After a disappointing start to the LeBron James era in Los Angeles, the Lakers will shift their attention to free agency, where they will have $37.2 million in cap space to spend on another All-Star free agent like Kyrie Irving, Kawhi Leonard, Klay Thompson, Kevin Durant, Kemba Walker or Jimmy Butler.
Those are their plans, at least.
However, according to Bill Oram of The Athletic, most NBA insiders believe the Lakers won’t sign a superstar free agent this summer:
“The Lakers need to project stability going into yet another critical offseason if they hope to attract a second superstar to pair with James. After Paul George ignored the Lakers last summer, most league insiders believe the biggest names in this year’s loaded class of free agents will follow his lead.”
Unfortunately, that checks out with just about everything that has been reported to date.
If Kevin Durant leaves the Golden State Warriors in July, the wide belief is that it will be for the New York Knicks. The same can be said of Boston Celtics All-Star Kyrie Irving.
In the likely event Durant leaves, there’s little-to-no chance that the Warriors don’t offer Klay Thompson max money. Meanwhile, Kawhi Leonard reportedly has his eyes set on Los Angeles, but not to play second fiddle to James with the Lakers.
There will be other names worth throwing max money at like Kemba Walker, Jimmy Butler, Khris Middleton and Tobias Harris, but it doesn’t sound like they’re favorites to land a bona fide superstar at this point. That could change between now and July, but the Lakers might have to settle with running it back with James and their young core of Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram, Kyle Kuzma, Josh Hart whoever they take in the draft on June 20.
