Malik Monk has probably been the most promising part of an extremely disappointing season for the Los Angeles Lakers. The Lakers have really struggled in just about every right and at this point, it seems unlikely that the team can even get out of the Play-In Tournament to give themselves a chance in the playoffs.
With that being said, some fans may have already turned to look ahead in the offseason and one of the biggest storylines is whether or not the team is able to re-sign Malik Monk. Monk has been the team’s third-best player and is someone who Laker fans have really grown to admire.
And while his agent recently said that he hopes Monk is a Laker forever, the NBA is a business and the sharpshooting guard has plenty of reasons to ditch the Lakers this summer, as sad as it is to admit.
Three reasons why Malik Monk should ditch the Los Angeles Lakers this summer:
1. The money
This is the most obvious reason for Monk to leave the Lakers. The Los Angeles Lakers are still going to be handcuffed by Russell Westbrook’s massive contract and the team is yet again going to be over the luxury tax.
With no Bird Rights, the most the Lakers can offer Monk is the Taxpayer’s Mid-Level Exception, which was worth $5.9 million this season. That is definitely lower than Monk’s market value this offseason.
Sure, teams gave up on Monk last summer but that does not mean that they will ignore what they saw this season on the Lakers. We have seen teams give up on other shooting specialists who don’t seem to play great defense only for that player to have a decent-sized market the following offseason.
A good player to compare Monk to is Seth Curry. Curry wasn’t signing for much but once he finally proved his worth he got a four-year, $32 million contract from the Philadelphia 76ers. The market naturally goes up slightly as the cap goes up, so it is no absurd to think that Monk could get a similar offer or a bit more, even coming in at four years, $36 million.
Nine million per year for four years or 1-2 years for $5.9 million a year? What sounds more appealing?
2. The Los Angeles Lakers are not going to be a contender next season either
Perhaps Malik Monk could talk himself into one more one-year contract with the Los Angeles Lakers to try and win a championship and raise his value even more in the process. There is nothing better a role player can do than win a championship and play a role on that team. If the Lakers won the title and Monk averaged 14 a game in the finals his value suddenly shoots up to $12 million a season.
The problem is that the Lakers are not going to be contenders next season either. Unless Monk just has blind faith in the Lakers for no reason, it is hard to see him talking himself into another one-year deal if the hope is to win a title.
The same issues that are going to keep the Lakers from paying Monk are the same issues that are going to keep the team uncompetitive next season. There are no outs for the Lakers and next season is likely going to be a rinse and repeat year for LA.
Even worse, LeBron and AD are only going to get older. LeBron is going to eventually start regressing with age and it is impossible to expect AD to finally be able to play 70 games in a season without getting injured.
Westbrook will still be there and the team will probably cycle out the existing veteran minimum players for other veteran minimum players. It won’t be fun next season, and quite frankly, it might not be fun in the immediate future, either.
3. The Los Angeles Lakers are probably going to be ugly after LeBron James leaves
LeBron James typically leaves teams behind in bad positions and it is hard to sit here and say that he is not going to do the same thing to the Lakers. It seems like LeBron has, at most, two more years in the purple and gold. His contract expires after next season and he can sign a one-year deal to free himself up to sign with whatever team drafts Bronny in 2024.
And of course, there is the potential of this blowing up with all of the reported tension and LeBron just outright leaving after the 2022-23 season. While Rich Paul has done his best job of denying tensions recently, we have seen this play out with LeBron before and a lot can happen in a year and a half.
So let’s say the Lakers actually are able to pay Monk a market-value contract. How would they be able to do that? If they can convince a team like Oklahoma City to take on Russell Westbrook’s contract without giving much salary in return for draft capital. If that happens, the Lakers will have some money to work with.
They could offer Monk a deal around $9 million per year or could even go up to the full Mid-Level Exception. Regardless of what it is, if the Lakers can pull off the unlikely dream trade of Westbrook, they can offer Monk a fair deal.
But would that be best for Monk’s career? Sure, in theory, the first season or two might be better than this season but I still would not bank on LeBron staying at this level and AD staying healthy. Then, once LeBron leaves, Monk is going to be stuck on an irrelevant team seeing his value diminish as nobody really cares about the 30-52 Lakers.
Could Monk ignore all of this and return to the Los Angeles Lakers? Absolutely. Is it the best thing for his career to get out of LA while he can? Probably.