Lakers News: A Look At LA's Cap Situation After New Free Agent Deals
Fans of the Los Angeles Lakers have to be quite happy with their free agency thus far! It doesn't look like much else will happen for them in the coming weeks other than probably signing another big man besides Jaxson Hayes but Rob Pelinka and the rest of the front office made sure to take care of business in the first two days.
Pretty much everything that realistically could have went right for the purple and gold ended up panning out for them. Reports had been surfacing over the past few months that Austin Reaves could receive offer sheets up to $100 million but it turns out that the Lakers were able to retain him for just $56 million. Rui Hachimura was also brought back for $51 million and D'Angelo Russell for $37 million.
At the end of the day, everybody should be quite happy. Even though D'lo's contract is the tradeable one here, he will get the opportunity to make good on his promise that one training camp under this team's belt will make the sky the limit. But wow, considering where this team was at with the Russell Westbrook contract under their belts, their finances are looking quite good right now. Here is an updated look at their cap situation right now.
"Austin Reaves cap hits: 2023-24: $12.02M 2024-25: $12.98M 2024-26: $13.94M 2026-27: $14.90M $400k less this season had he signed a big offer sheet. Lakers are $1.3M below the tax and $8.2M below the hard cap with 13 players after they sign Maxwell Lewis to a rookie minimum."
LA was able to bring in a number of serviceable players while avoiding being hard-capped and going over the luxury tax. Considering that they still have room to re-sign Mo Bamba on a smaller deal or possibly a different veteran, this is exactly what you want to see.
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