Over the weekend, the Los Angeles Lakers were able to make a huge trade to bring Anthony Davis to their squad. They ended up giving up Brandon Ingram, Josh Hart, Lonzo Ball, and the fourth overall pick in the draft which compromises their future for short term success. Now, the Lakers will have to fill the holes in their roster throughout free agency which has led some people to speculate their ability to pick up a max contract which would certainly make the squad a super team. As ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski explained yesterday, that just simply isn't possible as the team won't have enough salary cap space once their Davis trade goes through.
Per Woj:
“They needed a July 30 completion of this deal with that No. 4 pick in it to be able to have around $32-33 million in cap space — enough for a max deal. Right now they’re closer to $24 million and there’s no A-list star who is going to take that kind of discount, really not even a B-list big star. So right now it looks like they might want to break up that $23-24 million to bring in multiple players. And given how barren the rest of their roster is, they don’t even have a starting five. That’s probably the better route for the Lakers to go.”
If the Lakers can't find a superstar or some depth to put on their roster, they might have to begin the season with Alex Caruso as a starter, which would truly be the icing on the Lakers dysfunction cake.
Stay tuned for the latest information on free agency and player signings throughout the league.