The Los Angeles Lakers need to fill a lot of roster spots while not having a lot of money to do so this offseason, which makes their upcoming offseason incredibly interesting. The biggest free agent decision for the Lakers will be Dennis Schröder, as the point guard is set to be one of the top free agent guards on the market after turning down a 4-year, $84 million extension during the season.
Schröder is looking for a nine-figure payday, and whether the Lakers want to pay him that much, they may not have much of a choice if the market dictates that he’s worth that. Given their financial situation, L.A. has no way to replace Schröder without finding a sign-and-trade deal involving him — and that gets very difficult to do when it’s swapping a point guard for a point guard — or making a different trade. The problem is, they don’t have any players that are particularly enticing to other teams in a trade.
On Sunday, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski offered a rather hilarious anecdote on the Woj & Lowe special about the Lakers’ desperation this offseason to make moves, saying “almost every team I’ve talked to in the league has been offered Kuz and KCP” in some form. It creates a very funny visual of Rob Pelinka just cold calling every GM from Atlanta to Washington and seeing what Kuzma or KCP could get them, and then asking what both together could get them, only to find out the answer is generally “not a lot.”
Woj seemed to think the Lakers would have to bite the bullet and just sign Schröder, hoping the market for the German guard doesn’t form in the way Schröder thinks it will to keep the cost down at least a bit. Still, over the next week-plus, you can seemingly expect the Lakers to be trying anything they can to make roster upgrades, but when push comes to shove, they might just have to run it back and try to make additions on the margins.
As for what the best possible outcome might be for a Kuz-KCP trade is, Shams Charania reported Buddy Hield has been involved in talks between the Lakers and Kings, which would certainly upgrade the Lakers’ shooting and give them a legitimate perimeter scorer, while the Kings move off some long-term salary. It remains to be seen if the Kings would bite on the Lakers offer, but it’s maybe the splashiest addition L.A. could hope for.