The Los Angeles Lakers have several big-name players who are going to be free agents after this season. While we should all trust in Rob Pelinka to do the right thing, it does put the team in a precarious position when it comes to building another contender in 2021-22.
Right now, the focus on the Lakers is getting healthy and hopefully making a deep run in the NBA Playoffs and winning the team’s record 18 championship. While that is the main goal, these upcoming free agents are playing for something extra as well.
Their next contract, whether it’s with the Los Angeles Lakers or elsewhere.
There are upcoming free agents who could not play a single game the rest of the year and the Lakers will likely still prioritize re-signing them. The biggest of which is Alex Caruso and Talen Horton Tucker.
Caruso is an unrestricted free agent while THT is a restricted free agent. Both being young and great defensive players, we already know that the Lakers are going to pay them what they are worth.
That is, of course, some team comes over the top on THT with a poison pill offer sheet that the Lakers cannot physically match.
Those two represent homegrown talent for the Los Angeles Lakers. As you can imagine, the players playing for their next contract are not quite homegrown. Let’s get into the four players who are not only playing for a championship, but their next contract as well.
1. Dennis Schroder
It is well-documented by now that Dennis Schroder turned down a four-year, $84 million extension offer from the Los Angeles Lakers. At the time, I was not shy about how much I did not like that offer and that anything more than that would be a significant overpay.
Schroder turned down the big money wanting more and has balled out since, seemingly proving himself right in the process. However, the reason Schroder is balling out is that LeBron James is still out of action.
The truth with Schroder is that he is the best version of himself when he has a high usage rate and he can be the star on the court. And as I have said before, if Dennis Schroder has a usage rate in the 30s then you probably do not have yourself a great basketball team.
Schroder’s usage rate has skyrocketed without LeBron James and it is not a coincidence. It will be interesting to see what level he is playing at when LeBron returns and if he can keep up the solid pay to convince a suitor to dish out a big contract.
With so many other free agents to handle it feels like Schroder’s days with the Lakers are limited, but we shall see.
2. Markieff Morris
If you read my work here at Lake Show Life (thank you!) this will sound like a broken record. But for those who are clicking on my article for the first time, did you know that only two players in franchise history have a better three-point percentage in a single playoffs with as many attempts as Morris had last year?
Morris made 29 of 69 three-point attempts last season (42%). Only Trevor Ariza and Michael Cooper have shot better with at least 69 attempts in one year’s playoffs. Morris made a massive impact on the team, especially as a buyout guy.
He got a minimum contract from the Los Angeles Lakers to run it back and chances are after seeing his brother get $64 million he is going to want a payday as well. The twins seem to share a bank account and Markieff is going to have to start putting in his fair share as well.
Morris has also upped his play with the stars out but he is going to be hit once LeBron James returns. He has already seen his playing time diminish with Anthony Davis back in the fold, playing fewer than 20 minutes in each of the game Davis has played.
Morris is not going to get the payday that his brother got but another strong playoff showcasing the ability to be a marksman from beyond the arc when it is needed most will get him a decent payday from some team looking to stretch the frontcourt.
3. Andre Drummond
This is fairly obvious. Andre Drummond was bought out by the Cleveland Cavaliers as no team wanted to take on his remaining salary in a trade and thus, he signed with the Los Angeles Lakers to fill a massive need.
Drummond is not going to want to become the next Hassan Whiteside. Whiteside got a big payday, was massively overpaid by the Miami Heat and once that contract was freed up his pay plummeted. Whitside is making $2.3 million this season.
This was part of the reason why Drummond picked the Lakers over other interested teams. Contending for a title certainly helps, but he could have done that on the Brooklyn Nets. With the hole on the roster, the Lakers provided the opportunity for Drummond to play a significant role and prove to the rest of the NBA that he still deserves a decent payday.
If the rest of the league is not convinced and he ends up getting Whiteside money then he probably will return to the Lakers. However, that seems unlikely, and it is more likely that we will see Drummond on a different team next season.
A strong showing in the regular season won’t do too much for his value. He can really increase his value with strong play in the NBA Playoffs.
4. Montrezl Harrell
The Los Angeles Lakers got one of the best steals of the offseason when they signed Montrezl Harrell to a two-year, $18.9 million contract. Harrell, however, does have a player option after this season that he is most likely going to utilize.
There was a storm of different variables that led to the reigning Sixth Man of the Year not getting his fair share contract-wise. First was the impact that the covid shutdown had on the salary cap. Teams did not spend as much and we saw players like Harrell signings short-term deals knowing that their market value would increase the following year.
Not only that, but Harrell was put in a terrible situation by former head coach Doc Rivers, who trusted a bit too much in him playing center against Nikola Jokic. He got torched in the NBA Playoffs and that left a sour taste in many people’s mouths.
Harrell has been playing great this season and deserves to win the NBA Sixth Man of the Year award once more. In fact, the last NBA Sixth Man of the Year winner to have as high of a win shares per 48 minutes as Harrell this season was James Harden in 2013.
I heard that Harden guy is pretty good.
Harrell has already upped his value and is going to look to do the opposite in the NBA Playoffs this year by raising his value even more.