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The Los Angeles Lakers entered free agency, emphasizing the importance of maintaining continuity and only needing minor improvements for a roster that made it to the Western Conference Finals.
True to their word on day one of free agency, they agreed to re-sign restricted free agent Rui Hachimura (three years, $51m) while also re-signing guard Gabe Vincent (three years, $33m). ) and to sign forward Taurean Prince (one year, $4.5 million) and winger Cam Reddish (at least two years veteran experience, sophomore player option), team sources confirmed to The Athletic.
The Lakers will claim the non-taxable middle player exemption for Vincent and the semi-annual exemption for Prince, meaning they are tightly capped at the first $172 million luxury tax advance. That restriction will not prevent them from bringing back restricted free agent Austin Reaves or unrestricted free agent D’Angelo Russell, according to multiple team sources who are not authorized to speak publicly. Reaves remains the No. 1 priority for the Lakers, and the Lakers are still interested in re-signing Russell despite agreeing terms with Vincent, another shoot-first combo guard, those sources said.
Reaves’ first-year salary is capped at $12.4 million due to the CBA’s “Gilbert Arenas provision,” regardless of whether he agrees to rejoin the Lakers for the maximum they can bid to sign (approximately four years, $52 million) or if they match another team’s post-loaded offer sheet (approximately four years, maximum $102 million).
Realistically, the most the Lakers can offer Russell for a first-year salary is around $20 million to $22 million, depending on the type of minimum contracts they use to fill their roster. (Minimum contracts have different values depending on a player’s year of service). Aside from Reaves and Russell, the Lakers have either two or three minimum veteran roster spots available — count on two as they will likely promote 14 official roster players into the 2023-24 season. (The Lakers can technically keep either Malik Beasley or Lonnie Walker IV past the veteran minimum by using Bird rights, but that depends on Russell’s first-year salary.)
After the Lakers refused to accept Beasley’s $16.5 million team option and the non-guaranteed salaries of Mo Bamba ($10.3 million) and Shaquille Harrison ($2.4 million) waived, they opened up their mid-level non-taxable exception to use for a starter-level rotation update. They’ve found one in Vincent, who will become their main off-season signing. The 27-year-old sniper is known as a tough defender who fits seamlessly into Miami’s hard-bitten, selfless culture.
Vincent, a four-year veteran, has been relatively sluggish in the regular season, averaging 9.4 points, 2.1 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 0.9 steals in 25.9 minutes per game. In that span, he shot just 40.2 percent from the field, 33.4 percent from three, and 87.2 percent from the free-throw line. But his numbers increased significantly during the playoffs as he averaged 12.7 points per game on 40.2/37.8/88.2 shooting splits in 30.5 minutes per game while Tyler Herro was out with a hand injury. The most notable jump was beyond the arc where Vincent went from being an under average shooter to an above average shooter.
Unlike Russell, Vincent is a proven playoff contributor. He was arguably the Heat’s third-best pick during much of their magical finals run as the No. 8 seed, scoring five 20-point games, including at least one in each round. He should bolster Los Angeles’ shooting, ball handling and attack defense when it counts.
Assuming the Lakers retain Reaves and Russell, Vincent plans to come off the bench as the team’s third guard. He could easily start alongside Reaves if the Lakers don’t agree on terms with Russell, or if he outperforms Russell in training camp and the Lakers decide to bench Russell. Reaves should be a solid starter assuming he returns.
Essentially, Vincent replaces Dennis Schröder, who agreed to sign a two-year, $26 million deal with the Toronto Raptors shortly after the Lakers agreed to Vincent’s signing. Considering the players available in a similar price range, including Schroeder, Vincent is a solid value for the Lakers. If he ends up coming off the bench, he’d be the best bench guard the Lakers have had in years.
The Lakers considered bringing Schroeder back but ultimately viewed Vincent as the better player and value, according to team sources. Lakers head coach Darvin Ham was one of the internal voices strongly in favor of keeping Schroeder, according to these sources.
In the days leading up to free agency, the Lakers were confident they would sign former Nuggets winger Bruce Brown on a multi-year non-taxable mid-level breakout deal, multiple league sources told The Athletic. But that all changed Friday morning when the Indiana Pacers cleared additional space for the Cap and became the favorite to sign Brown. Brown eventually agreed to a two-year, $45 million contract with Indiana, nearly double the annual value the Lakers were able to offer him.
Meanwhile, Hachimura’s deal largely matched its market value, which was around $15 million to $18 million, according to The Athletic. The 25-year-old forward landed at the higher end of that range, with the Lakers appreciating the reassurance of locking him up and not letting another team try to up the price.
Like Vincent, Hachimura was a playoff mover in free agency, increasing his scoring (9.6 to 12.2), field goal percentage (48.5 to 55.7), and 3-point percentage (29-29). .6 to 48.7). Hachimura’s 3-pointer in the coming seasons will have a big impact on the value of his contract. Luckily for the Lakers, he’s an ideal fit alongside LeBron James and Anthony Davis, and was the team’s fourth-best player for much of the postseason.
Currently, Hachimura is the only free agent the Lakers have retained. He went into the offseason as the Lakers’ second priority after Reaves and is a key member of the group the Lakers vice president of basketball operations and general manager Rob Pelinka was referring to when he explained the team aims to be “our core to stick together from young players”. this off-season.
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After being fired by the Minnesota Timberwolves earlier this week before his $7.7 million salary was guaranteed for the 2023-24 season, Prince will arrive in Los Angeles as the Type 3-and-D winger the the Lakers have long wanted. In his career, he’s a 37.2 percent 3-pointer with 4.4 attempts per game, and last season he shot 38.1 percent of his 3-pointers. He’ll likely come off the bench and support James and Hachimura as ground defenders in catch-and-shoot, kick-out, and pick-and-pop situations. Prince is tough as nails, scoring as an above-average defender on most advanced metrics.
Reddish is a name that has been causing quite a stir over the past few days. The front office has an affinity for him and he has obvious ties to the organization as he is represented by Klutch Sports, managed by James’ childhood friend Rich Paul. The 6-foot-8 Reddish averaged 11.0 points in 20 games with Portland last season with a true shot average of 56.1 after transferring from the New York Knicks. He’s not a particularly good 3-pointer (32.2 percent in his career) and tends to rely on steals and lose focus defensively. At just 23 years old (he’ll be 24 before the season begins), the former No. 10 pick overall is the kind of momentum at untapped potential that has developed for the Lakers in recent seasons with Malik Monk, Lonnie Walker IV and , to a lesser extent, Stanley Johnson. Reddish has had highlights throughout his career but he has yet to make a lasting impression in a winning environment.
Hachimura’s signing was a formality, as was Reaves’ signing or matching. But the real question in the Lakers’ offseason was what they would do with their exceptions. They replaced Schroeder and Troy Brown Jr., who had agreed to sign in Minnesota, with Vincent and Prince, an improvement for Los Angeles. (Beasley, Bamba and Walker are unsigned as of Friday night.) They added two above-average shooters while maintaining the defensive acumen that made them so dominant at times in the second half of last season. They also took a low-risk flyer on Reddish that could pay off.
Russell is the other question mark. There doesn’t seem to be much interest in signing him across the league; If so, the Lakers hold the most leverage in negotiations and the power to squeeze millions out of a potential deal.
While Friday’s moves were an undeniable achievement and bolstered the roster of a team four wins away from the NBA Finals, the Lakers still have some gaps in their roster. Their shooting is improved but it would be an exaggeration to say that this is a strength of the squad. They are heavily betting on Vincent and Hachimura maintaining their post-season shot counts. If they both get closer to their 2023-24 regular season quotas, Los Angeles won’t have enough margin around James, Davis and Reaves.
Additionally, while the Lakers’ perimeter defenses are better with Vincent and Prince on board, there are valid questions about how they will stack up against high-goal multiwing teams (like Boston and the Clippers). Jarred Vanderbilt, an obvious choice for guarding the likes of Jayson Tatum and Kawhi Leonard, could be played from the ground in these encounters, as he did at times throughout the playoffs.
After all, LA still has a huge hole down the middle behind Anthony Davis. At this point they only have one center (Davis) in the roster. Hachimura and James are able to slip into the middle, but that’s only in certain situations. As the Lakers look to fill their last two roster spots beyond Reaves and (possibly) Russell, the best approach would be to sign two veteran minimum bigs for necessary depth and injury coverage. According to a league source, Bamba is interested in staying with the Lakers and could be an option.
As far as future moves go, Reaves and Russell are obviously staying in the market. Reaves is taking stock and taking his time before re-signing with the Lakers, but his options are dwindling. The Lakers’ message that they would accept any offer from Reaves appears to be working in their favor.
The Lakers’ work is far from over, but they’ve built on last season’s identity and appear better positioned to repeat last season’s success than they did less than 24 hours ago.
(Photo: Eric Espada/Getty Images)
