Pelinka and the Lakers are not blindly chasing stars, and the Lakers and James have a better chance of winning the championship next season
Originally compiled from: The Athletic
Written by Jovan Buha
原标题：Lakers ditch the usual star-chasing for sensible free-agent decisions to augment their core
Less than 24 hours into NBA free agency, the Lakers executed their booked plan to restore and upgrade last season's core roster with minor fixes that made them one of the biggest winners early in the offseason.
The Lakers maintained continuity with their roster for next season and perfected the roster on the second day of free agency, retaining starting backcourt Austin Reeves (4 years, about $56 million, fourth-year player option) and D'Angelo Russell (2 years, $37 million, second-year player option), while signing backup center Hayes for two years with a veteran base salary, with a player option the following year. Just a day ago, the Lakers reached a deal with Vincent, Prince and Reddish to renew Hachimura's contract at the same time.
Reeves, Russell and Hachimura are the three players the team needs to keep the most. Given the rapidly changing free agent market, Los Angeles finally had a firm grip on renewing free agency, which was reflected in every contract they signed.
By far, the Lakers' biggest move has been to retain Reeves, which brings the team's total number of players to 13. The Lakers managed to scare away other interested teams in the market, most notably the San Antonio Spurs and Houston Rockets. No team with salary space is willing to offer Reeves a four-year, $102 million max contract if the Lakers are to match anyway.
Instead, the Lakers will pay Reeves almost half of their salary over four years. Reeves' contract size will be the same for the first two seasons no matter what contract he signs, but if the Lakers are forced to match the highest offer from another team, the contract size for the next two seasons will be increased, which will affect the Lakers' roster building for the 2025-26 and 2026-27 seasons. In exchange, Reeves gets the player option in the fourth year and could enter free agency in 2026, when he will be 28.
If Reeves is an unrestricted free agent, he will most likely agree to a contract worth more than $100 million in the offseason. The 6-foot-5 defender just turned 25 and is the third-best player on a team that has reached the Western Conference Finals. In the final 10 games of the regular season, when Reeves became a starter, he averaged 18.3 points, 3.3 rebounds and 6.1 assists while shooting 57.1 percent from the field, 48.6 percent from three-point range and 89.8 percent from the free-throw line.
Reeves continued his stellar performance in the playoffs, averaging 16.9 points, 4.4 rebounds, 4.6 assists in 16 games with the Lakers shooting 46.4 percent from the field and 44.3 percent from three-point range. There were only three players of the same caliber in the last playoffs: Nikola Jokic, Devin Booker and Kawhi Leonard (although Leonard only played two playoff games). Team USA sees Reeves as a young player on the rise and invited him to the FIBA World Cup this summer.
According to team sources who are not authorized to speak publicly, the Lakers plan to give Reeves more control of the offense next season, unleashing the point guard skills he demonstrated in his first two years in the league.
The Lakers also signed Russell, their starting point guard, at a reasonable price, who helped the team reach the Western Conference Finals but did not perform well in the Western Conference finals. The 27-year-old is one of the more limited guards in the free agent market, but the one-time All-Star's three-point shooting percentage (41.1 percent regular-season shooting since joining the Lakers in February) and playmaking (6.1 assists per game in Los Angeles) are great.
He's a better player and a better fit for the Lakers than Russell Westbrook. But Russell's market is cold. His struggles and defensive deficiencies in the playoffs make it difficult for him to be the first choice for a team aspiring to compete for a championship. Russell's stats dropped dramatically in the 2023 playoffs, ranging from points (17.4 to 13.3) to assists (6.1 to 4.6), shooting percentage (41.4 to 31.0) to three-point shooting (41.4 to 31.0). He was particularly poor against the Nuggets in the Western Conference Finals, averaging 6.8 points per game while shooting 32.2 percent from the field and losing his starting spot in Game 4.
While other teams rushed to fill the void at the point guard position, including former Heat guard Vincent of the Lakers and former teammate Schroder who went to the Raptors, Russell signed a short contract to return to Los Angeles as the only reasonable option. This is a temporary one for both sides. The Lakers could trade Russell for the 2023-24 season, and Russell could also opt out and sign with another team next summer. (One small catch: Russell has the right to veto any deal, but as Duncan noted on Twitter, the new collective bargaining allows teams and players the ability to negotiate the ability to waive that right as part of contract discussions.) It's unclear if the Lakers and Russell did so on this contract. )
In the second low-stakes gamble of the offseason (the other was Reddish), the Lakers signed 23-year-old Hayes, who played for the New Orleans Pelicans. With the addition of Hayes (8th overall pick in 2019), Hachimura (9th pick) and Reddish (10th pick), the Lakers have three 2019 NBA mid-course lottery picks.
At 6'11", Hayes is an ambitious man who is an excellent runner, high hanger and blocker. During his career, he shot 75.2 percent from within three feet, with an elite-level ability. Some questioned his concentration and awareness. He's still improving as a shooter, and his three-point shooting has been inconsistent for the first two seasons. On the defensive end, he can make game-changing performances, but also has a tendency to get into foul trouble. It's unclear whether he's better suited to play power forward or center; In fact, his best performance is now in the 2021-22 season, when he played power forward next to Valanciunas.
If the Lakers plan to use Hayes as their primary backup center and starter in the event of an injury to Anthony Davis, they will take on a mid-level risk. Hayes was replaced by Larry Nance Jr. in the Pelicans' rotation, a season in which he played the fewest minutes (averaging 13.0 minutes per game) and the fewest appearances (47) in his four-year career. Last year, Hayes was sentenced to 450 hours of community service, 52 weeks of domestic violence classes and three years of probation after he did not plead to two misdemeanor charges following a July 2021 domestic violence incident with his girlfriend in Woodland Hills, California.
Here's a depth map of the Lakers' current roster, which has a total of 13 players.
The lineup we predict is not certain. Team sources told The Athletic that Russell was the hottest starting point guard, but he could have earned the spot if Vincent had performed better than Russell in training camp. After investing heavily in Hachimura this summer, the Lakers hope he can continue to thrive in the playoffs, and although he was a backup player in the regular season, he will be a starter next season. The Lakers are also flexible in position, with Jared Vanderbilt, Prince, Max Christie and Reddish each playing at least two positions. We can even see Hayes and Davis playing together.
Based on their first-year salary under their new contract, the Lakers' total salary will be around $165 million, with 13 players in it. That means they have about $7 million under the $172 million first tier hard hat line, with two open list slots. The Lakers can still offer Malik Beasley or Lonnie Walker IV a contract above base salary (Note: Beasley and Walker were still unsigned at the time of publication.) But it's unclear if any of them will fit into this rotation, as Reeves, Russell, Vincent, Prince and Christie already have playing time in three outside positions (not to mention James, as well as this year's rookies Jalen Hood-Schifino and Maxwell Lewis).
According to the team, the Lakers are targeting another big man at the 14th roster position. They are likely to enter the season with 14 guaranteed contracts, leaving a vacancy. Bamba, who was cut by the Lakers on Thursday, and Tristan Thompson, who joined the team before the playoffs, remain options to fill No. 14, according to league sources. So far, there aren't many options for interior players in the free agent market, so the Lakers can also wait for better options.
It was his first public comment since hinting at retirement after losing Game 4 to the Nuggets for the Lakers, and James endorsed every Lakers trade in his Instagram Story. The Lakers will continue to operate, and he will return strongly next season.
If the Lakers sign another reliable big man, their offseason operation will be a huge success. Their decision-making process is calm and steady, in stark contrast to some of the high-profile mistakes they've made this past offseason, when chasing stars and experienced role players.
They didn't sacrifice their role players to chase Irving or VanVleet as they did in the 2021 trade for Wilson. Instead, they kept two of the most promising young players in the playoffs (Reeves and Hachimura), added two above-average three-point shooters (Vincent and Prince) to meet the needs of role players in the rotation, and made two low-risk adjustments in height and athleticism, selecting Hayes and Reddish with the top 10 picks. Given his playoff viability and role on a competitive team, the decision to keep Russell on a short-term contract was a no-brainer, but he's at least a consistent regular-season contributor and should also have value as a pseudo-expiring contract ahead of the trade deadline.
Among the many contenders, the Lakers are one of the few teams that have worked well since the start of the free agent market. (Of course, this may change in an instant, depending on where Damian Lillard and James Harden stand.) The Phoenix Suns brought in Bradley Beal to form one of the league's best trios and hammered out a bunch of fringe players, tossing Chris Paul. The Golden State Warriors need to incorporate Paul into their style of play. The Denver Nuggets are still the favorite team in the West and NBA, but their loss of Bruce Brown dealt a blow to them. If the Clippers can complete Harden's huge deal, they'll be the next super team, but they haven't done it yet. In theory, the Boston Celtics are the most talented team in the league, but the departure of Marcus Smart also has some impact on them. The Milwaukee Bucks have retained Middleton and Grand Lopez, extending their championship core window, but they haven't added any notable signings. The Miami Heat, who just reached the NBA Finals, were the biggest favorites to acquire Lillard, but they lost key role players Vincent and Strus.
The Lakers have boosted their roster, even if only a little. They did their best with the resources available to maintain the core ingredient of the Western Conference Finals, and they went 19-8 in their last 27 regular-season games, including a play-off victory over the Timberwolves. Head coach Hamm and his staff have a summer to prepare for the new team and a full training camp, and the team should get better.
Faced with multiple paths, the Lakers chose the wisest one: keep their best free agents and make reasonable upgrades that would give them the chance to chase their 18th championship next season.