The Los Angeles Lakers went on a bit of a free agent spending spree on Wednesday, using all of the cap space at their disposal which appeared to signal they would be letting Rui Hachimura walk in free agency.
The Lakers are beginning a new era around Luka Doncic, and that means all of their free agents from last season are departing with Marcus Smart, Jaxson Hayes and Luke Kennard finding new homes. LeBron James is expected to leave as well, and all the reporting surrounding Hachimura is also that he will be playing elsewhere.
L.A. has a clear need for a wing on its roster though, and people around the league think they may be trying to clear some space to keep Hachimura, per Dave McMenamin of ESPN:
There is currently no money left for Rui Hachimura. L.A. has 13 roster spots filled and can only pay a veterans minimum to anyone else.
That Hachimura remains unsigned caused several league sources to wonder whether the Lakers are planning some sort of trade or using the stretch provision on perhaps Jarred Vanderbilt or Deandre Ayton to be able to offer Hachimura more.
If they don’t, Mamukelashvili, at 6-foot-9 and 240 pounds, can replace Hachimura’s size and shooting (38.9% last season on a career-high 3.7 attempts per game) on his four-year, $52 million deal.
As things currently stand, the Lakers can only offer veteran minimum contracts, which obviously would not be enough to re-sign Hachimura. He has been projected to land the non-taxpayer midlevel exception from a team of around $15 million annually.
In order for the Lakers to have a chance at re-signing him, they would need to find a way to clear up some money, which will be tough to do given their lack of tradable draft assets. If the Lakers were to find a suitor for some combination of Jarred Vanderbilt ($12.4 million), Deandre Ayton (8.1 million), Jake LaRavia ($6 million) and Dalton Knecht (4.2 million) then that would go a long way in freeing up enough money to bring back Hachimura.
They also could waive and stretch Vanderbilt’s contract, which would free up around $7 million in cap space.
If the Lakers are unable to open up space and are stuck with veteran minimum signings then some other options who could make sense are Jonathan Kuminga, Ziaire Williams, Matisse Thybulle and Bruce Brown. Some of those players could command more than the minimum on the open market, putting the Lakers in a tough spot.
One thing they can offer that other teams can’t is a significant role on the wing playing alongside Doncic, Austin Reaves and Walker Kessler, although that may not be enticing enough if players have better offers on the table elsewhere.
Who are Rui Hachimura’s other suitors?
According to recent reports, the San Antonio Spurs and Brooklyn Nets were expected to be the primary suitors for Hachimura in free agency.
The Spurs instead chose to use their midlevel exception on Tobias Harris, so they are out of the mix.
Other teams that have yet to use their full midlevel and could make sense for Hachimura include the Charlotte Hornets, Dallas Mavericks and Golden State Warriors.
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