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Lakers Free Agent Targets Go Beyond Kawhi Leonard, as they Should

June 29, 2019 by Darius Soriano


lakers-free-agent-targets-jimmy-butler-d'angelo-russell

On Friday and now, into Saturday, reports have shifted towards Kawhi Leonard showing more interest in the Lakers than previously expected. No one can know for sure if this interest is real or simply the normal ramping up of the rumor mill as free agency approaches, but odds makers in Las Vegas are reacting in kind, moving odds in a manner that reflect the Lakers being even more of a favorite than they were after trading for Anthony Davis.

Considering he is at the top of the Lakers free agent targets list, this is, of course, exciting. For the past 10 months, reporting was nearly unanimous that the Clippers were the favorite to land Leonard should he depart Toronto, but that tide is shifting and seemingly substantially so.

With this the case one might think the Lakers would only ramp up their pursuit of the reigning Finals MVP. And I’m sure they are. What they’re also doing, however, is expressing interest in many other free agents, from max to mid-tier players who could help the team should Leonard not come. The list of names is a who’s who of players that could help this team next year and would be ideal targets:

Can confirm ESPN report that the Lakers have reached out to D'Angelo Russell's representatives about a meeting. Russell, whom the Lakers drafted 2nd overall in 2015 then traded away in 2017, was an All Star last season.

— Tania Ganguli (@taniaganguli) June 29, 2019

Sources: Jimmy Butler plans to meet with the 76ers soon and has interest from other teams with maximum salary space, including the Lakers and Nets, and sign-and-trade possibilities elsewhere.

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) June 29, 2019

Sources: The Lakers have reached out to the reps of free agent guard Patrick Beverley. Beverley is one of the best defenders in the NBA and his 3-point shooting has improved dramatically. He’s also a great locker room presence.

— Brad Turner (@BA_Turner) June 29, 2019

Outside teams expected to have some level of interest in #Twolves FA Taj Gibson: Clippers… Nets… Bucks… Bulls… Warriors… Raptors… Blazers… Hornets… Lakers.

— Darren Wolfson (@DWolfsonKSTP) June 29, 2019

The Lakers have also reached out to the reps of free agent guard Seth Curry, per source. Curry is the type of long range shooter the Lakers want. He shot 45.6% from the field last season in Portland, 45% from three. He averaged 7.9 points in 74 games.

— Brad Turner (@BA_Turner) June 30, 2019

There are other targets too, but when taken at a whole, these specific names show the Lakers really are planning for any type of scenario where they could sign a non-Kawhi max guy, a $20+ million guy and another role player, or even a division of their cap space among 2-3 high level role players.

Butler is a 30% max player. Russell is a 25% max player who could earn anywhere from $20-27 million depending on what his market ends up being. Gibson’s market could be anywhere from the room exception (roughly $4.7 million a year) to upwards of $8-9 million a year. Beverly is rumored to want $13-15 million a year. Curry could make the full mid-level exception from over the cap teams (roughly $9 million a year).


These players also represent a shift from last year’s free agent pulls. This group offers shooting and defense/toughness. While last year’s signings were supposed to be that, we all knew better at the time. If the Lakers end up with any of the players they’re reportedly interested in this year, they’d actually get those much needed skill sets they did not get last summer.

We’ll see how all this plays out. But the list of Lakers free agent targets should encourage you. They show a better understanding of roster construction than last year. Hopefully that means they learned from their past mistakes. Considering the number of roster spots they have to fill, they better have.

Just as important, though, this list shows the Lakers are not putting all their eggs in the Kawhi basket. They can (and maybe even should) be confident they can land Leonard and team him with LeBron and Anthony Davis. But, if they don’t, they seem prepared to pivot quickly to still build out a team that can compete for a title next season.


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