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Lakers Have Few Guaranteed Contracts Next Season

By Hannah Kulik

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The Lakers have guaranteed contracts with only four players  for next season. The four are Kobe Bryant (one year remaining), Julius Randle (three years remaining), Nick Young (three years left), and Ryan Kelly (one year left). This means it is possible the team could have as many as ten new players on the roster next season. In truth, it could be even more as the team will no doubt try to shop Young and Kelly this summer. Depending on the draft and free agency even Randle is not completely safe.

-== How The Top 5 NBA Prospects Fit With The Lakers ==-

The Lakers surprised many observers when they signed Bryant to an extension worth nearly $50,000,000 while he was still rehabbing from a torn Achilles tendon, a severe injury from which most players – even young players — never fully recover.  The team did not make much of a return on its investment last season as Bryant was in and out of the line up during the early part of the year before suffering another season ending injury in January.

Young also missed a good part of the season with various injuries. When he was available he played poorly most of the time and clashed with Byron Scott on the subject of his poor defense and modest effort. Young is a career journeyman who gives the impression that having fun and being recognized in the hip hop world is more important than playing basketball. Signing him to a long term contract after the 2013-14 season was another blunder on the part of Lakers management.   The team will for sure try to trade him this offseason but it is unlikely there will be takers unless there is a blockbuster trade in which another team is forced to accept Young if they want another more attractive asset such as, for example, Randle or the team’s top draft selection.

Kelly had a solid if unspectacular career at Duke before entering the NBA as a second round draft choice in 2013. Somehow he managed to parlay a modest contribution on a terrible Lakers squad that season into two more years with the team. He is guaranteed $1,700,000 for next year, which means he was one of the few players from this past season who earned more than the league minimum. Like Bryant and Young, he missed a good part of the season with injuries and when he did play he was equally poor on both ends of the floor. Some observers still hold out hope he can develop into a serviceable NBA  “stretch 4,” though he has provided no real evidence to support  such optimism in his first two years in the league. At worst he is an expiring, inexpensive contract this next season, but if Kelly is given as much playing time as he received the past two years it only means the Lakers are suffering through another miserable season.

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The final player with a guaranteed contract is Randle, who has three years and $10.5 million remaining on his contract. Randle is a mystery man. He was the Lakers highest draft choice in years but showed up for summer league and training camp out of shape and did not make a large impression. Then he was lost for the season in the first game. For all intents and purposes he will be a rookie again in the fall, which means he is starting from scratch. No one knows quite what to expect as he is a bit too short to play power forward and not nimble enough to play the wing. If the team drafts Towns or Okafor as expected, and if a free agent like LaMarcus Aldridge or Kevin Love is willing to entertain an offer from the Lakers to be their power forward, it is at least possible that Randle could be included in a trade package.

Nearly everyone else from last season is an unrestricted free agent. Ed Davis has a player’s option which he has already announced he will decline, so he will be an unrestricted free agent as well.  That leaves only Jordan Hill and Robert Sacre, on whom the team holds  an option. It is unlikely the option will be exercised on either player. Sacre is at least cheap, but Hill would have to be paid $9,000,000 next season which is clearly more than he is worth. Again, with the Lakers moving up in the draft it is very likely they will select Towns or Okafor. If they do, Hill, in particular, is not likely to continue with the team.

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The biggest need for next season is at small forward. The Lakers cannot go into another season with Wesley Johnson and Nick Young as the only wing players. Although the team will select the “best player available” in the draft,” which looks like it will be a center, the small forward position has been the most problematic the past two years. Justice Winslow is considered by most authorities to be the top wing player in the draft, but there are a number of big time free agents who will restricted or unrestricted free agents this summer including Kawai Leonard, Jimmy Butler, Draymond Green, Danny Green, and Tobias Harris, among others. It is very likely the Lakers will make a big-time push to sign one of these players. The chances of both Young and Johnson returning are minimal. I can’t believe I am saying this but they would probably prefer Johnson to return because he is younger and cheaper and because he plays at least a modicum of defense.

In the end, the Lakers have a desire to get rid of the bad taste left over from the past two years and that means assembling a fresh new roster. They have three draft choices and a lot of cap space to pursue free agents in order to make that happen. It is still possible a small number of last year’s players could be asked to return as reserves, but certainly it looks like the Laker roster, and in particular the starting line-up, will look very different come this October.

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