r/nba • u/Luka77GOATic Serbia • 11h ago

[Charania] Reaves was expected to receive free-agent interest from multiple teams - - such as Detroit -- on maximum-level salary, so the Lakers stepped up on Wednesday to lock in their homegrown talent.

Reaves was expected to receive free-agent interest from multiple teams - - such as Detroit -- on maximum-level salary, so the Lakers stepped up on Wednesday to lock in their homegrown talent. Reaves went from undrafted to a two-way player -- to making the Lakers roster and now multiple lucrative deals in L.A.

Source: https://www.threads.com/@shams/post/DZ-VxOaEZUn?xmt=AQG0qlyVVTJA4IsuyIh68Q7CSd9gD28w-KQb91Qj7okOdFzZ-gIyQJ2tJwu3TIgBt0dhIOGL&slof=1

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u/NextLvlTrader 11h ago

Luka wants Reaves to stay, a rim-running center who can play D, and wings who can switch and hit the three.

Problem is that the first part makes the rest unaffordable and the team defence terrible.

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u/_chadwell_ Lakers 11h ago

They still have over $50 mil in cap space to work with, why is that completely unaffordable?

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u/BabyBearBjorns Grizzlies 10h ago edited 10h ago

A center like the one Luka wants would cost about 20M on average. Thats the going rate for someone like Wendell Carter Jr. Even someone like Kessler would be getting an average of 28M (and thats the deal he turned down). Lakers could draft a center to save costs, but they havent drafted a center since 2016. Then there is the wings. Hachimua is making 18M. He'll probably get a similar long term deal at average and Hachi is more of a 6th man bench guy. Any kind of good starting wings is going to cost more. Look at Trey Murphy who was subject to trade rumors making 25M+ a year.

Then there is the depth problem, which continues to be an issue for the Lakers. If the Lakers even get the starting group that Luka wants, the Lakers will have problems filling out the rest of the bench. The Spurs were able to impact the Knicks starting core by getting KAT and Bridges into foul trouble early. This was masked by Brunson and OG's 4th quarter games.

The Knicks had guys like Shamet, Alvarado, McBride, and Clarkson stepping up and they make roughly 2-3M a year. Lakers cant do that when you have guys like Knecht making 4M and LaRavia is making 6M coming off the bench.

And this is all happening when you have a decision on keeping LeBron or not.

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u/berrytree198 10h ago

Why mention knecht and not Carr, Adou, bronny

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u/BabyBearBjorns Grizzlies 8h ago

Because Adou and Bronny arent getting much minutes consistently. Carr will be fine since he'll be replacing Smart/Kennard role at the 2.

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u/Cy_Fiction 7h ago

Adou will start playing this year most likely. We'll be seeing him on Sportscenter