Los Angeles Lakers: What is Plan B in free agency?

The Kawhi Leonard sweepstakes has the entire basketball world on the edge of their seat. Two teams are going to lose out, and if that happens to be the Los Angeles Lakers, what should their back-up plan be?

As the news about Kawhi Leonard‘s decision trickles out at an incredibly slow rate, Los Angeles Lakers, Los Angeles Clippers, and Toronto Raptors fans are starting to become increasingly worried. A product of Leonard taking his time in his decision means that a number of desirable free agency options for both the Lakers and Clippers have begun to dry up.

It was widely assumed that if the Lakers were to strike out on Kawhi Leonard that they would then re-purpose their max cap-space of $32 million to sign a number of complementary players to flesh out the roster. But after a mere three days into free-agency, the player well has already begun to run dry in terms of players the Lakers were interested in signing.

On one hand, if Kawhi does end up signing with the Lakers then — like this article — the prospect of signing these role-players becomes irrelevant since the team would have nowhere near the amount of cap-space required to acquire them.

But if Kawhi does end up either re-signing with the Raptors, or jumping ship to the Clippers, then what should be the Laker’s contingency plan? Let’s find out.

The mantra has always been the same regardless of whether or not Kawhi joins the Lakers — shooting and defense. As soon as Kawhi informs the Lakers he won’t be signing with them, the Lakers need to be on the phone with Danny Green’s agent, and offer whatever it takes to get him in a Lakers uniform.

After that, the team needs to be on the lookout for an Andre Igoudala buy-out after the Warriors traded the former Finals MVP to Memphis as a byproduct of the D’Angelo Russell/Kevin Durant double sign and trade. Iguodala can’t shoot worth a lick anymore, and will be a severely limited player in the regular season, but he is still an elite defender, and has a large amount of playoff experience.

Once those two are locked-up, the team should look to bring Kentavious Caldwell-Pope back. In addition to being one of the better three-point shooters left on the market, he was also the team’s best free-throw shooter last season.

Interestingly enough, DeMarcus Cousins is still on the market, as a recent report by Woj suggested that there aren’t many suitors for the former star big-man. Cousins and Anthony Davis had great chemistry during his brief stint with the Pelicans, with Davis going so far as to wear Boogie’s jersey during the 2018 All-Star Game after he went down with an Achilles injury.

The next step should be to bring back Rajon Rondo, who already had success playing alongside Anthony Davis and DeMarcus Cousins. He doesn’t check the boxes of providing consistent shooting or versatile defense, but the point guard market is getting smaller and smaller by the hour, so at this point, Rondo may very well be one of the best options available.

Another interesting tidbit is the Warriors deciding to rescind the qualifying offer to Quinn Cook, making him an unrestricted free-agent. This is another player the Lakers should go hard after, regardless of whether or not Kawhi signs with the team. He’s a great off-ball player, is a career 41% 3-point shooter, and can bring some stability at the point-guard position.

So at the end of the day, a Lakers roster without Kawhi could look a little something like this.

• PG: Rondo/Cook/Caruso
• SG: Green/Pope/Daniels
• SF: James/Iguodala/Horton-Tucker
• PF: Davis/Kuzma/Dudley
• C: Cousins/McGee

On the surface that may not be the most attractive roster but it’s still an improvement over last year’s lineup. There is much more shooting, defense, playoff experience, and a good blend of young and veteran talent.