Although the Los Angeles Lakers are in clear need of roster upgrades, they’ve been surprisingly quiet through the first couple days of free agency.
The Lakers have several needs like a true big man to pair with Anthony Davis and more 3-and-D wings who can space the floor and defend, but the front office has confusingly stood pat as free agents come off the board. Los Angeles was granted a gift when it was reported that LeBron James would take a paycut to improve the team, but general manager Rob Pelinka has yet to make good on his end of the deal.
It seems that the Lakers were all-in on former Golden State Warriors shooting guard Klay Thompson, who tested free agency after he couldn’t get a new deal done with the team. Although Los Angeles was squarely in the mix for Thompson, he ultimately ended up signing a three-year, $50 million deal with the Dallas Mavericks.
It was later reported that Los Angeles was willing to offer more years and guaranteed money to Thompson, but apparently the cost of living between California and Texas played a factor in his decision, via Adrian Wojnarowksi of ESPN:
“The Lakers were extremely intriguing to Thompson, but the financial savings from living in Texas over California and the fact that the Mavericks came within three victories of an NBA championship were big factors in his decision, sources said.”
On Tuesday morning, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst went on to further expand on why Thompson chose the Mavericks over Lakers:
“I actually probably don’t think it was that close for Klay. I know that the Lakers are a big draw because they’re his hometown team, but they’re not comparable to where the Mavericks are from competing for championships. The Mavericks are right there on the doorstep and they were here in L.A. with Nico Harrison their general manager, with Jason Kidd their head coach and they presented him a very clear plan of how they were gonna use him. And as you mentioned, there’s clearly a hole exactly where he would fit in as a spot-up 3-point shooter… Here’s the thing, the Lakers are still a bit of a mystery. JJ Redick, we’re not exactly sure what his system is gonna look like, how he’s gonna operate. Klay knew for months that he was gonna leave the Warriors and he got to spend the whole spring basically shopping. He watched Dallas win three playoff series’ and go to the Finals, a total recruiting pitch for him whether they knew it or now. The fact is that state income tax was a factor in making this actually worth a little bit more money than the Lakers’ offer, I guess I’ll throw that on the pile. But I think that this was probably a pretty clean decision. Klay wanted to hear the Lakers out and get past the heart strings there, but Dallas makes the most sense for him in a vacuum.”
The state of Texas benefits from not having income tax, a major financial swing in its favor compared to California where the money on a deal is nearly cut in half due to taxes. However, the starkest difference between Dallas and Los Angeles is where they are in relation to contending for a title as the former is coming off a Finals run while the latter was eliminated in the first round.
Thompson is in the twilight of his career and doesn’t have many quality years of basketball left, so going to a team like the Mavericks makes more sense than going to the Lakers that has a roster and coaching staff that’s not done yet. Unfortunately for Los Angeles, they’re back to square one when it comes to convincing free agents to join them.
Lakers’ LeBron James could take sign max contract after missing out on Klay Thompson
LeBron James is also near the end of his career and understands he would need to take a paycut to attract legitimate talent. However, with Thompson off the board James could simply just take a max deal with the Lakers.
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