The Los Angeles Lakers seem to have become street rats in the free agent market for the 2024 offseason, and everyone avoids them. As a traditional giant, the Lakers have no star willing to join the Lakers in the offseason, even if LeBron James personally called to recruit.
Players like Klay Thompson, James Harden and Valanciunas have refused to join the Lakers, even if they have been offered a better contract. But. They both refused to join the Lakers and teamed up with LeBron James. For this reason, the American media "Fadeaway World" posted five reasons why other stars are reluctant to join the Lakers.
1. Lack of aggressiveness on the part of management
The Los Angeles Lakers' trading ability in recent seasons can be said to be very poor. Of course, this also has to do with LeBron James' interference with the Lakers trading reinforcements. At the beginning, the Lakers listened to LeBron James's words and exchanged Kuzma and Pope for Wei Shao. As a result, Wei Shao only played for more than a season before being traded away.
2. No longer one of the favourites to win the championship
In the 2023-24 season, the Los Angeles Lakers were eliminated by the Denver Nuggets in the first round of the playoffs. In the 2022-23 season, they were also eliminated by the Nuggets in the Western Conference finals, and the Lakers now seem to be unable to step into the mountain of the Nuggets. Even if the Lakers often lead their opponents in games, they can easily be eliminated by their opponents. The current Lakers don't have the strength to win the championship at all.
3. Very limited salary space
Originally, LeBron James planned to take a salary cut to renew his contract, so that the Lakers could use the excess salary space to make up for it. However, because no player has taken the initiative to join the Los Angeles Lakers, this has led to LeBron James being forced to sign a two-year, $100 million contract with the Los Angeles Lakers.
LeBron James' contract extension once again locked the Lakers' space for reinforcement. Unless the Lakers are willing to pay more luxury taxes in order to win a championship. Otherwise, it will be difficult for them to have more success in the playoffs.
4. The Lakers refuse to pay more luxury tax
LeBron James is $104 million for 2 years, and Anthony Davis is $180 million for 3 years. If the Lakers want to strengthen and win the championship, they need to pay attention to the next free agent market, and they can trade or sign more outstanding young players.
5. There are no great young All-Stars
The Los Angeles Lakers want a younger roster, which is something they've been fighting hard for in recent seasons. The Lakers want to acquire great young players such as Trae Young and Markkanen, but trading chips to acquire these stars is not cheap.