Having spent the 2017 offseason clearing long-term salary from their books and signing new players to one-year deals, the Lakers haven’t hid the fact that they’re looking to make a huge splash in free agency in 2018. However, during an appearance on Spectrum Sportsnet’s “Connected With” series, president of basketball operations Magic Johnson suggested that the Lakers could save a portion of their cap room for 2019 if the club is unable to land two stars in 2018, per Harrison Faigen of Lakers Nation.
“We have cap space for probably two max guys, but that’s not to say we’ll use both of them,” Johnson said. “We want to if we can, but we have a Plan A and we have Plan B. Say we only get one of those guys, then we’ll make a decision on not to use the cap space. We can do that and save it for the class that’s coming the next year. We’re not going to give money away just because we have the cap space. I’m not about that.”
Although the Lakers have set themselves up to create a huge chunk of cap room for 2018, the team still has nearly $50MM in guaranteed salary on its books for next season, so additional moves would be required to clear enough room for two maximum-salary players. Waiving Luol Deng and trading Jordan Clarkson would likely do the trick for the Lakers, but if the team recognizes that it won’t be able to land two stars in free agency, it might make sense to hang onto Deng and Clarkson a little longer, potentially jettisoning them down the road.
Having been fined earlier this year for tampering with Paul George and the Pacers, Johnson won’t make the mistake of again discussing specific targets for the summer of 2018, but he pointed to the Celtics’ acquisition of Kyrie Irving as an example of a star player helping to take a young team to another level. That’s the sort of player Johnson and the Lakers will be targeting in free agency, with George, LeBron James, and DeMarcus Cousins among the stars likely to be on the club’s shopping list.
If the Lakers can’t land a player or two of that caliber, it would be smart to maintain flexibility for the summer of 2019. As Faigen notes in his piece at Lakers Nation, contracts like Deng’s and Timofey Mozgov‘s were the result of the 2016 Lakers using up all their cap room on non-stars, so that’s not a mistake the club’s new management group wants to repeat.
Cousins is the only max free agent the Lakers should be thinking about. Trade Randle this year to Sac for Buddy. Resign KCP for 4 years 48 mil. Let Lopez, Bogut and Brewer walk after the season. Trade A package of Hart, Ennis and Zubac for a bench SF. Sign a veteran back up PG. Next year they can have a starting lineup of…
Ball
KCP
Imgram
Kuzma
Cousins
Bench…
Nance
Clarkson
Buddy Heild
Thomas Bryant
Veteran PG??? (shooter)
Small Forward (shooter)
Keep Deng’s contract for another year and have cap space for 2018. This team is a couple years away. Signing LeBron or George do nothing for 2017 except stunt the development of Ingram and Kuzma.
Why the eff would sacr@mento take Randell for hield?
Randle is perfect for Sac, learn from Randolph and he is young they both play the same style. Heild doesn’t even start for Sac. Its a win win for both teams. IMO
Cauley-Stein
Randle
Bogdanivic
Fox
That is a damn good young core for a rebuilding team.
Except for the fact that I’m pretty sure Randle is about to be a restricted free agent so they’d be trading for the right to pay him too much money, plus I’d rather have Hield anyway
First things first, KCP is making 17 mil this year so the contract would have to be at least 17 mil a year. Second, Hield is better than Randle and hasn’t had a major injury before.
Why would the Lakers take Heild for Randle.
*Cap space for 2019
*nothing for 2018
Boogie sucks no matter how much a beast he is. Embid is better and acts like a man. Embid is the real beast and has a great personality. Hope the Lakers do get Boogie. Also no way Buddy Heild is better then Randle.
I don’t see LBJ going to any team in the West. Its like Tom Brady vs Manning. Put Peyton in the East and it’s TB12 v #18 every year.
Lakers should go after Boogie and George. Call it a day and pray Ball develops. No matter what they are at best a 4 seed. West is too good atm.
Pretty sure KCP will find something way better then 4 for 48m.
Heild was the centerpiece for cousins no way they trade him for one year of randle since he’s a potential rental as well.
Heild is a 6th man at the very best and KCP isnt good enough to warrant more then 12mil a year.
I’m hoping the Lakers go after Cousins. I like that Ingram is starting to become the player they hoped for although his free throwing shooting needs improvement, I love Kuzma as well. I’d hate to see them get a player that would take away from their playing time and stunt their growth as a player. Maybe get Cousins and George and play George as SG. Have a line up of
Ball
George
Cousins
Kuzma
Ingram
I think that’s a pretty good lineup. Not sure if it’ll happen. I keep hearing all this Lebron talk but I just don’t see it happening although I’d love for it to happen. If they did have a shot at him I’d try to get Cousins and Lebron instead of Lebron and George. I just don’t know how realistic it is that we even get one superstar let alone two but if we can get one i would love to get Cousins, the guys a beast.
Better snap up George, offer to Lopez, and get ingram ready to cover guards. Cousins likes it where he is, & James will stay east.