The Los Angeles Lakers are positioning themselves for a gift that may never come. That might be the best way to describe their strategy of optionality and the potential pursuits of both Nikola Jokic and Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Rob Pelinka has emphasized prioritizing clean financial books and using patience to await the right move for the franchise to properly build their team. The Lakers would certainly be poised to strike on a 2027 free agency class that projects to have a handful of game-changers.
The major problem with this approach is whether optionality will lead Los Angeles to actually having the options they need to actually make that move. If Jokic and Antetokounmpo are both available, the allure of playing with Luka Doncic in Hollywood should be incredibly appealing.
However, recent trends have quickly proven that the biggest of superstars may not desire the free agency route due to what they would be forced to surrender in the process. That would leave the Lakers without a practical solution to filling the spot of Doncic's running mate after LeBron James retires.
Giannis Antetokounmpo and Nikola Jokic may never hit the Lakers’ radar
Neither Antetokounmpo or Jokic have long-term commitments to their franchise right now. That will offer a glimmer of solid hope for a franchise and fanbase that needs it in Los Angeles.
The issue with expecting either to make it to free agency would be financials. The most lucrative option for either of the two superstars would be to force their way out via trade, if necessary.
That is a situation the Lakers would certainly hope to avoid. Pelinka is certainly lacking in the type of assets that are truly needed to pursue either superstars on the trade market. Dan Woike of The Athletic touched on this in a recent mailbag article.
"Do I think either is realistic as a trade target? No, not really," Woike wrote. "The market would need to be way suppressed by a player saying they would simply walk to the Lakers in free agency so 28 other teams shouldn’t even consider bidding, and still the Lakers’ offer would be thin."
To Woike's point, without Antetokounmpo or Jokic outwardly telling all interested parties that the bright lights of Hollywood are the only thing they will accept, the Lakers trading for either is mostly unrealistic. Granted, so was acquiring Doncic in the blockbuster deal that Los Angeles secured.
It should be obvious to anyone that those circumstances were much different. Any situation where Antetokounmpo or Jokic demands out would almost certainly involve a trade request and a bidding war. The latter of which the Lakers are just not equipped for.
It is fair to look at both superstars' situations and think they can do better. It is a lot easier to make that case for Giannis than Jokic, but the point remains.
The Lakers can sit there hoping that finances of securing the biggest possible contract imaginable would not be the deciding factor for either generational talent, and that a discounted rate to join Doncic would prove worthwhile. That optimism will be the last to fade for those in Los Angeles.