3. The other point guard options for the Los Angeles Lakers are not great
The Los Angeles Lakers do not have the pick of the litter if Dennis Schroder signs elsewhere in the summer. The team does not have a slew of cap space, limiting who they could realistically sign. Lonzo obviously is not going to get a huge deal and will probably get something close to the two-year, $18 million deal that Julius Randle got when he was a restricted free agent.
There just are not very many options for the Los Angeles Lakers at the point guard position at that relative price point.
Derrick Rose is an interesting name who will be available around that price or less and he has been tied to the Los Angeles Lakers in trade talks before. He is the best of the bunch, but I would still much rather have Lonzo.
Lonzo is a much better defender and has far few miles on his legs. Ball might not be able to have the scoring output off the bench that Rose has had for the Pistons but that is not what the Lakers need in this situation.
Kyle Lowry is a free agent but will likely get a bigger deal, Mike Conley is too old, Goran Dragic is too old and Spencer Dinwiddie will be coming off of an ACL injury. For the price that Lonzo would cost, it is clear that he would be the best option for the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Lakers ultimately do not have the leverage in the situation regardless, so things are going to have to break the right way for Lonzo to even be a possible candidate in LA. That should not stop the team from offering something, though, and for the reasons above, I think it could be a legitimate possibility.