This offseason should be an interesting one for the Los Angeles Lakers as a lot of moves need to be made in order to vault them into championship contention.
The Lakers have a lot of roster spots to fill, and one more just opened up as according to Keith Smith of Spotrac, they will be declining the team option of guard Nick Smith Jr. to make him a free agent:
The Los Angeles Lakers declined their team option for Nick Smith Jr., a league source told @spotrac.
Smith will be an unrestricted free agent this offseason.
— Keith Smith (@KeithSmithNBA) June 30, 2026
The Lakers originally signed Smith to a standard NBA contract at the end of the regular season to make him eligible for the playoffs. That was after he impressed with the team throughout the year on a two-way deal.
In 30 games for the Lakers (one start) during the regular season, Smith played in 12.5 minutes per game while averaging 6.2 points and 1.0 assists on 43.5% shooting and 39.5% from 3.
Given the lack of opportunities, it is not surprising to see the Lakers decline Smith’s team option for 2026-27, even if it was for the minimum. They are trying to maximize their resources this offseason in order to build a contender around Luka Doncic and every dollar and roster spot counts.
Considering Smith impressed at times during his first season in L.A. though, perhaps he is someone the Lakers circle back to later in the offseason if they have an open roster spot and need for a guard.
It’s possible he gets an opportunity elsewhere though as the former first-round pick is still just 22 years of age and has flashed a lot of potential early in his career.
JJ Redick explained why Lakers signed Nick Smith Jr. over Drew Timme
When the Lakers were looking to fill their final roster spot before the postseason, the decision came down to Smith or Drew Timme, both of which were on two-way contracts. And at the time, Redick explained why they decided to go with Smith over the big man.
“Obviously a difficult decision. Drew (Timme) has been awesome for us. Frankly, we’re missing two of our primary ball-handlers,” Redick said. “We need Nick, we need his shooting as well. A lot of discussion, a lot of debate over the last few days about that.”
Both Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves were injured going into the playoffs, so it made sense to add some ball-handling depth with Smith, although he never really got much of a shot.
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