- Since they’re teammates, Lakers rookie Bronny James can’t refer to LeBron James as “dad” when they’re on the court together, according to Chuck Schilken of The Los Angeles Times (subscriber only).
- The Lakers re-signed LeBron James on a two-year deal this summer but the franchise seems poised to waste the future Hall of Famer’s remaining years, Bill Plaschke of the Los Angeles Times opines. The team needs another star to compete with the other Western Conference contenders and the front office has done very little to upgrade the roster this offseason, Plaschke adds.
Appearing on the Petros and Money radio show on AM 570 Los Angeles, Lakers governor Jeanie Buss explained the team’s decision to hire J.J. Redick as its new head coach. While he was a longtime NBA sharpshooter, Redick lacks high-level coaching experience.
“We wanted to kind of think a different way,” Buss said, per HoopsHype. “Really, he’s got a vision. I’m not comfortable talking about the basketball stuff, but we were looking for a candidate that would bring something different and really invest in developing young players.
“J.J. is the right person for us. Again, I just want to work to really speak for itself, so I don’t want to hype it and say it’s gonna be a home run. We have to give him time to establish what he wants to establish.
“I’m really impressed with his staff. Right now, it’s not mandatory for the players to come in and practice but players are coming in and working out. The coaching staff with Nate McMillan and Scotty Brooks, there’s a lot of experience that will be there for him to make that adjustment to being a head coach. … He knows what this league is about and I think he’ll be a great leader.”
Here’s more from the Pacific:
- The Lakers have hired Dr. Leroy Sims to be their new director of player performance and health, the team announced in a press release (Twitter link via Jovan Buha of The Athletic). Sims, who was most recently the NBA’s senior vice president, head of medical operations, was also Golden State’s medical director and team physician from 2011-14.
- The Warriors will hold their training camp this fall in Hawaii instead of their home arena, the Chase Center, writes Monte Poole of NBC Sports Bay Area. As Poole explains, while holding the camp in Honolulu will be costly, the team views it as a necessary expense to “promote healthy bonding” amid major changes to the roster and coaching staff.
- Theo Lawson of The Spokesman-Review details Isaac Jones‘ unusual NBA journey, which included playing for a junior college in Washington for multiple seasons before he received a Division I offer. Jones signed a two-way contract with the Kings after going undrafted out of Washington State in June. “I wasn’t supposed to be here, but kept my head down and grinded and now I’m here,” he said. “It can all change in like two days. It happened so fast, so don’t take anything for granted and just work hard.”
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.
Warriors All-NBA point guard Stephen Curry is eligible for a one-season, $62.6MM contract extension prior to October 21. He could also wait until the 2025 offseason to seek a two-year deal worth a projected $130MM, Marc Stein writes in his latest Substack story.
Stein notes that, having missed out on Jazz All-Star Lauri Markkanen and Sixers All-Star Paul George, Golden State continues looking for opportunities to upgrade the roster via trade. The Warriors believe they have the current and future assets necessary to do just that.
Last year’s Warriors went 46-36, finishing with just the No. 10 seed in the Western Conference. Golden State failed to make the playoffs after falling to the Kings in the play-in tournament.
Curry, 36, had yet another excellent individual year. The 10-time All-Star averaged 26.4 points on .450/.408/.923 shooting splits, 5.1 assists, 4.5 rebounds, and 0.7 steals in 74 games.
Here are some other key notes from Stein’s newest Substack article:
- According to Stein, there’s a belief that the Lakers would have “reluctantly” engaged in trade discussions to send All-NBA combo forward LeBron James to the Warriors, so he could join then-future Team USA colleague Curry and friend Draymond Green, if that’s what James had wanted. However, Stein’s sources say that Klutch Sports CEO Rich Paul, James’ longtime agent, urged both L.A. and Golden State to scrap the idea — in part because Paul didn’t want James to be faced with criticism for jumping teams for a fourth time.
- Sixers All-Star center Joel Embiid, fresh off winning his first Olympic gold medal for Team USA this summer, hinted that he might be interested in playing for his native Cameroon during the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. However, as Stein writes, a player over the age of 17 can only change his country affiliation if he receives clearance from FIBA and his previous country (in this case, USA Basketball). Stein is skeptical that Embiid will be permitted to do so.
- According to Stein, free agent center Omer Yurtseven was one of several players to recently work out for the Knicks, who opted not to sign him at that time. Greek club Panathinaikos reportedly remains intrigued by the 7-footer. New York lost its 2023/24 starting center, Isaiah Hartenstein, to the Thunder in free agency, and no doubt needs to get creative filling out its frontcourt depth, so Yurtseven would have made sense as a fringe rotation option. Across three NBA seasons with the Heat and Jazz, the big man has appeared in 113 contests (24 starts), averaging 5.0 points, 4.6 rebounds and 0.7 steals per night.
- Hornets point guard Vasilije Micic is considered a potential down-the-road trade target for the Nuggets, given his close relationship with Nikola Jokic, Stein writes. Micic may not be a practical option for Denver at this point though, given his $7.7MM salary and the team’s proximity to the tax aprons. Acquired midway through his 2023/24 rookie season, the 6’5″ guard averaged 10.8 points and 6.2 assists across 30 games for Charlotte down the stretch.
The Warriors‘ biggest offseason priority was to bring in a high-level, established scorer next to Stephen Curry, according to The Athletic’s Anthony Slater. That’s why Golden State targeted both Paul George and Lauri Markkanen, though the team came away with neither. While the general sentiment is that the Warriors did well for itself to bring in players like Buddy Hield, De’Anthony Melton and Kyle Anderson, Slater ponders whether the team is failing Curry.
Slater acknowledges that striking out on Markkanen may not have been management’s fault. According to Slater, Markkanen’s availability felt more like a mirage and him extending with Utah always seemed like the intended outcome.
Curry hasn’t shown any signs of unease or unrest with the roster, Slater adds. The two-time MVP is extension-eligible, and there has been no indication that either side feels less than optimistic about getting a deal done, though it won’t happen in the near future as Curry unwinds after the Paris Olympics.
While Curry could choose to sign a one-year extension by the October 21 deadline for the sake of security, it’s possible he’ll prefer to play out the season to see if the young players develop and if the new veterans fit in well. It would also be helpful to see if Draymond Green stays out of the league’s spotlight this season and if Andrew Wiggins bounces back, Slater writes. If Curry doesn’t sign an extension by Oct. 21, he’ll be eligible again next summer.
The Warriors themselves believe they improved this season, with internal team models providing a positive outlook for their veteran additions. One rival’s metric model projects the club to finish fourth in the West, Slater notes. Still, Curry’s decision on an extension before the deadline of Oct. 21 may provide a hint of his confidence level in the roster.
We have more from the Pacific Division:
- The Paris Olympics are another major reason the Lakers should continue to be aggressive in looking for roster upgrades, Jovan Buha of The Athletic reports. LeBron James and Anthony Davis played major roles in the gold medal run, with James earning Olympics MVP honors. In Buha’s view, Davis has established himself as a top-10 NBA player and James remains firmly in that conversation too, so the tandem remains more than capable of contending for championships. Two-way wings are still a need for the team, Buha writes, but they could look to get creative in optimizing their stars with the talent on board, perhaps by playing Davis alongside another big more often or using their young shooters like Dalton Knecht and Max Christie.
- In a similar piece, Michael Pina of The Ringer opines that the Lakers needed to bring in more veteran talent around James this offseason. The only players currently on Los Angeles’s standard roster who weren’t on last year’s team are Knecht and Bronny James. For my money though, I’ll be curious to see how they deploy their young talent this season. While the team didn’t make major veteran moves, Knecht was widely regarded as one of the biggest draft steals and players like Christie, Maxwell Lewis or Jalen Hood-Schifino could play themselves into the rotation or show enough promise to be used to trade for vets.
- The new Clippers arena, Intuit Dome, had its grand opening on Thursday, Law Murray of The Athletic relays. The arena’s features, like the halo board, have gone viral through the last year and it marks the first time since 1998 that the Clippers won’t shares Staples Center/Crypto.com Arena with their rival Lakers. The 2024/25 regular season home opener for L.A. is against Phoenix on Oct. 23.
The Lakers will retire Michael Cooper‘s No. 21 jersey on January 13 when they host San Antonio, the team announced (via Twitter).
A Los Angeles native, Cooper was inducted to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in April. He won five championships while spending his entire NBA playing career with the Lakers. Cooper was primarily known for his excellent defense, earning eight All-Defensive nods and winning Defensive Player of the Year in 1987.
Cooper averaged 8.9 PPG, 3.2 RPG, 4.2 APG and 1.2 SPG while shooting 46.9% from the floor and 83.3% from the free throw line in 873 regular season games from 1978-90. He primarily came off the bench, only starting 94 contests, though he was certainly a valuable sixth man, averaging 27.1 MPG in his career.
Cooper has coached for several different organizations since his playing days ended, including as an assistant for the Lakers and Nuggets. He was briefly interim head coach of Denver as well. Cooper won back-to-back WNBA titles as head coach of the Los Angeles Sparks in 2001 and 2002 and also won a D League title with the Albuquerque Thunderbirds in 2006 (the D League has since been rebranded as the NBA G League).
Now 68, Cooper is currently a men’s assistant coach at Cal State Los Angeles. The Division II school had its best-ever season in 2023/24, notes Paul Helms of the university’s website.
Warner Bros. Discovery is suing the NBA after being excluded from the new broadcast rights package, but Kenny Smith isn’t worried about how that might affect what will likely be the final year of “Inside the NBA,” writes Greg Rajan of The Houston Chronicle. Smith, who has been with the network since his playing career ended in 1998, insists that nothing will change inside the studio.
“No, because we do our jobs,” he said. “Our job is to talk (about) the game and give insight and also give you insight about what’s going on behind the scenes with TNT. Like, ‘Hey, we’re not happy.’ That’s part of what makes us different. I don’t think any other network would allow or want their talent to talk about things like that. We’re going to do it, no matter what happens.
“But again, we’ve had a great run. If it continues, it’ll be great. But also, there are massive opportunities for the four of us — again, to create ownership opportunities to make sure our directors, producers, makeup, stats and audio people are still part of one of the greatest shows in sports TV history.”
Smith views the possible end of the network’s affiliation with the NBA as an opportunity for the show to reach out into other areas. He compares it to what Adam Sandler or Peyton and Eli Manning are doing with their companies, providing a chance to create a new brand in sports television.
There’s more from around the basketball world:
- More details on the 2024/25 NBA schedule continue to leak out ahead of the official announcement at 3:00 pm ET on Thursday. The Nuggets will host the Thunder on October 24 in the season opener for both teams, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). It will be a matchup of the top two seeds in the West last season. After facing the Clippers October 23 in the first game at the new Inuit Dome, the Suns will stay in Los Angeles to take on the Lakers October 25 before hosting the Mavericks in their home opener a night later, tweets Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic. The Kings will have two six-game road trips during the season, sources tell James Ham of Kings Beat (Twitter link). One in January will have them face the Nuggets, Knicks, Nets, Sixers, Thunder and Timberwolves, and another from March 29 to April 7 will feature games against the Magic, Pacers, Wizards, Hornets, Cavaliers and Pistons.
- Former NBA players Charlie Brown Jr. and Deonte Burton will be among the players representing the G League United in a pair of September exhibition games, the league announced (Twitter links).
- Duke and Rutgers will be the top destinations for NBA scouts when the college basketball season begins, observes Adam Zagoria of NJ.com. The Blue Devils have the projected No. 1 pick in the 2025 draft, Cooper Flagg, along with Khaman Maluach, a probable lottery selection who played for South Sudan in the Olympics. The Scarlet Knights’ Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper are also in contention for the top spot in next year’s draft.
6:26pm: Both moves are official, the Lakers announced (via Twitter).
1:09pm: The Lakers have signed free agents Kylor Kelley and Quincy Olivari to Exhibit 10 contracts, according to reports from Jovan Buha of The Athletic and Trevor Lane of Lakers Nation (Twitter links). Olivari’s agreement with the team was first reported in June, but Lane indicates that it’s official now (Twitter link).
Kelley, who went undrafted out of Oregon State in 2020, has played in the G League and a handful of other non-NBA leagues – including in England and Denmark – since going pro.
The 7’0″ center spent the 2023/24 season with the Maine Celtics, Boston’s affiliate, and earned NBAGL All-Defensive honors after averaging a league-leading 2.9 blocks per game in 29 regular season appearances (22.0 MPG). Kelley, 26, also contributed 7.8 points and 5.7 rebounds per contest.
Olivari, meanwhile, was a two-time All-CUSA honoree during his four seasons at Rice who transferred to Xavier for his final season of NCAA eligibility in 2023/24. The 6’2″ guard posted averages of 19.1 points, 5.6 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.4 steals per night last season, with shooting splits of .425/.409/.814.
Olivari played for the Lakers’ Summer League team last month, while Kelley suited up for the Thunder’s Summer League squad.
A player on an Exhibit 10 contract can earn a bonus worth up to $77.5K if he’s waived by his NBA team and then spends at least 60 days with his club’s G League affiliate. Exhibit 10 deals can also be converted to two-way contracts before the start of the regular season.
The Lakers now have 20 players under contract, including 15 on guaranteed standard deals and three on two-way pacts.
Could some of the gold-medal winners from Team USA pair up in the future on an NBA team? Sam Amick of The Athletic explores that topic, noting that superstar-laden teams are sometimes born out of their bonding experiences with USA Basketball.
A LeBron James–Stephen Curry pairing seems unlikely now that LeBron’s son is on the Lakers roster and Curry would like to finish his career with the Warriors. Could Golden State eventually wind up with Durant-Curry reunion or a Devin Booker–Curry backcourt? Suns owner Mat Ishbia has squashed talk of trading his stars but Amick speculates that could change if Phoenix flops in the postseason again.
We have more USA Basketball-related news:
- If Kevin Durant wants to play for Team USA in Los Angeles, team officials would like to have him back, according to ESPN’s Brian Windhorst (hat tip to Zach Bachar of Bleacher Report). “I would not rule out KD playing, and I talked with Team USA officials, and they would give him a provisional yes right now,” Windhorst said on The Hoop Collective. Durant has already set the Olympic record with four gold medals in men’s basketball. Durant, who averaged 13.8 points and 3.2 rebounds in Paris off the bench, will be 39 in 2028.
- Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton hopes to retain his spot on Team USA in future Olympics, according to Scott Agness of Fieldhouse Files. He informed managing director Grant Hill that he’d welcome an invite to the Los Angeles Games. “I’ve told Grant — I’ve said it many times — I want to represent USA Basketball for as long as I can,” Haliburton said. He was essentially the 12th man on this year’s squad, averaging 8.8 minutes in three appearances. He was dealing with a minor leg injury during the tournament.
- Magic forward Paolo Banchero, a member of USA’s last World Cup team, was under serious consideration for the Paris Olympics, according to Joe Vardon of The Athletic. He’s a player Hill wants to feature in future Olympics. In the same piece, Vardon speculates which players from this year’s gold medal squad might be back for 2028.