My Free-agent wish list, what's yours?

[tamaraw08]

It seems like the Lakers are keeping an eye on that punitive luxury tax, most likely release Beasley and Bamba, use their precious $ to keep Rui and Reaves so I'm thinking 1 TPMLE and the rest Vet Minimum so it's going to be tricky IMO.
1. Trey Lyles. Good size mobile 6-9 who shoots a decent 35-36% from 3.
2. Brook Lopez, old but still reliable, probably looking at higher than TPMLE, but he's from here and might take a discount.
3. Josh Richardson, defense and decent 3.
4. Justin Holiday, 6-6 switchy defender , 36% from 3.
5. Terrence Davis, good defensive guard also hit's decent 3's.
6. Shake Milton-
7. Seth Curry, excellent marksman but defense is a concern.
I don't mind keeping Wenyen Gabiel.
8. Terrence Ross, listed at 6-7, also a good shooter but defense might be a concern.

[stan francisco]

Austin Reaves
Rui Hachimura
Lonnie Walker
Tristan Thompson

Not Schroeder
Not Brown Jr
Not Gabriel

Gabe Vincent
Bruce Brown
Paul Reed
Bismarck Biyombo
Draymond Green
Josh Okogie
Jock Landale
Cody Zeller
Chris Middleton
Jerami Grant
Josh Richardson
Joe Ingles
Nikola Vucevic
Brook Lopez
Kyle Kuzma
Jakob Poeltl
Jordan Clarkson
Cam Johnson
Mason Plumlee

[DanishLakerFan]

FA-additions i’d like to see if we’re going under the cap:

We’d be giving up full MLE, BAE and and some combination of Rui, D-Lo, Beasley Bamba and Vando and whatever some of those guys would get in a trade, so it would have to be guys that actually make a difference.

I would go after:
Fred VanVleet (30M/yr), Josh Richardson (Room exception 7.6M), Tristan Thompson (vet min), Cory Joseph (vet min) and Jeff Green (vet min).

Essentially:
FVV – Reaves – Vando – Lebron – Davis
Joseph – Richardson - Green - Thompson
Christie + #17 + #46

If we're going OVER the cap it could go many different directions, but here's one (over cap but keep full MLE and BAE)
Keep D'Lo, Rui, Vando, Bamba, Chrisie.
Split full MLE (12.2M) on Josh Richardson and Joe Ingles. Use BAE (4.4M) on Lonnie Walker. Sign TT.

D'Lo - Reaves - Vando - Lebron - AD
Lonnie - Richardson - Ingles - Rui - Bamba - TT
Chrisit - #17 - #46

[DNP-Old]

I would try to replace Russell (renounce rights), Beasley (decline option) & Bamba (decline option) with Gabe Vincent, Bruce Brown & Jock Landale.

[stan francisco]

I would try to replace Russell (renounce rights), Beasley (decline option) & Bamba (decline option) with Gabe Vincent, Bruce Brown & Jock Landale.

That’s a good combo.

[TylersLakers]

My priority is they don't dip into the free agency market other than vet minimums. Use Beasley + Bamba as trade chips.

Bamba, Beasley, Christie, 17 for DeMar DeRozan

- Re-sign Rui ($15M) and Austin ($12.2)
- Re-sign Lonnie Walker, 1 year, $7.5M through early bird rights (It's around that amount)
- Sign Mason Plumlee, tax MLE ($5.0)
- Bring back Troy Brown, Gabriel, Schroder, Tristan Thompson (vet minimums)
- Sign Stanley Johnson, vet minimum
- Renounce D-Lo

LeBron: $46.9M
Davis: $40.6M
DeRozan: $28.6M
Vanderbilt: $4.7M
Rui: $15M
Austin: $12.2M
Walker: $7.5M
Plumlee: $5M
Schroder: $3M (early bird)
Gabriel: $3M (early bird)
Brown: $2.1M
Thompson: $2.8M
Johnson: $2.5M
2nd rounder (preferably a PG or G defender): $1M

Total: $174M (below 2nd apron)

PG: Austin/Schroder/
SG: DeRozan/Walker/Brown Jr/
SF: Rui/Vanderbilt/
PF: LeBron/Johnson/Gabriel
C: Davis/Plumlee/Thompson

That's my 100% ideal off-season. If I could nab Caruso in that DeRozan deal and throw in Vanderbilt and a 2029 1st, I'd do that as well.

Another couple trades I like -

Beasley, #17 for Buddy Hield, 26
Bamba, Christie, #17 for Dorian Finney-Smith, #22

With those trade options - you might be able to get someone like Gabe Vincent with the full MLE. He's one of the only ones I'd spend the full MLE on.

[TylersLakers]

I would try to replace Russell (renounce rights), Beasley (decline option) & Bamba (decline option) with Gabe Vincent, Bruce Brown & Jock Landale.

Not sure renouncing all those guys are best direction unless you're using their salaries to trade one/both of them. The reason why: If you can bring Rui back on a 4 year deal starting at $15M - the roster would be:

LeBron: $46.9
AD: $40.6
Vanderbilt: $4.7
Christie: $1.7
Rui: $15
Draft Pick: $3.6M
Reaves cap hold: $2.2M
Empty roster spots: $5.8M

= $120.5M

That gives the Lakers $14M in cap space plus a room exception after that of $7.6M - Not sure you're getting Gabe Vincent AND Bruce Brown. You could definitely get either/or and someone else with the room exception. You could also open up more cap space by trading Christie and/or the 1st round pick. That probably puts you in the Kuzma/Josh Hart territory.

Or you could keep Beasley, renounce Bamba and still have the full MLE + Bi-annual exception of $4.5M to use. A roster of LeBron/AD/Rui/Austin/Vando/Beasley/Christie/Vincent (MLE)/Schroder (bi-annual).

After you sign your free agents, you re-sign or match an Austin Reaves offer sheet and he's slotted in at $12.2M.

[DanishLakerFan]

My priority is they don't dip into the free agency market other than vet minimums. Use Beasley + Bamba as trade chips.

Bamba, Beasley, Christie, 17 for DeMar DeRozan

- Re-sign Rui ($15M) and Austin ($12.2)
- Re-sign Lonnie Walker, 1 year, $7.5M through early bird rights (It's around that amount)
- Sign Mason Plumlee, tax MLE ($5.0)
- Bring back Troy Brown, Gabriel, Schroder, Tristan Thompson (vet minimums)
- Sign Stanley Johnson, vet minimum
- Renounce D-Lo

LeBron: $46.9M
Davis: $40.6M
DeRozan: $28.6M
Vanderbilt: $4.7M
Rui: $15M
Austin: $12.2M
Walker: $7.5M
Plumlee: $5M
Schroder: $3M (early bird)
Gabriel: $3M (early bird)
Brown: $2.1M
Thompson: $2.8M
Johnson: $2.5M
2nd rounder (preferably a PG or G defender): $1M

Total: $174M (below 2nd apron)

PG: Austin/Schroder/
SG: DeRozan/Walker/Brown Jr/
SF: Rui/Vanderbilt/
PF: LeBron/Johnson/Gabriel
C: Davis/Plumlee/Thompson

That's my 100% ideal off-season. If I could nab Caruso in that DeRozan deal and throw in Vanderbilt and a 2029 1st, I'd do that as well.

Another couple trades I like -

Beasley, #17 for Buddy Hield, 26
Bamba, Christie, #17 for Dorian Finney-Smith, #22

With those trade options - you might be able to get someone like Gabe Vincent with the full MLE. He's one of the only ones I'd spend the full MLE on.

I like the general approach, but i think we'd be lacking shooters.
Maybe a tweak:

Bamba, Christie, #17 for Dorian Finney-Smith, #22
and
Beasley, #22 for Buddy Hield, 26


PG: Austin/Schroder/
SG: Buddy/Walker/Brown Jr/
SF: Rui/DFS/Vanderbilt
PF: LeBron/Johnson/Gabriel
C: Davis/Plumlee/Thompson

[DNP-Old]

I would try to replace Russell (renounce rights), Beasley (decline option) & Bamba (decline option) with Gabe Vincent, Bruce Brown & Jock Landale.

Not sure renouncing all those guys are best direction unless you're using their salaries to trade one/both of them. The reason why: If you can bring Rui back on a 4 year deal starting at $15M - the roster would be:

LeBron: $46.9
AD: $40.6
Vanderbilt: $4.7
Christie: $1.7
Rui: $15
Draft Pick: $3.6M
Reaves cap hold: $2.2M
Empty roster spots: $5.8M

= $120.5M

That gives the Lakers $14M in cap space plus a room exception after that of $7.6M - Not sure you're getting Gabe Vincent AND Bruce Brown. You could definitely get either/or and someone else with the room exception. You could also open up more cap space by trading Christie and/or the 1st round pick. That probably puts you in the Kuzma/Josh Hart territory.

Or you could keep Beasley, renounce Bamba and still have the full MLE + Bi-annual exception of $4.5M to use. A roster of LeBron/AD/Rui/Austin/Vando/Beasley/Christie/Vincent (MLE)/Schroder (bi-annual).

After you sign your free agents, you re-sign or match an Austin Reaves offer sheet and he's slotted in at $12.2M.

Can't they spend the 14m on Brown, MLE on Vincent and the Bi-annual on Landale?

[TylersLakers]

I would try to replace Russell (renounce rights), Beasley (decline option) & Bamba (decline option) with Gabe Vincent, Bruce Brown & Jock Landale.

Not sure renouncing all those guys are best direction unless you're using their salaries to trade one/both of them. The reason why: If you can bring Rui back on a 4 year deal starting at $15M - the roster would be:

LeBron: $46.9
AD: $40.6
Vanderbilt: $4.7
Christie: $1.7
Rui: $15
Draft Pick: $3.6M
Reaves cap hold: $2.2M
Empty roster spots: $5.8M

= $120.5M

That gives the Lakers $14M in cap space plus a room exception after that of $7.6M - Not sure you're getting Gabe Vincent AND Bruce Brown. You could definitely get either/or and someone else with the room exception. You could also open up more cap space by trading Christie and/or the 1st round pick. That probably puts you in the Kuzma/Josh Hart territory.

Or you could keep Beasley, renounce Bamba and still have the full MLE + Bi-annual exception of $4.5M to use. A roster of LeBron/AD/Rui/Austin/Vando/Beasley/Christie/Vincent (MLE)/Schroder (bi-annual).

After you sign your free agents, you re-sign or match an Austin Reaves offer sheet and he's slotted in at $12.2M.

Can't they spend the 14m on Brown, MLE on Vincent and the Bi-annual on Landale?

No, unfortunately not.

If you operate as a cap space team, all you get is that cap space plus a room exception of about $7.5M to use after that. By taking that route, they would have to renounce everyone outside of LeBron, Davis, Vando, Christie, Rui, and Reaves’ cap hold.

If they operate as an over the cap team, they’ll have the $12.2 MLE to use as well as the bi-annual exception of $4.5M. They would also be able to retain the bird rights of Russell and early bird rights of Lonnie Walker. The only thing is once they use that full MLE, they’re considered “hard capped” which means the total of their salaries is only allowed to total up to $170M. So it adds up quick:

LeBron: $46.9
AD: $40.6
Vando: $4.7
Christie: $1.7
Draft Pick: $3.6
Rui: $15
Reaves: $12.2
MLE: $12.2 (Vincent)
BLE: $4.5 (Landale)

That totals $141.4M which means we’d still have $29M to play with before we reach that “hard cap” number. So there’s a couple different things they could do:

- Bring back Walker to early bird rights, 1 year, $7.5M.

Still about $21M remaining.

So the next decision comes down to D-Lo: You could bring him back for a contract starting at $14M or they could circle back to Bamba or Beasley. They could decline Beasley’s 1 year, $16M but come to an agreement on a better deal. Say a three year deal starting at 10M. After that they’d have about $10-11M to finish off the roster and here’s the team:

PG: Vincent/Walker
SG: Reaves/Beasley/
SF: Rui/Christie
PF: LeBron/Vando
C: AD/Landale

- Plus the 1st round draft pick and 2nd round pick. Roster at 12 players after that.
- Lakers normally carry 14 players on a roster, so you’d need two more vet minimum contracts. Candidates: Schroder, Troy Brown, Gabriel, Thompson from last year.

[stan francisco]

PG: Vincent/Walker
SG: Reaves/Beasley/
SF: Rui/Christie
PF: LeBron/Vando
C: AD/Landale

- Plus the 1st round draft pick and 2nd round pick. Roster at 12 players after that.
- Lakers normally carry 14 players on a roster, so you’d need two more vet minimum contracts. Candidates: Schroder, Troy Brown, Gabriel, Thompson from last year.

That’s a great core. Title caliber if healthy. There’s got to be a way to squeeze in Shaq Harrison

We can fill in with two-way contracts of Cole Swider etc from the south bay.

If we add our rookies and the two vet minimums to complete the visual of that roster:

PG: Reaves/Schroeder/Harrison
SG: Vincent/Walker/47 K Johnson
SF: Vando/Christie/Swider
PF: LeBron/Rui/Thompson
C: AD/Landale/17 Lively

Is that possible $ wise?

[DNP-Old]

Not sure renouncing all those guys are best direction unless you're using their salaries to trade one/both of them. The reason why: If you can bring Rui back on a 4 year deal starting at $15M - the roster would be:

LeBron: $46.9
AD: $40.6
Vanderbilt: $4.7
Christie: $1.7
Rui: $15
Draft Pick: $3.6M
Reaves cap hold: $2.2M
Empty roster spots: $5.8M

= $120.5M

That gives the Lakers $14M in cap space plus a room exception after that of $7.6M - Not sure you're getting Gabe Vincent AND Bruce Brown. You could definitely get either/or and someone else with the room exception. You could also open up more cap space by trading Christie and/or the 1st round pick. That probably puts you in the Kuzma/Josh Hart territory.

Or you could keep Beasley, renounce Bamba and still have the full MLE + Bi-annual exception of $4.5M to use. A roster of LeBron/AD/Rui/Austin/Vando/Beasley/Christie/Vincent (MLE)/Schroder (bi-annual).

After you sign your free agents, you re-sign or match an Austin Reaves offer sheet and he's slotted in at $12.2M.

Can't they spend the 14m on Brown, MLE on Vincent and the Bi-annual on Landale?

No, unfortunately not.

If you operate as a cap space team, all you get is that cap space plus a room exception of about $7.5M to use after that. By taking that route, they would have to renounce everyone outside of LeBron, Davis, Vando, Christie, Rui, and Reaves’ cap hold.

If they operate as an over the cap team, they’ll have the $12.2 MLE to use as well as the bi-annual exception of $4.5M. They would also be able to retain the bird rights of Russell and early bird rights of Lonnie Walker. The only thing is once they use that full MLE, they’re considered “hard capped” which means the total of their salaries is only allowed to total up to $170M. So it adds up quick:

LeBron: $46.9
AD: $40.6
Vando: $4.7
Christie: $1.7
Draft Pick: $3.6
Rui: $15
Reaves: $12.2
MLE: $12.2 (Vincent)
BLE: $4.5 (Landale)

That totals $141.4M which means we’d still have $29M to play with before we reach that “hard cap” number. So there’s a couple different things they could do:

- Bring back Walker to early bird rights, 1 year, $7.5M.

Still about $21M remaining.

So the next decision comes down to D-Lo: You could bring him back for a contract starting at $14M or they could circle back to Bamba or Beasley. They could decline Beasley’s 1 year, $16M but come to an agreement on a better deal. Say a three year deal starting at 10M. After that they’d have about $10-11M to finish off the roster and here’s the team:

PG: Vincent/Walker
SG: Reaves/Beasley/
SF: Rui/Christie
PF: LeBron/Vando
C: AD/Landale

- Plus the 1st round draft pick and 2nd round pick. Roster at 12 players after that.
- Lakers normally carry 14 players on a roster, so you’d need two more vet minimum contracts. Candidates: Schroder, Troy Brown, Gabriel, Thompson from last year.

Since you peed all over my Fruit Loops on my 1st try (thank you for the knowledge), I thought I would try again. We'll see if I actually learned anything.

I would still decline Beasley and renounce Russell & Walker but trade Bamba #17 & #47 to Indy for #26 #29 & #32 (I would try to get #55 as well but not a deal breaker). Sign Bruce Brown with the cap space and Jock Landale with the room exception; match Rui & Reaves; resign Troy Brown and draft Ben Sheppard, Olivier-Maxence Prosper & Jordan Walsh. If I have the #55 I would take Tubelis, Ivisic or Timme. If I don't have #55 I would hope one of the three goes undrafted and sign them to the 3rd 2-way spot. I would try to get either CP3 or Schroeder on a Vet min, if not, pick up some other vet PG.

Reaves - Vet PG - Pippen (2-way)
B.Brown - Christie - Sheppard (R)
Rui - T.Brown - Walsh (R)
James - Vandy - Prosper (R) - Swider (2-way)
Davis - Landale - Rookie Big (2-way)

[TyCobb]

Sign Naz Reid and offer him the starting C spot.

[zuju]

I will try to stick to the current roster as much as I can to let them gel in the offseason. Make only minor adjustments on the roster for those deficit we discovered in the playoff.


Resigning Reaves and Rui
Re-signing Dlo and look for upgrade, either a sign and trade or a trade during the all star break (preferred).
Re-negotiate Bamba's deal to a smaller but longer deal (around 7M/yr for 3 years)
Try to trade Beasley (some team may try to see if he can regain his touch) or re-negotiate for a smaller deal (around 5-6M/yr)
Retain #17 and 47th pick (this draft class seems quite deep)
Sign TT to Vet Min after all transactions done


Dlo (or upgrade)
Reaves / Max Christie / Beasley (or traded player)
LBJ / Vando /
AD / Rui
Bamba / TT

+ 17th pick
+ 47th pick

For free agency, here are my targets
C (Any one would be good)
Brook Lopez (MLE)
Jaxon Hayes (6M/yr)
Christian Wood
Naz Reid (MLE)
Moe Wagner

PF
Harrison Barnes
Jalen McDaniel

SF
Stanley Johnson
Tory Craig
TJ Warren
Kuz
Troy Brown

SG
Bruce Brown (Very unlikely ?)
Loonie Walker (retain on right price)
Jose Richardson
Shake Milton
Devonte Green
Justin Holiday

PG
Dlo (To keep the Cap space)
Schroder
Gabe Vincent
Jevon Carter
Dennis Smith Jr
Cody White
Frank Ntilikina

No individual weak spot on defense anymore, please

[stan francisco]

Austin Reaves
Rui Hachimura
Lonnie Walker
Tristan Thompson

Not Schroeder
Not Brown Jr
Not Gabriel

Gabe Vincent
Bruce Brown
Paul Reid
Bismarck Biyombo
Draymond Green
Josh Okogie
Jock Landale
Cody Zeller
Chris Middleton
Jerami Grant
Josh Richardson
Joe Ingles
Nikola Vucevic
Brook Lopez
Kyle Kuzma
Jakob Poeltl
Jordan Clarkson
Cam Johnson
Mason Plumlee[/quote]

[Vae Victus]

I want to try to re-sign Bamba to a 2 year 10-12mil deal with 2nd year player option, if we still have his bird rights i think this is a no brainer move to get some cheap C depth to try to keep AD's mins at C down

DLo i'd offer 2 years 40mil
Rui i'd hope to keep at 4 years 56mil, maybe 4th year player option to make it more enticing for him
Reaves i match any offer sheet
Full MLE at Bruce Brown to shore up the combo guard spot
BAE for Shroeder (or for the best C i can get if Bamba isnt an option)

Roster with mins distribution, varies based on foul and injury situation
C - Bamba (24), AD (12), Vando (12)
PF- AD (24), Rui (16), Vando (8)
SF - LBJ (32), Rui (16), Maxwell
SG - Reaves (28), Brown (20), Hood, Christie
PG - DLo (28), Shroeder (12), Brown (8)

I want AD to not play too many mins at C and capping LBJ/AD mins to 30-32 a game during the regular season to keep em as fresh as possible for the long haul.

[Syko_boB]

Jalen McDaniels
Trenton Watford
Yuta Watanabe
Kevin Love
Taurean Prince

[TheHartBreakKid]

Jalen McDaniels
Trenton Watford
Yuta Watanabe
Kevin Love
Taurean Prince

Sometimes wishes come true lol

Not bad for the Bi annual exemption.

Atleast he has the size to play some spot minutes against the Porter JRs of the world, and I'm sure he'll shoot at a decent enough clip to cover to be useful on the other end. Basically a taller, more playable replacement for T.Brown

[NBAWestFan]

The Lakers need a Center who has Defensive Experience that is proven and also has to be long like 7ft plus.

[Kilroy]

The Lakers need a Center who has Defensive Experience that is proven and also has to be long like 7ft plus.

Out of what's left, I think Bamba fits that best... Dudes a block machine... And he won't get a whole lot of PT anyway.