The Los Angeles Lakers have several notable free agents in the upcoming NBA offseason.
The Los Angeles Lakers are fresh off of an NBA Championship and may see a bit of a retooling this offseason. The Lakers have several players that either have player options and have already outright opted out of their deals or are simply unrestricted free agents.
Today, we focus on those that we know, as of right now, are going to be free agents for a fact this offseason. There are other players, such as Avery Bradley and JaVale McGee, that have player options but we still do not know what their plans are this offseason.
However, we do think the signs are there for the Lakers to move on from McGee.
Where will each Laker free agent sign this offseason? Will they stay in LA, or will they find greener pastures elsewhere? First, let’s get into some interesting cases
Anthony Davis re-signs max extension with Los Angeles Lakers; Jared Dudley and J.R. Smith retire
These are three interesting cases that we need to get out of the way first. It has already been reported that Anthony Davis is indeed planning on opting out of his contract to sign an extension with the Lakers. The length of the extension is still unclear, but we all know that AD will be back for multiple years.
Then we have Jared Dudley and J.R. Smith. Dudley has won his career and there is no better way to endcap his long NBA career than by going out on top. Realistically, Dudley is not anything more than a bench veteran. He should transition into a different role to stay in the league, but his playing days are probably over.
The same could be said with J.R. Smith. Laker fans hyped themselves up a bit too much for Smith, who was outright bad the last time we saw him before signing with the Lakers and was a complete non-factor for the team.
Smith probably does not want to retire yet, but I doubt he gets any offers.