The Los Angeles Lakers are entering an extremely important offseason in which they have the opportunity to really build up the roster around superstar guard Luka Doncic.
Armed with plenty of salary cap space, a first-round pick in the upcoming draft, and other picks to deal in trades, general manager Rob Pelinka feels he and the front office have multiple routes they can potentially take this summer.
“I think that is a really good and the right word to use is optionality in this double-apron CBA, that’s almost an effective hard cap,” Pelinka said during his end-of-season press conference. “I think having optionality to roster plan and roster build, there are several ways to do it.
“There’s in the Draft, there’s through trades — where some teams are going to be getting off good players in this harsh system — and then there’s through free agency. We do have the optionality to look to all those different avenues to get better. The archetype of the roster we want is going to be retrofitted around Luka and the things he needs. Clearly, he’s that leader and player for the future that we want to build the right way around.”
In addition bringing in new players, the Lakers also have a number of their own free agents they must make decisions on and at the top of the list are Austin Reaves and LeBron James. But bringing back both Reaves, who is in line for a big pay raise, and James, would eat into the team’s salary cap space and possibly limit their ability to make the roster improvements necessary to compete for a championship.
However, Pelinka is confident in the Lakers’ ability to make the moves in that situation.
“Absolutely,” Pelinka responded when asked if the Lakers could make those improvements while bringing back Reaves and James. “There’s 15 roster spots, so if you mention three players, that leaves you 12 others to build around. There’s the three two-way spots, and we’ve seen two-way players emerge and make a difference in regular-season wins. We have enough tools in our tool chest to build out a team, for sure. JJ and I have a lot of confidence in our ability to do that this offseason and start next fall with a team that we’re all super proud of that can get to the end.”
The Lakers need to get more athletic on the wing and improve their perimeter defense. Upgrading the center position with a more athletic, rim-running big that Doncic thrives with is also a priority. If Pelinka and the front office can pull that off while also retaining Reaves and James, the Lakers could very well take a big leap into championship contention next season.
Even though they have cap space to work with though, it may ultimately be the trade market that helps the Lakers improve their roster.
Lakers interested in retaining Marcus Smart this offseason
The Lakers also have multiple other free agents to think about including Rui Hachimura, Luke Kennard and Marcus Smart, who can opt out of his deal this summer. And if Smart were to do so, the Lakers would be interested in bringing him back for next season.
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