Christie — 35th pick in the 2022 draft — has shown promise as a future LA rotation player.

Ahead of signing likely his last contract in the NBA, LeBron James looks set to really help out the Lakers. After LeBron opted out of his contract earlier on Saturday, his agent, Rich Paul, spoke to Dave McMenamin of ESPN and revealed that he is open to taking a discount on his next deal to open up the full mid-level exception for the Lakers.

If LA cannot find an impact player to sign for the full MLE that would be created by James taking a paycut, James will seek the max.

There can only be so much patience on James' part: Team USA camp begins a week from today in Las Vegas and he needs a deal before taking the court https://t.co/lSkfup7YQJ — Dave McMenamin (@mcten) June 29, 2024

In his article, McMenamin elaborated that players who fit this archetype would be quality veterans with something to prove, like Jonas Valančiūnas or a shooter like Klay Thompson, who appears to be on his way out of Golden State.

The type of player that James would be willing to make a financial sacrifice for would be an established veteran playmaker like James Harden or Klay Thompson, or an established big man to play alongside Anthony Davis — like Jonas Valančiūnas, sources told ESPN.

LeBron has consistently taken the max throughout his career, except on his first contract with the Miami Heat in 2010. Since then, he’s taken the max and no team associated with the King has ever blinked. Even now, the Lakers were reportedly eager to re-sign LeBron at the max.

If he takes less money, however, it opens up the chance to sign a player on the full mid-level exception, which is approximately $12.9 million.

That kind of salary could land a quality starter and put the Lakers back into contention in the Western Conference.

This is the kind of scenario that was unfathomable just a week ago, when it seemed inevitable that LeBron would take the max and the Lakers wouldn’t have the cap space to acquire any potential free agents on the market.

LeBron is more than willing to take the max and with the Team USA camp and his son likely playing in Summer League, if he’s still a free agent, he’ll have to deal with a media circus and this contract situation will undoubtedly create tension.

There’s no need for that if he wants to remain a Laker.

So, if vice president of basketball operations Rob Pelinka has a deal he can get done, then now is the time to do it and show that he can help build a contender here in Los Angeles.

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LOS ANGELES — LeBron James had 25 points and eight assists, Anthony Davis had 20 points and 14 rebounds, and the Los Angeles Lakers beat the NBA-worst Detroit Pistons 125-111 Tuesday night for their fifth win in six games.

D'Angelo Russell scored 21 points and hit four 3-pointers for the Lakers, who have won 10 of 15 overall to move three games above .500 (29-26) for the first time since a week before Christmas. Rui Hachimura and Austin Reaves added 15 points apiece in another dominant offensive game by the Lakers' new starting lineup, which combined for 96 points.

The Lakers had a rare three-day break between games before this meeting, and they rolled to an early 24-point lead in their final home game before the All-Star break, when James will participate for the 20th time.

Spencer Dinwiddie had six points and seven assists in his debut with the Lakers, who signed the veteran Los Angeles native last Saturday. Dinwiddie started 48 games for Brooklyn this season, and the graduate of Taft High School in suburban Woodland Hills will be a key scoring option and playmaker off the bench for the Lakers.

Ausar Thompson scored 19 points and James Wiseman had 18 points and nine rebounds for the Pistons, who had won two of their previous three games for only the third time all season. Team owner Tom Gores, who lives in Beverly Hills, watched from courtside.

Cade Cunningham had 12 points, seven assists and seven rebounds in the least impressive game of a strong road trip for Detroit, which beat Sacramento and Portland to open it before barely losing to the Clippers in this building last weekend.

One game after the Lakers put up 87 points in the second-highest scoring first half in franchise history, they dropped 71 on the Pistons and took a 71-48 halftime lead, paced by Davis' 18 points and 12 boards.

Detroit trimmed the lead to 12 points with 4:50 to play, but got no closer. Davis sat out the entire fourth quarter, resting his legs for a back-to-back set ending in Utah.

New Pistons guard Quentin Grimes remained out with a sprained right knee. He has yet to debut for his new team since arriving in the multiplayer trade with New York.

Isaiah Stewart missed his seventh straight game for Detroit with a sprained left ankle. He should return immediately after the All-Star break.

Lakers guard Max Christie missed his second straight game with a sprained right ankle.

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“Spencer is returning to his roots and the city where his journey began… His play-making and aggressiveness from the guard position provides us valuable depth as we continue our strong push toward the back-half of the season.” -Rob Pelinka

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The Lakers made a big splash in the buyout market by landing guard Spencer Dinwiddie as a midseason acquisition.

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The Lakers made quick work in the buyout market this season, landing their first target and likely the biggest name that’ll be available. Los Angeles native Spencer Dinwiddie will be signing with the Lakers, as first reported by Shams Charania of The Athletic.

>Just in: Spencer Dinwiddie plans to sign with the Los Angeles Lakers after he clears waivers, sources tell @TheAthletic @Stadium. pic.twitter.com/XJCQZnW1Dc — Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) February 10, 2024

>Spencer Dinwiddie will sign with the Los Angeles Lakers when he clears waivers, a source familiar with his plans confirms to ESPN — Dave McMenamin (@mcten) February 10, 2024

Dinwiddie had a mini free agent courting tour across the country before he was ever even officially released. His first stop came in Madison Square Garden to take in Mavericks-Knicks on Thursday.

He then flew across the country back to his hometown to watch the Lakers and Pelicans on Friday alongside vice president of basketball operations Rob Pelinka. After the game, he visited with former teammates D’Angelo Russell and Rui Hachimura, with D’Lo dropping a big hint that he would be signing with the Lakers.

>D’Angelo Russell on Spencer Dinwiddie: “I’m a fan. Y’all will get to know him soon.” pic.twitter.com/uEBMx7Da5K — Michael Corvo (@michaelcorvoNBA) February 10, 2024

After the trade deadline, Pelinka indicated that a ball handler was the top priority for the team in the buyout market. With Kyle Lowry an unlikely signing, Dinwiddie moved to that top spot for the purple and gold.

A polarizing player, Dinwiddie has had success in the past but certainly is not coming off a strong season with the Nets, hence him being traded and released. A return to LA and a smaller role on the roster could see him find success akin to what he did in Dallas with Luka Doncic in which he averaged 17.1 points and shot 46% from the field and 40% from the 3-point line.

If nothing else, Dinwiddie will provide the team much-needed insurance at the guard position. A whole host of injuries has left the team with few ball handlers and a need for players who can run the offense. And Dinwiddie can do that, though it remains to be seen if he can reliably do that in the postseason.

All things considered, though, it’s hard to imagine the team could do much better with a buyout market signing than someone as talented as Dinwiddie. And if it does indeed work, it could be a big homerun and help push the Lakers toward the playoffs.

By Jacob Rude

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LOS ANGELES — The NBA trade deadline came and went without the Los Angeles Lakers making a move.

Over the past few weeks, Lakers vice president of basketball operations and general manager Rob Pelinka fielded what he estimated were hundreds of offers. But after a “thoughtful and tricky calculus,” Pelinka and the rest of the Lakers’ brass determined that standing pat made more sense than making a marginal improvement to a .500 roster.

“My job is to always look for ways to upgrade our roster,” Pelinka said before the Lakers’ 114-106 loss to the Denver Nuggets on Thursday. “But you can’t buy a house that’s not for sale. … The right move wasn’t there.”

The Lakers (27-26) canvassed the league for upgrades despite having limited means to improve their roster. Most conversations transitioned to teams asking for their two best assets: their 2029 first-round pick — the only pick they could trade until this summer — and Austin Reaves, according to team sources not authorized to speak publicly. Los Angeles was prudent about emptying its asset cupboard, aiming to find a move that could elevate it from a play-in team to a bona fide contender, according to those sources. It never found such a deal.

“If the right move would’ve been there at the right price, we would’ve pulled the trigger,” Pelinka said. “We’re not fearful of using future assets for now. It’s just gotta be using future assets for the now in the right way and the right deal.”

The Lakers were not close to any deals on Thursday morning, according to team sources. The closest they ever got to a trade was with the Atlanta Hawks for Dejounte Murray. The Athletic reported the framework of the deal several weeks ago: D’Angelo Russell, Jalen Hood-Schifino and that 2029 first-round pick. The trade ultimately fell apart once the Hawks repeatedly insisted on Reaves being a part of the deal, according to team and league sources.

Rival teams just didn’t covet Russell, Rui Hachimura and Gabe Vincent in trades, according to team and league sources. Any deal involving those players would’ve required the Lakers to attach assets, including their first-round pick more often than not.

With limited interest in their players with multiple years left on their contracts, one option the Lakers weighed was trading Taurean Prince, who is making $4.5 million on an expiring contract. However, head coach Darvin Ham was one of the vocal supporters of retaining Prince, according to team sources.

The Lakers also decided not to trade away a minimum-salaried player to duck under the luxury tax — they were only $1.2 million above it — as they didn’t want to save money at the expense of the strength of the roster.

In conversations with rival teams, the Lakers, according to team sources, sensed something of a “Lakers tax,” with Los Angeles believing it was asked to pay more for role players in potential deals than other suitors. The Lakers were surprised by some of the final prices quoted for certain players. Several of the Lakers’ top targets — Murray, Toronto’s Bruce Brown Jr., Brooklyn’s Dorian Finney-Smith, Washington’s Tyus Jones and Chicago’s duo of Alex Caruso and Andre Drummond — didn’t move at the deadline, a sign to Los Angeles that demands were out of control.

“We tried everything we could, and again, the market is the market,” Pelinka said. “There were very, very few sellers. I don’t think today on the deadline day there were many marquee players moved. There were a lot of buyers, and as everyone knows, when the market has few sellers and tons of buyers, the prices are very, very aggressive. And sometimes no move is better than an unwise move.”

The other factor the Lakers now have to deal with is the fallout with LeBron James, whose hourglass emoji tweet last week heightened pressure on the team and front office to turn this season around. James, 39, has a $51.4 million player option for next season, putting his future — and the Lakers’ future, to a large extent — in his hands.

The Lakers didn’t feel enough pressure from James’ actions, be it the tweet, his non-elaboration thereafter or his public flirtation with the New York Knicks last weekend, to make even a marginal upgrade to appease him.

“The last conversation I had with him was that he was focused on the guys in the locker room and making them the best players and teammates they could be,” Pelinka said.

The Lakers will now turn their attention to the buyout market. Pelinka noted they will be “very aggressive” with their open 15th roster spot and said there is “a really good group of names” available to sign. Because the Lakers didn’t spend their full mid-level exception on Vincent, they can offer free agents a prorated amount of roughly $1.5 million, compared to most other teams being able to roughly $1 million prorated.

Los Angeles is looking for a “ballhandling guard” and if not, the “best available” player.

“Obviously, we signed Gabe Vincent and thought he fit really well, but his health just hasn’t (been there),” Pelinka said. “He’s played five games. I think that would be sort of top of the list. … That would probably be the area we’re trying to address the most, just because right now we have D’Angelo Russell at point guard, but after that, we don’t have a point guard on the roster.”

The Lakers have interest in Spencer Dinwiddie and Kyle Lowry as backup point guard options, according to team sources. Dinwiddie, who will be waived by the Raptors after a deadline-day trade from Brooklyn, is the Lakers’ preference. Lowry, meanwhile, is expected to be released by Charlotte after it could not re-trade him following its earlier trade with the Miami Heat. The Lakers are expected to have competition with Dallas for Dinwiddie and Philadelphia for Lowry, among other potential suitors.

The decision to stand pat was somewhat surprising considering the Lakers entered the season with championship aspirations, but have largely hovered around .500 all season. Injuries and a brutal schedule have played a part in their mediocrity, but so too has the roster’s construction. The Lakers don’t have a reliable two-way wing or many two-way players in general. They’ve quietly made a higher percentage of their shots recently, but they don’t have the type of high-volume shooters the best offenses possess. Ham has been forced to fluctuate between offensive- and defensive-minded lineups, struggling to find the proper balance until recently.

Los Angeles didn’t necessarily need an overhaul like last season’s deadline, but it could’ve benefitted from adding a player that addressed one of its several needs (high-volume 3-point shooting, perimeter/wing defense, non-Davis interior defense). Dinwiddie doesn’t address any of those issues. Lowry’s plus-shooting and defense could help, but he’s almost 38 and coming off multiple injury-riddled seasons.

There might not have been a move that turned the Lakers into a contender, but there were likely moves that would’ve given them a better shot to at least avoid the Play-In Tournament or advance in the playoffs. Nonetheless, they are betting on Cam Reddish, Vincent and possibly Jarred Vanderbilt returning from injury to bolster the rotation.

After saying that Vanderbilt “to date has been able to avoid a plan of surgery” on his injured right foot, Pelinka clarified that a season-ending surgery is still a possibility for Vanderbilt.

“Until an injury is healed and the player’s back, you’re kind of always in the evaluation process of figuring out what it’s gonna take to get a player healthy and back on the court,” Pelinka said. “I would just say we’re hopeful that we can get Jarred back healthy and on the court without surgery, but you never know. Time will tell. But that’s certainly our hope.”

According to team and league sources, there is some internal pessimism regarding Vanderbilt’s potential return. Before the announcement he was set to be re-evaluated in three to four weeks, team sources believed he was trending toward being done for the season.

Moving forward, the Lakers plan to use the three picks that they will have available this summer — 2031, 2029 and either 2024 or 2025, depending on which pick the New Orleans Pelicans choose to receive as part of their return for 2019’s Anthony Davis trade — to pursue a star via trade. Three potential targets are Donovan Mitchell, Trae Young and Kyrie Irving, according to team and league sources. The Athletic has previously reported on the franchise’s interest in Young and Irving.

This isn’t the first time the Lakers have set their sights on the elusive third star of the James-Davis era.

The Lakers courted Kawhi Leonard in 2019 in an attempt to team him up with James and Anthony Davis before he signed with the LA Clippers. They traded for Russell Westbrook in 2021 after inquiring about Damian Lillard, Bradley Beal and DeMar DeRozan, respectively. After the Westbrook trade became one of the worst in modern NBA history, the Lakers pivoted to chasing Kyrie Irving in the summer of 2022 and then again at the 2023 trade deadline, falling short as the Brooklyn Nets retained him through the summer before eventually trading him to Dallas ahead of last season’s deadline.

This summer could be different, especially if the Lakers are willing to package Reaves with their three first-round picks. That’ll at least get them in the conversation for any potentially available star. But that plan also requires James to stay in Los Angeles and for him and Davis to remain as healthy and productive as they’ve been this season.

The potential payoff is significant, but it’s also not without considerable risk.

“We had one first-round draft pick was our only sort of hook to fish with,” Pelinka said. “And this summer in June, at the time of the draft, we’ll have three first-round draft picks to look for deals, which I think will really unlock access to potentially a greater or bigger swing. And we didn’t want to shoot a small bullet now that would only lead to very marginal improvement at the expense of making a much bigger and more impactful movement potentially in June and July.”

By Jovan Buha

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