The Los Angeles Lakers are on the clock, and fans wonder why they haven’t added anyone since the start of free agency.
The short answer is that they can’t, not at their projected roster and salary level.
As the Lakers stand—in large part due to the player options they gave to Cam Reddish, Christian Wood and Jaxson Hayes last year—they will have a full roster of 15 regular contracts once LeBron James and Max Christie officially re-sign.
LeBron’s agent, Rich Paul of Klutch Sports, told ESPN’s Dave McMenamin that the four-time MVP was open to taking less than his max salary if it enable the Lakers to sign an “impact player” such as Klay Thompson, James Harden and Jonas Valančiūnas. With all three off the board, James agreed to a two-year, $104 million max contract Wednesday, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, although he’s willing to take slightly less to keep the Lakers below the $188.9 million second apron.
Outside of two-way contracts, the Lakers no longer have the roster space to add anyone. Even if they did, they could only offer minimum-salary contracts to free agents.
The Lakers also can’t take back more salary in a trade than they send out without getting hard-capped at the $178.1 million first apron, and they’d be hard-capped at the second apron if they aggregate two or more contracts in a trade. Competing executives are aware of those restrictions and are eager to take advantage of the Lakers if they come calling for a deal.
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