The Los Angeles Lakers are looking to add more shooting to their lineup. After missing out on Klay Thompson, Los Angeles has been heavily linked to another shooter available in the market: Gary Trent Jr. Trent Jr's shooting will be mighty helpful to Los Angeles… if they can sign him, that is.
Unfortunately, the Lakers are running into some problems with their pursuit of Gary Trent Jr. As you could guess, it's because of luxury tax. Marc Stein reported that Los Angeles needs to get well below the second tax apron in order to make a run at signing the Toronto Raptors guard.
“One source close to the process cautioned this week that the Lakers, until they can move farther away from the second luxury tax apron, can't even make a run at Trent … no matter how available he appears to be. The Lakers, remember, are only marginally distanced from the second apron after LeBron James signed a new two-year deal that was less than $3 million shy of the $104 million maximum he could have received.”
The new collective bargaining agreement added a second tax apron that further limits what a team can do with their contracts. The Lakers are just shy below that apron after re-signing LeBron, and signing Gary Trent Jr would catapult them over that apron quite easily. GTJ is a great piece, but LA seems to feel that acquiring him is not worth the trouble of the second tax apron.
Naturally, the solution is to shed salaries. However, Stein notes that the Lakers can't even do it that easily due to them being over the first apron.
“The Lakers are known to be exploring pathways to shed some additional salary via trades to create sufficient wiggle room needed under the second apron to make use of their $5.2 million taxpayer midlevel exception. Yet even those kinds of moves likely require some form of second-round draft capital attached and taking in a player via sign-and-trade, as a first apron team, is not permitted under the league's new rules.”
Lakers' goal for 2024-25 season
The Lakers' goal remains the same: win a championship. Ever since winning the Larry O'Brien in 2020, Los Angeles has found mixed success. There was that Western Conference Finals run back in 2023, but that is surrounded by early-round exits and even completely missing the postseason at some point. This postseason, the Lakers were nearly swept in the first round by the Denver Nuggets.
This season will be quite interesting to watch for the Lakers. They have a new head coach in JJ Redick, a first-time coach. Redick has surrounded himself with capable assistants, but it's still going to be quite the challenge. Los Angels has not done much on the roster too. Part of that is due to financial constraints, but it's still quite frustrating to watch for fans.
Trent Jr should be a solid option for the Lakers. There are questions about his defensive capabilities and his one-dimensionality on offense. However, there was a time when Trent Jr was a solid defender for the Raptors. If they can tap into that, it would be great. And while Trent is as one-dimensional as a piece of paper on offense, he brings elite volume shooting (38.6% shooter from the outside) that the Lakers badly need.
At this point, the Lakers need to act quickly. Trent is arguably the best available free agent left, and teams will be lining up to sign him. Can LA find the space to acquire GTJ?
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