The NBA market that is known for having the biggest free agency signings is none there than the Los Angeles Lakers. What is their expected cap space for this offseason?
The Los Angeles Lakers just had one of the biggest rollercoaster seasons in NBA history. A team that started off 2-10, was the No. 13 seed in the west at the trade deadline and miraculously made the Western Conference Finals.
If the last three months of the NBA season indicated anything, the Lakers still have a shot at the title for the 2023-24 NBA season but they need to make the right moves in free agency to put the correct roster around LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
What is the Lakers expected cap space?
The Lakers currently have five players under contract for next season:
- LeBron James — $53.3 million
- Anthony Davis — $40.6 million
- Mo Bamba — $10.3 million
- Jarred Vanderbilt — $4.7 million
- Max Christie — $1.7 million.
The Lakers do have a $16.5 million team option on guard Malik Beasley. They also own early bird rights on guard Austin Reaves and own bird rights to forward Rui Hachimura. Mo Bamba's deal is also only non-guaranteed which means they could waive him before June 29 to free up additional salary.
At the moment, the Lakers currently have $110.6 million guaranteed to give to players at the start of the 2024 season. The expected salary cap this offseason is roughly $134 million giving the Lakers just under $24 million to play with this offseason.
With owning the Bird rights to both Austin Reaves and Rui Hachimura, if they both accept their offers, it won't take a hit on the Lakers' salary cap. There is a pretty good chance that Austin Reaves will be offered a contract much bigger than the Lakers' bird rights. Meaning that if the Lakers want to keep Reaves, they have to match the bigger contract which will hurt them with their salary cap.
There is one more outlier that the Lakers have which is D'Angelo Russell, since he is eligible for a two-year, $67.5 million extension by June 30, he could be a key piece in a sign-and-trade for the Lakers that will allow the Lakers to keep and sign depth without taking a salary cap hit as well.
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