NBA 2024 Offseason Check-In: Los Angeles Lakers

Hoops Rumors is checking in on the 2024 offseason for all 30 NBA teams, recapping the summer’s free agent signings, trades, draft picks, departures, and more. We’ll take a look at each team’s offseason moves and consider what might still be coming before the regular season begins. Today, we’re focusing on the Los Angeles Lakers.

Free agent signings

• LeBron James: Two years, $101,355,998. Second-year player option. Includes no-trade clause and 15% trade kicker. Re-signed using Bird rights.
• Max Christie: Four years, $32,000,000. Fourth-year player option. Re-signed using Early Bird rights.
• Kylor Kelley: One year, minimum salary. Non-guaranteed (Exhibit 10). Signed using minimum salary exception.
• Quincy Olivari: One year, minimum salary. Non-guaranteed (Exhibit 10). Signed using minimum salary exception.

Trades

• None

Draft picks

• 1-17: Dalton Knecht
  • Signed to rookie scale contract (four years, $18,483,219).
• 2-55: Bronny James
  • Signed to four-year, minimum-salary contract ($7,895,796). First two years guaranteed. Third year partially guaranteed ($1,258,873). Fourth-year team option.

Two-way signings

• Colin Castleton
• Blake Hinson
  • Note: Hinson’s deal is for two years.
• Armel Traore

Departed/unsigned free agents

• Spencer Dinwiddie (Mavericks)
• Harry Giles (unsigned)
• Skylar Mays (unsigned)
• Taurean Prince (Bucks)

Salary cap situation

• Operating over the cap ($140.6MM), over the luxury tax line ($170.8MM), and between the first tax apron ($178.1MM) and second tax apron ($188.9MM).
• Carrying approximately $188.2MM in salary.
• No hard cap.
• Taxpayer mid-level exception ($5.2MM) available, but can’t be used due to proximity to second apron.

The offseason so far

Lakers forwards LeBron James and Anthony Davis have repeatedly shown, most recently at the 2024 Olympics in Paris, that they remain capable of performing at a superstar level and anchoring a contending team. But the Lakers’ front office wasn’t able to do much this summer to further fortify the supporting cast around James and Davis.

The Lakers’ cap limitations were a factor in the team’s relative inactivity. After re-signing James to a new two-year deal a little below the max and locking up restricted free agent Max Christie to a four-year, $32MM contract, the team’s salary is hovering just below the second tax apron. That means Los Angeles can’t offer more than the veteran’s minimum to any outside free agents.

The Lakers explored potential upgrades on the trade market, but they don’t really have the assets necessary to make any significant upgrades via that route either.

The team has reportedly been unwilling to seriously consider moving Austin Reaves, the best trade chip on the roster outside of James and Davis. Most of the other vets – Rui Hachimura, D’Angelo Russell, Gabe Vincent, Jarred Vanderbilt, and a series of minimum-salary players (Christian Wood, Jaxson Hayes, and Cam Reddish) – have neutral trade value at best, and L.A. can’t take back more salary than it sends out.

Ultimately, the Lakers appear likely to enter the 2024/25 season with a relatively similar roster to the one that finished the ’23/24 campaign. They’ll bet on internal improvement and will hope to get some contributions from their newly drafted rookies.

Christie’s new $32MM deal may have surprised some, but it could turn out to be a bargain if the 2022 second-round pick continues to develop into a reliable rotation piece. He’s a 37.8% career three-point shooter (in a limited sample) and has the tools to be a good defender. Jalen Hood-Schifino is another candidate to take a step forward following an underwhelming rookie year, though he doesn’t look quite as ready for an increased role as Christie.

As for the rookies, Bronny James got way more press this summer than first-round pick Dalton Knecht, and that trend figures to continue into the fall as Bronny and LeBron become the first father-son duo to suit up alongside one another in an NBA game. But it’s Knecht who is more likely to make an immediate impact for the Lakers.

The former Tennessee standout is a talented three-point shooter whose ability to spread the floor should be of immediate use to a team that ranked 24th last season in made three-pointers. Knecht’s strong Las Vegas Summer League showing (21.3 PPG, .391 3PT%) generated optimism that his adjustment to the NBA could be a relatively quick one — especially since, at age 23, he’s two years older than Christie and Hood-Schifino.

The most notable new addition the Lakers made this summer may actually have been on the sidelines rather than on the roster. The team parted ways with head coach Darvin Ham and replaced him with first-timer J.J. Redick, following a lengthy search that included a very public flirtation with UConn’s Dan Hurley.

While Redick’s ability to think creatively about the game shone through in his work as an analyst and podcaster, he doesn’t have any coaching experience at the NBA level, so hiring him to lead one of the league’s marquee franchises in one of the country’s largest markets is certainly a big swing. The Lakers reportedly envision Redick as a coach with elite upside who has the potential to stick in the job long-term, but he’ll find himself under the microscope early and often if L.A. doesn’t get off to a strong start this fall.

Up next

With 15 players on guaranteed contracts and three on two-way deals, the Lakers’ roster looks ready for the regular season. I imagine they’ll continue to keep an eye out for possible trades, but those are more likely to materialize during the season than before it.

Literally every player on the Lakers’ roster has signed a new contract since July 2023, so no one will be eligible for an extension ahead of opening night this fall. That means, barring some action on the trade market, the Lakers’ fall could end up being just as quiet from a transaction perspective as their summer has been.