Lakers’ free-agent wish list for 2023 is revealed (and it’s interesting)
By Jason Reed
The Los Angeles Lakers were unable to pull off a Russell Westbrook trade before the 2022-23 season begins and there seem to be two driving factors as to why that is the case. First, the team was hesitant to trade both the 2027 and 2029 first-round picks, although they were willing to do so for certain stars.
The other driving force was the fact that Los Angeles did not seem intent on taking on future money in return for Westbrook. In reality, the team is likely trying to avoid the repeater tax next year and not taking on future money will allow them to be flexible and properly manage their finances.
However, if we are looking at this motive in a positive light, we could argue that the Lakers are saving money to spend it in free agency next summer. Los Angeles won’t quite have max contract money, but they will have enough to spend a decent amount.
We already knew that Kyrie Irving was on the team’s radar after LA could not pull off a trade for the all-star guard this summer. But there are other names on the team’s wish list as well, with an executive outlining to Frederick Ennette of Heavy.com exactly who those options could be.
"“They’re going to look at Kyrie Irving, of course, but he is probably not their top choice. They will look at Jerami Grant, who they liked for a long time, same with Myles Turner. I think Andrew Wiggins would be a big prize there because he can play two-ways.”"
Irving not being the Lakers’ top choice should be a relief as he is not reliable in the slightest. It also makes sense with the theory that the team is avoiding the repeater tax.
The other potential free-agent targets for the Lakers are interesting, to say the least.
Andrew Wiggins has really come into his own with the Golden State Warriors and even played a huge role in the team’s championship-clinching series against the Boston Celtics. That being said, the Warriors have established a system that makes every player look better than they actually are and Wiggins could be a product of that.
For most of his contract, Wiggins was viewed as having one of the worst deals in the entire sport. It worked out for Golden State but prior to this season, Wigging has very little trade value because of his contract and how he was playing.
At his best Wiggins would be a great addition, but locking him down to a multi-year deal that is similar to his previous contract is definitely a risky idea for Los Angeles. At least the team has this entire season to mull it over and see how he plays.
Personally, I am not a fan of Jerami Grant. While he is a fine player, Grant is a classic good stats on a bad team guy. He is a better version of Kyle Kuzma and while that is solid to have in a playoff rotation, is it really worth the $25-30 million per year LA would have to pay him? Probably not.
I would not put Grant above someone like Julius Randle, even after Randle’s bad year. If Los Angeles doesn’t want to take on Randle’s contract in a trade it seems a bit hypocritical that they would potentially lock Grant down long-term.
The advanced metrics back up the idea that Grant is more of a middle-of-the-road type of player. Among the 272 players with 1,000 minutes, last season Grant ranked 84th in Box Plus/Minus and 192nd in win-shares per 48 minutes. You typically don’t pay someone in that range $25-30 million.
Of course, this is all just conjecture at this point and a lot is going to happen throughout the course of the 2022-23 season that changes things for the Los Angeles Lakers.