The Los Angeles Lakers may still be working on a Paul George trade and could make some noise on that front this summer. NBA free agency, however, will not be something that Magic Johnson and general manager Rob Pelinka will be focusing on this year.
After introducing rookies Kyle Kuzma, Thomas Bryant, and Josh Hart on Thursday, Johnson explained the mindset of the Lakers brass heading into free agency this weekend in an interview with Spectrum SportsNet:
“We’re not going to be a major player,” Magic said of free agency this summer. “We’re probably going to sign one or two guys. They will be guys that will fit a need for us. Maybe a shooter, but other than that we’re excited about what we’ve already built and what we were able to do draft night. We’re excited for not just this season but our future.”
“We created cap space, but we didn’t go all the way down where some teams create cap space, and the team is bad. We created cap space, and we’re going to have a solid team. An exciting team for our fanbase and we have a bright future. That was the key. Making sure we would have a bright future as well.”
Unlike in years past, the Lakers likely won’t be linked to any of the big-name players like Kyle Lowry, Gordon Hayward or Blake Griffin. Los Angeles is solely focused on preserving cap space for next summer in which they could potentially land two superstars in free agency with LeBron James and Paul George rumored to be their targets.
As for this summer, it will be a matter of addressing a need in terms of three-point shooting and defense. Johnson and Pelinka have both mentioned on multiple occasions recently that they’ll be going after a shooter or two in free agency.
At this point, Kyle Korver has been the only notable player the team is said to be interested in that fits that category. That will change once NBA free agency gets underway on July 1 when teams can officially start talking to players.
