With the start of the NBA’s free agency period less than a month away, fans and media are making their predictions on where this year’s free agents are going to land. Being one of the biggest franchises in North America, recently acquiring Anthony Davis to pair alongside LeBron James, and having plenty of cap space left, the 2019 Lakers free agency plan is currently one of the biggest stories in all of sports. Big names such as Kyrie Irving and Kawhi Leonard have been thrown out as players the Lakers could sign. However, I don’t believe that the Lakers should go down that route in free agency.
Why No Max Players
Due to the timing of the AD trade, the deal is most likely going to be official on July 6. This means that the Lakers will no longer have $32.5 million in cap space to go after Kyrie or Kawhi. Even though the Lakers are rumored not the be their preferred destinations, it was still a possibility.
Now, the Lakers would have $27.7 million in cap assuming that Davis waives his $4 million trade bonus. That can be enough money to sway Kemba Walker or Jimmy Butler.
Most think that if a team had a chance to sign an All-Star to form a big four with two top-ten players and a promising young gun, they should do it. The Lakers would automatically become a superteam, right? They’d be a team that can definitely be the favorites to win the championship in a league that hasn’t been this wide open in years. All they have to do is fork over all of their change to a guy like Walker or Butler, and there you go, that’s the best team in basketball. However, using the entirety of their bank on one guy doesn’t look that good in the context of the Lakers’ current roster situation.
Right now, the Lakers only have six players under contract (LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Kyle Kuzma, Moritz Wagner, Isaac Bonga, and Jemerrio Jones). This means that they only have $27.7 million to go out and fill the rest of their roster. This leaves GM Rob Pelinka with the options of being a very top-heavy team or being a team with depth.
Let’s look at the two likely candidates to receive the max from the Lakers.
I understand that Kemba Walker is an elite scorer, but Kemba isn’t the guy the Lakers should sacrifice their depth for. If he signs to play in Tinseltown, he’d be put in a spot he’s never been in before. He’ll be the third option on most nights for a big market team that has a lot of pressure to win the championship. That’s a big adjustment for Walker since he’s spent his entire NBA career as the main guy for a small market team that’s never been a real title contender. Also, it’s not smart to pay a near-max price to a ball-dominate player to be the third option instead of dividing the money up to have a deeper team.
Even though he’s a top-20 player in the league, Jimmy Butler shouldn’t receive a max from the purple and gold. He’s an interesting player who can bring defense and playoff experience to L.A., but is he really that special that it’s worth giving up all of their depth? In today’s NBA, depth is very important.
If you don’t have that extra depth to aid your star players, you won’t win a title. Every NBA champion in the last decade was deep enough to have at least a few key players who are either non-star starters or bench players to help win. Players such as Fred VanVleet, Andre Iguodala, Mike Miller, and Shane Battier have all stepped up in big moments to help their top dogs be world champions. Iguodala even won Finals MVP without starting a single game throughout the 2014-15 regular season while playing for a team with three All-Stars.
This is why the Lakers should sign quality role players with the money instead of signing one player and using all of their remaining cap to do so.
Who Should The Lakers Sign?
If they’re taking my advice to sign quality role players instead of a max player, the question now is, who should they sign? Well, the Lakers will most likely have $27.7 million to spend. Most of the better role players go for around $8-14 million, so the Lakers can get around three or four good players to help their depth.
If they can steal Danny Green from the Toronto Raptors that would be great. It might be hard because he just came off a championship victory last week. If the Lakers aren’t able to sign Green then someone like JJ Redick should be plan B. He’d bring the shooting like Green, however, Green can bring more of a two-way game to the table while also being a bit cheaper. Let’s say for the sake of this article, Green wants to play in La La Land.
If there are two skill-sets the Lakers desperately need to target this offseason it’d be shooting and defense. Luckily for the Lakers, there’s an affordable guard on the market who can do both. Green is a guy who can start for the Lakers and be productive without taking many shots away from their big three.
Green is currently one of the best shooters in the league. The Lakers were the second-worst team from 3PT last season (33.3%). His 45.5% 3PT% can help them have a more open court. Green can sit on the wing on all of the offensive possessions and spot up.
Every LeBron fan knows how valuable shooters along the wing are. Shooters complement Bron’s game. As an all-time great passer, all he has to do is drive-and-kick to set up Green for an open splash. In all of the King’s finals victories, he had many shooters along the journey to knock down shots and even bail him out in certain situations. J.R. Smith, Ray Allen, Mike Miller, and Shane Battier have all been there for LeBron, especially in the big moments. Green fits right into that club as a sharpshooter in the NBA Finals. His career three-point percentage is 51.6% in the big dance. He hit many critical shots for the Spurs in their last title run and did so this year with the Raptors.
Not only can Green light it up from downtown, but he can also play some defense which the Lakers struggled to do in the second half of last season. Green is an above-average defender. He has the ninth-best defensive rating among active players (102.7), and he was on an All-Defensive team in the 2016-17 season. A starting two-way guard for $11 million or less will be the difference maker for the Lakers.
Assuming that Rajon Rondo returns and becomes the starting PG, Derrick Rose would be a great value pick up as their sixth man. It’s an essential position in basketball and is needed to win titles. Like I said before, guys like VanVleet, Iguodala, and Allen played crucial parts in the Finals. Rose would be that guy for the Lakers.
The Lakers wouldn’t even have to spend that much money on Rose. He should make no more than $5-6 million. That’s very affordable for a guy who’s coming off a bounce-back season.
A deal with Rose could be more than a fantasy since the Lakers would look at him if they can’t land an A-list free agent. At this point in his career, I doubt Rose would dismiss a chance to win his first Larry O’Brien trophy.
Despite his age and history of health issues, the former MVP proved last season that he’s still capable of contributing. He can fill many voids that ex-Laker Lonzo Ball couldn’t. Rose can provide a nice scoring punch for the Lakers off the bench to take a bit of the load off of the big three. He averaged 18 PPG on 48.2% shooting last season and showed an improved three-point shot that he can hit if need be (37% last season).
Rose can also help the Lakers free throw woes. Last season, they were the second-worst free throw shooting team (69.9%). Having LeBron on your squad doesn’t help, but replacing Lonzo with a better shooter at the line in D Rose makes the team better. What’s important but isn’t a statistic is that Rose has experience playing with LeBron. They only had a short tango together in Cleveland, but at least playing with LeBron and the pressure/attention he brings to a team is nothing new.
At 29 years old, and in the prime of his career, PF Marcus Morris will be the last solid role player the Lakers could afford before they have to use the league minimum on the rest of their team. The combo forward would be an excellent fit to back up Kuzma. Morris can bring a consistent offensive two-way game to the bench unit and even on some nights with the starters.
Morris brings scoring to the bench group. He can help the Lakers spacing issues on the outside while adding a mid-range game as well. In his 2018-19 campaign with the Celtics, Morris racked up 13.9 PPG on a career-high 44.7% from the field and 37.5% from 3PT.
To help the Lakers on the defensive side of the ball, Morris brings the hard-nosed style of play while also grabbing a few rebounds (6.1 RPG in 2018-19). For $10-13 million a season on a multi-year deal, Morris being in the Lakers’ arsenal can help elevate the team to heights they haven’t reached in a decade.
Final Thoughts
Since the Lakers most likely won’t be able to sign Kawhi or Kyrie, they should divide up their cap space and sign a few good quality role players. The Lakers should invest their cap in getting two-way players and bench scorers. Then, with a few spots remaining, they could fill the rest of their roster with guys like Lance Stephenson, Gerald Green, and Mike Scott on minimum deals. The guys on minimum deals aren’t the best players, but they can come in at any time and get a few buckets.
Here’s what the Lakers rotation should be at the start of the season:
Starters: G Rajon Rondo, G Danny Green, F LeBron James, F Kyle Kuzma, C Anthony Davis
Sixth man: G Derrick Rose
Bench: F Marcus Morris, G Lance Stephenson, F Mike Scott, C Moritz Wagner
That’s what Rob Pelinka and the Lakers should do. Use that $27.7 million to form a deeper team instead of having a bench filled with six guys from L.A. Fitness because they signed Jimmy or Kemba.
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