The Los Angeles Lakers had some big ambitions at the start of the offseason, but those might be fading away after striking out on their initial targets.
In an appearance on ESPN’s “SportsCenter” Wednesday, Adrian Wojnarowski suggested the Lakers are not seriously involved in any talks that could land them a third star to go along with LeBron James and Anthony Davis. Wojnarowski added that the Lakers do not want to use draft picks to dump expensive contracts, and are skeptical of the three-star roster model working under the new CBA.
.@wojespn on the Lakers’ remaining offseason strategy:
– Los Angeles will be making moves on the edges, including veteran’s minimum signings.
– The Lakers are not interested in including draft picks to salary dump contracts.
– Internally, they believe the three stars model… pic.twitter.com/gQhVJhHIzw
— Evan Sidery (@esidery) July 3, 2024
“What’s left are going to be minimum contracts (and) some moves on the edges. There’s not a dramatic deal for the Lakers to do out in the marketplace,” Wojnarowski said. “They don’t want to use their draft picks to get contracts off. They’ll certainly use them if there’s a player that makes sense as part of a bigger deal, but right now, they’re not involved in any deals that would land them a third star. They’re seeing the landscape of this league and that the three-star model, with this salary cap, doesn’t work.”
The Lakers tried for Klay Thompson, but he chose the Dallas Mavericks instead. There was some talk of them possibly turning to DeMar DeRozan, but that may not be doable either.
The Lakers may well be correct about the so-called “second apron” of the luxury tax preventing teams from adding third stars. That does not necessarily mean they are better off for it. Last year’s team went 47-35, which is not good enough in the loaded Western Conference, and struggled in the playoffs. Without significant roster changes, it is fair to question whether they have enough about them to significantly improve on any of that in 2024-25.
