Breaking Down Which Free Agent Lakers Team Should Retain This Summer
Following an incredibly active trade season, your Los Angeles Lakers face a potentially very busy offseason this summer.
Only three Los Angeles players -- stars LeBron James and Anthony Davis, plus current rookie Max Christie -- have fully guaranteed contracts for the 2023-24 NBA season.
The club holds team options on new reserve shooting guard Malik Beasley (for $16.5 million) and new backup big Mo Bamba (for $10.3 million). Austin Reaves and Rui Hachimura are restricted free agents, as are (technically) two-way players Scotty Pippen Jr. and Cole Swider.
Lonnie Walker IV, Dennis Schröder and Troy Brown Jr., whom LA signed to one-year deals during the 2022 offseason, will all be unrestricted free agents this summer.
Perhaps most importantly for the team's offseason plans, however, is the fate of currently injured starting point guard D'Angelo Russell, who will also be an unrestricted free agent in July. So all this is to say, this Lakers team could look very, very different pretty soon.
So I suppose the real question is: who should stay, and who should go?
A lot of this comes down to price. The most essential pieces, to yours truly at least, are the team's three best young guards in (in order of importance) Russell, Reaves and Beasley. It would be nice to hold onto Dennis Schröder too, but his play this season may earn him a pretty solid pay bump that could range anywhere from the room mid-level exception (estimated to be $5,853,000 by Luke Adams of Hoops Rumors) to the full mid-level ($11,368,000). Solid backup point guards can probably be found for less on the open market.
The full mid-level exception is probably where the bidding will start for the younger Reaves, who at just 24 still has room to continue growing as a playmaker, shooter and perimeter defender. Assuming someone doesn't try to sign him to what would amount to a "poison pill" deal for Los Angeles, he's worth trying to retain. The Lakers are said to have interest in doing so.
Russell seems likely to be the priciest piece here, and could fetch something in the range of Fred VanVleet's current four-year, $85 million deal. He's an above-average starting point guard, and though he's not the defender FVV is, he's got the physical tools to at least not be a pushover on that end of the floor. He's more of a score-first, pass-second brand of lead guard than a traditional offensive quarterback, but because he can nail shots from all over the hardwood, he's a great fit for these Lakers, as LeBron James oftentimes functions as the fulcrum of LA's offense, anyway. Los Angeles should keep D-Lo around... unless VanVleet himself (who has a player option) becomes available and the Lakers can manufacture a sign-and-trade with Russell.
Los Angeles apparently has interest in re-signing Hachimura to a deal approaching the three-year, $39 million contract it signed a prior combo forward (and former Washington Wizards teammate of Hachimura's), Kyle Kuzma. After a rocky start to his LA tenure, Hachimura has improved to be a more reliable catch-and-shoot option with some tantalizing athleticism that maybe, one day, can translate into his being a good defender. That money is a bit rich for a fairly inconsistent bench forward, but Hachimura fills a position of need for the team, so it may be worth doing anyway.
Bamba, who has been hurt for most of his LA tenure and was usually behind Wenyen Gabriel in Darvin Ham's rotations even when he did play, is a bit overpaid at his current salary. The Lakers will probably look elsewhere for a cheaper rim-protecting backup center this summer. Walker, on a $6.5 million one-year deal, has fallen out of Ham's rotation when the team is fully healthy, and seems likely to seek out greener pastures and more playing time elsewhere.
The final year of Beasley's deal is a bit steep, but he's such a valuable piece on this particular three-point-challenged Lakers team that it probably behooves the front office to keep him around and pick up his option. Brown is in line for some kind of raise thanks to his stellar two-way play. Like Walker and Schröder, LA has his Non-Bird Rights, and can re-sign him at 120% of his current $2 million deal even if it's over the salary cap (i.e. $2.4 million). That may not be quite enough. Los Angeles might have to carve out some cap space to keep TBJ.
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