LeBron James opted for free agency, but if he reaches a deal with Lakers to take less pay, the team may be able to add to the roster.
Before Saturday, it appeared the Lakers were going to have limited flexibility to improve their roster entering Sunday afternoon’s start to free agency.
Their flexibility still appears to be limited, with their roster already nearing capacity, but they may have more options than most believed they would have entering the weekend.
The Lakers will enter Sunday, the first official day of free agency, with the moratorium period running from 3 p.m. PT through 9:01 p.m. on July 5, with 11 players officially on their roster signed to standard contracts after Saturday’s team- and player-option deadline.
This doesn’t include: LeBron James, who declined his player option to become an unrestricted free agent but is expected to return to the Lakers on a new contract; draft picks Dalton Knecht and Bronny James, who haven’t signed their rookie contracts yet but have an introductory news conference scheduled for Tuesday afternoon; or Max Christie, the Lakers’ 2022 second-round pick who’ll be a restricted free agent.
The Lakers want to keep Christie and have mentioned him during recent news conferences about their player development plans.
Taurean Prince and Spencer Dinwiddie are players who ended 2023-24 with the Lakers who will also become unrestricted free agents on Sunday.
D’Angelo Russell, Jaxson Hayes, Cam Reddish and Christian Wood opted into their deals for the 2024-25 season, James being the lone player to decline his option.
The Lakers enter Sunday with $127.34 million in active salaries for 2024-25. This doesn’t factor in the cap holds for their free agents or expected 2024-25 salaries for their draft picks: Knecht at $3.83 million and Bronny James at $1.16 million.
As part of the league’s new collective bargaining agreement, the first apron threshold of $178.66 million and the second apron threshold of $189.49 million come with limitations on the resources teams could have to construct their rosters.
LeBron James’ maximum salary for 2024-25 could be around $49.9 million. He could sign a three-year maximum contract worth around $162 million.
But he’s reportedly willing to take a significant pay cut so the Lakers have the financial flexibility to add a significant player with the full non-taxpayer midlevel exception, which is projected to be around $12.9 million.
James would have to take a pay cut of around $16-17 million for the 2024-25 season to make this happen – meaning his salary for next season would be around $33 million. This would be an even more significant drop off from the $51.4 million 2024-25 salary he could have had if he picked up his player option.
While James taking such a significant pay cut seems unlikely, his agent, Klutch Sports CEO Rich Paul, told ESPN on Saturday after James declined his player option that James is “prioritizing a roster improvement” and has been “adamant about exuding all efforts to improve the roster.”
The Lakers could also send out more salary than they take back in a trade to create more financial flexibility.
Russell is a player the Lakers included in trade talks last season. He’ll have an $18.69 million salary for 2024-25 and is on an expiring contract.
Wood ($3.04 million), Hayes ($2.46 million) and Reddish ($2.46 million) are also on expiring deals.
The Lakers could be a suitor for Klay Thompson, who won four NBA titles with the Golden State Warriors but is reportedly expected to depart the franchise after 13 seasons, depending on their financials. Thompson is also expected to draw interest from the Clippers and Dallas Mavericks, according to The Athletic.
