This upcoming offseason is an important one for the Los Angeles Lakers. Here are three scenarios that could play out, ranked from best to worst case.
The Los Angeles Lakers are going to finish the 2018-2019 season in the lottery for the 6th season in a row, and to make matter worse, the Purple and Gold have had the worst record in the NBA over the last six years. So, needless to say, this is going to be a huge offseason for Los Angeles.
Let’s examine three realistic scenarios that could happen over the summer and rate each situation as horrible, okay, or good.
Before I start, here are the facts:
- The Lakers are estimated to have just over $38 million to spend this offseason.
- The Lakers will have eight players under contract going into the summer.
- LeBron James
- Lonzo Ball
- Brandon Ingram
- Moritz Wagner
- Kyle Kuzma
- Josh Hart
- Isaac Bonga
- 2019 1st round draft pick
- According to www.espn.com’s trade machine the Lakers cannot make a 2-team trade for Anthony Davis over the summer unless they offer LeBron James to the Pelicans, because the combined money of Ball, Ingram, Wagner, Kuzma, Hart, Bonga, and a 1st round pick between 8-13 isn’t enough to match AD’s salary. That means it will be very hard for the Lakers to trade for AD unless they make a 3-team deal or they get really creative.
- The same is true for Bradley Beal or any other player making $25 million or more next season.
Because it’ll be almost impossible for the Lakers to make a trade for a max level player over the summer, I’ll leave trades out of my three different offseason scenarios.
Let us get started with three scenarios that could unfold this offseason for the Lakers.