The Los Angeles Lakers, it's finally clear, will have enough cap space this summer to add a third max-level free agent next to LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
Nearly two weeks of confusion and speculation ended on Thursday when ESPN reported that the Washington Wizards, with the carrot of a 2022 second-round pick from Los Angeles, agreed to absorb the contracts of Mo Wagner, Isaac Bonga, and Jemorrio Jones, making the previously agreed-upon deal between the Lakers and New Orleans Pelicans a three-team trade. Davis subsequently waived his trade kicker, freeing up additional millions of dollars to give the Lakers just over $32 million in space below the salary cap, enough room to chase every free agent in the NBA with a maximum contract save for Kevin Durant.
Debate about how Los Angeles should use its available spending money has been ongoing since immediately after the Davis trade was announced earlier this month. Back then, it appeared general manager Rob Pelinka and company would be limited to $24 million in cap space, leaving them below the starting salary for players commanding the max who have accrued fewer than seven years of NBA experience. Many league followers called for the Lakers to use their flexibility to bring in a third star regardless, while others believed their best path forward was splitting the money among multiple role players who could build a more cohesive team around the best tandem in basketball.
Now that Los Angeles is in position to sign the likes of Kawhi Leonard, Kyrie Irving, and Jimmy Butler, though, sentiment has shifted: It overwhelmingly supports the team forming the league's newest Big Three. Indeed, top free agents are at least giving tepid interest to signing with the Lakers. It's already been reported that Leonard will give them a meeting, while rumors have swirled about both Irving and Butler's willingness to play in Los Angeles.
Even Klay Thompson, almost sure to re-sign with the Golden State Warriors, will reportedly meet with the Lakers' brass if Joe Lacob and Bob Myers slow-play offering him a five-year max. D'Angelo Russell has supposedly gauged returning to the Lakers now that Magic Johnson has stepped away, and Tobias Harris, apparently poised to be targeted by almost a third of the league, would surely pick up the phone if Pelinka called.
In a pre-Finals NBA world, Los Angeles' rush to add a third superstar would make more sense. The Warriors would be re-tooling for another title run irrespective of Durant's decision, and the possibility of the two-time Finals MVP teaming up with another max-level free agent with the Nets or Clippers would leave the league with obvious championship favorites. But Durant and Thompson did get injured, and the Toronto Raptors' crowning achievement increases the likelihood Leonard will stay north of the border for at least one more season. We've heard over and over again that devastating injuries to Durant and Thompson leave the Western Conference wide open, but it's not like the Raptors are head and shoulders above the East, either.
The Larry O'Brien Trophy really is there for the taking next season.
It's an easy call if Leonard wants to sign with the Lakers. He's a snug fit next to James offensively, ready to help him shoulder some of the playmaking load without completely dominating the ball, and with Davis would form perhaps the most disruptive defensive duo in league history. There's enough all-time talent among that Big Three to render any related concerns about depth moot, not unlike the Miami Heat at the start of this decade and Warriors in the summer of 2016. With Leonard, the only thing keeping Los Angeles from hanging a 17th championship banner at Staples Center would be the risk of injury.
The same can't be said for any other free agent demanding the maximum.
Irving's volatility is well-documented, and re-pairing him with James would ensure the Lakers ask Davis to keep the defense afloat all by himself. Butler is basically a poor-man's version of James offensively, without the long-range shooting chops to stretch defenses away from the ball, and his game doesn't stand to age well once James' decline finally accelerates. There's a chance Russell's breakout 2018-19 was a fluke prompted by unsustainable shot-making, especially from floater range, and he might not be worth such a salary commitment anyway.
Slotting Harris up front with Davis would be absolutely devastating offensively, but he and James are redundant on the other end, and he's also more of a classic tertiary star than the final puzzle piece of a historic triumvirate. Thompson's ACL injury is too big a question mark to risk wasting another year of James' extended prime, no matter how optimal his presence would be otherwise.
In the likelihood that Leonard remains with the Raptors or signs with the cross-arena Clippers, the Lakers should avoid the temptation of acquiring other max-level free agents, none of whom would make them title favorites over the field, nor keep them in annual contention with Davis whenever James is no longer himself. A much more prudent approach would be using that $32 million in space on a starting point guard, a two-way wing, and the best available player on the market for the available salary that remains.
Signing Darren Collison, Danny Green, and Stanley Johnson to shorter-term deals would both grant Frank Vogel far more balance and versatility with his roster, and maintain a semblance of future team-building flexibility around Davis when James could be on the move again in 2022 or 2023. Los Angeles could fill out the team by using the room exception on a center such as Robin Lopez, then sign ring-chasing veterans to minimum contracts to finish out the summer and scour the waiver and buy-out market for similar players throughout the regular season.
James and Davis alone have the Lakers better positioned to win a title than at any time since the top of the decade. Bringing in Leonard, barring injury, would undoubtedly push them over the top. But if the reigning Finals MVP decides to continue his career elsewhere, Los Angeles would be best served maximizing the talents of two top-five players by surrounding them with a complementary supporting cast, instead of another superstar who could make the Lakers' whole less than the sum of their parts.
Turning away Butler, Irving, and even Harris and Russell would undoubtedly be a tough pill for Pelinka and Jeanie Buss to swallow, especially after so much hand-wringing about Los Angeles' salary-cap space in the aftermath of trading for Davis. But to accomplish their goal of winning another championship, the Lakers must be fully prepared to make that difficult decision.
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