The Los Angeles Lakers have two main options in free agency this summer. They can operate as a team with salary cap space, which means renouncing the rights to LeBron James, Rui Hachimura, Luke Kennard and their other free agents, or they can operate as an over-the-cap team.
The first option would give them use of the $9.4 room mid-level exception, which the second option would open up the $15 non-taxpayer mid-level exception. It is hoped that the Lakers will end up upgrading at the center position, but it will be difficult to do so in either scenario.
Bobby Marks, ESPN’s NBA salary cap expert, said that their best option for upgrading at the 5 would be through a trade, and he feels L.A. should be willing to give up plenty of capital.
“If I was in the Lakers’ shoes, I would not rely on cap space. I would basically sign LeBron James to a $30 million contract and I’d bring back Luke Kennard and I’d bring back Rui Hachimura and then I’d go out and get a center in the trade market. That’s going to be the best option for the Lakers.
“Dave McMenamin wrote he (Luka Doncic) wants an ‘A-list center.’ You’re not finding that in free agency. … Go out and use your two first-round picks in ’31 and ’33 and then target a center to bring back.”
The Lakers have been linked to soon-to-be free agent centers such as Walker Kessler, Jalen Duren and Mitchell Robinson. They’re reportedly set to offer Robinson their full non-taxpayer mid-level exception, but Marks cautioned that Robinson is “not a full-time center” but merely a “rotational player.”
Kessler and Duren will be restricted free agents, and the Utah Jazz and Detroit Pistons, respectively, are expected to match any offer both big men receive from other teams. In general, it is uncommon for NBA players to switch teams in restricted free agency since a player’s current team has the right to match any offer, and once it does, it retains said player.
This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: Bobby Marks’ advice to Lakers for upgrading at center position
Reporting by Robert Marvi, LeBron Wire / LeBron Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Robert Marvi, LeBron Wire | USA TODAY Network
