
Wiley Cauley Stein (better version of Javale honestly)
Nerlens Noel
Serge Ibaka (i'd put him with the glory hunters but chances are he's not leaving Toronto anyway)
DeMarcus Cousins (ideally, bring him back into the fold)

Minimum/Glory hunting:
Jeff Teague
Hassan Whiteside (maybe if he buys in)
Paul Millsap

Other trade targets in general (non-fa)
Victor Oladipo (Indiana would have to be convinced Danny Green and/or Kuzma is going to be a beast or there is no market for him)
JJ Redick (Green-Redick straight swap)

Other then that, just run it back for the most part.
Buddy Hield (same as Redick pretty much)

Lots of intriguing names on this list.

I'm thinking back to last offseason though. I remember being on other Lakers message boards, and people were putting together hypothetical rosters based on free agents available. One thing I remember being very common was people grossly underestimating how much players were going to get.

For example, Seth Curry. Curry seemed like a great fit next to LeBron. I remember people saying, "let's sign Seth Curry for the MLE". Then he ended up signing for 4-years, $32M with the Mavs. Lots of discussions along the lines of, "instead of Kawhi, we should sign like 4-5 quality FA and have amazing depth". In reality, we could've afforded like 2 quality FA, not 4-5.

I think the same thing is going to happen with a lot of guys on your list. I think they're going to end up costing more than expected. Now, in fairness, you conceded that many of the guys you listed are longshots, but I'm just reminded of last offseason and trying to temper my enthusiasm a little bit.

[MAMBAEMD]

I'd go after Jerami Grant if we can pull that off.
I think he is a perfect fit for us both offensively and defensively.

[MAMBAEMD]

S&T Targets (with Green and/or Kuzma)

Demar Derozan
Evan Fournier
Bogan Bogdanovic
Davis Bertrans
Jerami Grant
Fred Van Vleet (highly unlikely)
Malik Beasley (Kuzma for Beasley ain't a bad swap honestly but he did ball out for the Timberwolves in that short stint so they may laugh that out the door)

MLE targets
Dragic (highly unlikely but like you wouldn't take him)
Joe Harris
Tim Hardaway Jr (just please don't go back to shooting 32% from 3)
Jerami Grant (if he's willing somehow to take a big paycut over what he'll probably earn on the market)
Derrick Favours
Christian Wood (very unlikely but worth a shot)
Dario Saric
Aaron Baynes (not sure if he takes the paycut cause he could get the MLE easily if not more, but absolutely worth chasing him)

Bi-Exemption:
Tristian Thompson
Wiley Cauley Stein (better version of Javale honestly)
Nerlens Noel
Serge Ibaka (i'd put him with the glory hunters but chances are he's not leaving Toronto anyway)
DeMarcus Cousins (ideally, bring him back into the fold)

Minimum/Glory hunting:
Jeff Teague
Hassan Whiteside (maybe if he buys in)
Paul Millsap

Other trade targets in general (non-fa)
Victor Oladipo (Indiana would have to be convinced Danny Green and/or Kuzma is going to be a beast or there is no market for him)
JJ Redick (Green-Redick straight swap)

Other then that, just run it back for the most part.
Buddy Hield (same as Redick pretty much)

Beasley may go to jail.

[hazy_01]

Do we have the non-bird exception for Cousins? If we do, we don't need to use the BAE for him and use it for another piece. Or Cousins might just sign for the minimum hopefully. I think a real stretch 5 will do wonders for AD & Bron

[Beethoven]

Where do I find a list of who on our team has what contract and how many years left?
I hope we keep kcp.