The offseason is rapidly approaching, with the NBA Finals ending anywhere between Saturday, June 13 and Friday, June 19. With that comes some massive decisions for the Los Angeles Lakers, as they need to build a championship contending roster around superstar Luka Doncic.
L.A. is slated to have around $48 million in cap space if they renounce all of their free agents except for Austin Reaves. They also could operate above the cap, which would allow them to more easily retain all their current players while adding someone with the non-taxpayer mid-level exception. Reportedly, that’s something the Lakers may be heavily weighing, according to Kurt Helin of NBC Sports:
The Lakers can offer whatever they wish to LeBron, they have his Bird rights. That said, the organization is prioritizing re-signing Austin Reaves (also a free agent) and retooling the roster with players who better fit with Luka Doncic and his skill set. Lakers fans expecting major roster moves or even a radical overhaul of the role players on the team may want to prep themselves for a more status quo offseason, league sources told NBC Sports.
Maintaining the status quo could be the best option for the Lakers simply by nature of the fact that the 2026 free agent class leaves much to be desired. Reaves, LeBron James and Rui Hachimura are arguably three of the five best available unrestricted free agents on the entire market.
By operating above the cap — keeping the cap holds on James, Hachimura, Smart, Ayton and others — the Lakers can utilize their bird rights to outbid most any team on their players. They also would have enough flexibility to add an impact player worth up to around $15 million via the mid-level exception.
It’s not the most inspired offseason approach, but it could be all L.A. has if trades don’t go their way.
LeBron James declines comment on pay cut with Lakers
One way the Lakers could add more impact players is if James agreed to take a significant pay cut to stay in L.A. It’s assumed that he will not be playing on a max contract next season, but how big a pay cut James takes could affect the Lakers in a big way.
However, when asked about the possibility, he declined to comment. Instead, he focused on what needs to happen just for him to want to play another season, both mentally and physically.
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