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Los Angeles Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka. Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

Former Laker doubts team will run it back with same players

By Sean Keane | Last updated 5/25/23

Rob Pelinka says the Lakers want to stick with their new young players. One former Laker has his doubts.

At the team's exit interviews Tuesday, Pelinka told reporters, "I would say this resoundingly clear: Our intentions are to keep our core of young guys together."

Many of the young players who helped the Lakers reverse a disappointing season and make it to the conference finals have unresolved contract situations this summer, whether it's free agency or non-guaranteed contracts. The Lakers can bring them back, try to package players to trade for a veteran star or create salary cap space to sign one.

Former Laker Kyle Kuzma thinks he knows which direction they'll go.

Heard that before https://t.co/pBgwCp0HAV
— kuz (@kylekuzma) May 23, 2023

Kuzma and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope were both key members of the Lakers' championship team in 2020. A year later, they were sent packing so Los Angeles could add Russell Westbrook in a trade that all parties likely regret. Except for KCP, who will be starting for Denver in the NBA Finals next week.

Pelinka managed to turn Westbrook and some future picks into one of the deeper teams in the league at the deadline, adding youth and athleticism around the talented-but-aging LeBron James and Anthony Davis. While Pelinka might want to stick with his youth movement, James usually wants his teams to add veteran stars.

Some Lakers experts believe James' talk about contemplating retirement was to provide leverage for him to get the team to add a star - specifically Kyrie Irving.

That report feels like the first domino towards "convince me to come back by signing-and-trading for Kyrie."
— Harrison Faigen (@hmfaigen) May 23, 2023

The young guys were huge for L.A., but they also provide the only path for the Lakers to get another All-Star, as they can't create enough cap space for a max deal. And the only players officially under contract for next season are James, Davis and 20-year-old Max Christie. Everyone else's future is up in the air.

Austin Reaves, the undrafted shooting guard who started all 16 playoff games and averaged 16.9 points, is a restricted free agent. So is Rui Hachimura, who shot nearly 50 percent from three-point range in the playoffs, and even occasionally stymied Nikola Jokic as a defender.

DEN goes back to Jokic in the post. LAL not sending a double. Some digs from Schroder but AD anchoring the rim behind Hachimura. Jokic tries to thread the needle but LBJ's help leads to another TO from a Jokic post up pic.twitter.com/nvXHFcCllc
— Michael Jagacki (@Mike_Jagacki) May 17, 2023

D'Angelo Russell is an unrestricted free agent. Malik Beasley's $16.5 million contract is non-guaranteed, as is Jarred Vanderbilt's $4.7 million deal. The Lakers will almost certainly guarantee the latter, while they might pick up Beasley's deal for the purpose of trading him.

L.A. could also trade their first-round pick (No. 17) once they've made the pick, and they also have their 2029 first-rounder as a trade chip. But they can't keep the young guys while also adding a max player - they'd need one of Hachimura or Reaves to head out in a sign-and-trade for Irving, to match the salaries.

Given how good they looked down the stretch, the Lakers could be scary next season without many changes at all. That would require the Lakers to be patient and not go all-in on an aging star. History tells us that's not what the Lakers do.

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