Los Angeles Lakers: Should team re-sign Brook Lopez

Los Angeles Lakers center Brook Lopez is one of many Lakers who will become a free agent at the end of the season. The team must decide whether to try to re-sign him or let him move elsewhere.

The Los Angeles Lakers acquired Brook Lopez via trade with the Brooklyn Nets prior to last year’s draft. In addition to Lopez, the Lakers also received a first-round pick (used to select Kyle Kuzma) in exchange for D’Angelo Russell and Timofey Mozgov.

Lopez was a star for the Nets his first nine NBA seasons. He had averaged at least 19 points in 6 of the last 7 seasons, including 2013 when he made the All-Star team. He also played at least 29 minutes per game in all but one year.

With the Lakers, however, Lopez has endured a somewhat difficult year. He is averaging career lows in points (13 per game), rebounds (four), free throw percentage (68 percent compared to nearly 80 percent). Perhaps most importantly, minutes per game (23), mostly due to coach Luke Walton’s desire to play small-ball, especially in the 4th quarter.

Despite those numbers, Brook has still been a solid contributor to the team’s offense. He is one of seven Lakers averaging double-figure points and is second on the team in 2-point field goal percentage (55 percent). He provides a strong, difficult-to-guard low post presence.

Yet, he is also one of the NBA’s best 3-point-shooting centers (nearly 35 percent on 4.5 tries a game). His long-distance shooting not only directly produces points, but it also draws opposing big men away from the basket, which opens up the middle for teammates such as Julius Randle.

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Defensively, he is a decent shot blocker (1.4 per game). He is willing to switch off screens to guard smaller, quicker players, although his size and bulk often limit his effectiveness.

Lopez, a Southern California native, has been an excellent teammate, exerting a positive veteran influence on his young fellow Lakers. He has also played better in the last month than at any other time this season.

So, should the Lakers pursue re-signing Lopez in the off-season? In the normal course of things, they probably would. But as usual, there are mitigating factors to consider. Specifically, it may boil down to these three factors:

How much will it cost? Lopez, in the last year of a long contract, is the team’s highest-paid player at $22.6 million. The Lakers will certainly not make a similar commitment to him. Will any other team? And does Lopez like playing in L.A. well enough to give the Lakers a home-team discount?
How successful will the Lakers be in signing their top priorities this off-season? It is known they may pursue two elite free agents, Paul George and LeBron James, and it is expected that they’ll also try to re-sign Randle. If they are successful in locking up all three, which would require some other maneuvers, there would be no salary room for Lopez. Even if they sign two of the three, fitting in Lopez would be difficult.
What is the alternative plan? If they don’t re-sign Lopez, who would replace him in the lineup? In-house candidates Ivica Zubac and Thomas Bryant are both young and hungry, but can the team count on either to be the starting center? Other relatively inexpensive free agents will be available, but often you get just what you pay for. If the 6’9″ Randle is back, he will often be used as the big man in a small ball lineup, but it’s unlikely the team wants him to start there.

One possible outcome is that no team steps up to offer Lopez a longer-term deal, and the Lakers sign him to a one-year contract. That would preserve salary room for the free agent class of 2019 when players such as Kawhi Leonard, Jimmy Butler and Klay Thompson might be available.

Any discussion of Lopez’ future should include a look-back at the deal that brought him to the Lakers. The trade was engineered to create future salary cap room for L.A. by eliminating the remaining two years of Mozgov’s $16 million+ per year contract, a stiff price to pay for a center of at best modest accomplishments. Indeed, for the Nets this year, he has played in only 28 games, at least partially due to injury, and is averaging only four points and three rebounds per game.

To get rid of their financial commitment to Mozgov, the Lakers were willing to sacrifice Russell, who was the No. 2 pick of the draft for them just two years earlier. Many thought D’Angelo might blossom with a fresh start.

That still might happen, but he’s missed about 30 games this year to injury. He’s averaging 16 points, five assists and four rebounds, and is shooting 41 percent overall and nearly 33% on 3’s, all of which show only a very slight improvement over last season with L.A.

Without a doubt, the biggest and most pleasant surprise of the deal was Kuzma, who has exceeded everyone’s expectations. He recently became the Lakers fifth-leading all-time rookie scorer, trailing only Hall of Famers Elgin Baylor, George Mikan, Jerry West and Magic Johnson, and is considered an integral part of the team’s future.

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That, of course, leaves Lopez. Will he end up being just a one-year rental, or will he continue to have a future with the Lakers? Stay tuned this summer to find out. What do you think should happen?

All statistics courtesy of www.basketball-reference.com