It can be said that the Lakers have no more suitable signing than Malik Munch in the offseason, although he was questioned a lot during his time with the Charlotte Hornets, but he did not expect that when the Lakers were in trouble, it was he who stood up first, and now Munch is playing the best basketball of his career.
The Lakers' current focus should definitely be to keep him in his current hot state for a long time, since entering the starting lineup, Munch's statistics are crazy, averaging 22.2 points per game, and the shooting rate is ridiculously high, especially in the past 7 games, his three-point shooting rate is close to 50%. So how much will it cost the Lakers to keep Munch after the season? He joined this season on a one-year veteran base salary worth $1.7 million, and the Lakers had to first try to get him to sign a contract that would work in the team's favor.
At present, it seems unlikely that the Lakers want to send Russell Westbrook before the trade deadline, so the Lakers have no salary space to speak of, so the highest contract that the Lakers can offer munch is a middle-class exception (about $10 million per year), if Munch accepts, then you can wait for the Lakers to have salary space before signing a long contract. For the Lakers, Westbrook's contract will expire at the end of next season, and once Westbrook leaves, the Lakers can easily give Munch a big four-year contract, which can also allow him to continue to get the opportunity to start at the Lakers. But the problem is that if Munch continues to play like this, there will be plenty of other teams after this season to join him.