Lakers offseason primer: LeBron James option, D’Angelo Russell’s future, more
The Los Angeles Lakers went into this season with high hopes. After locking up some of their younger players like Austin Reaves, Rui Hachimura, and Jarred Vanderbilt to multi-year contracts, many ‘pundits’ considered the Lakers to have won the offseason. However, they won just one game in the postseason. Although they won the inaugural In-Season Tournament, the team struggled right after and were behind the eight-ball simply trying to get into the playoffs right up to the end of the regular season.
Seeing their demise this early in the playoffs is surely a disappointment from top to bottom. Jeanie Buss and Rob Pelinka have to start to look in the mirror and decide when they need to pivot from riding the coattails of their aging superstars. The reality is most teams in the West have gotten better. The Lakers won four more games than last year (47), but were still stuck in the same No. 7 spot in the West.
Let’s take a look at the 2024 offseason for the Los Angeles Lakers.
State of the roster and offseason player options
Everyone has to wonder if Darvin Ham will return as coach next year. There has been wide speculation that some players on the team have thrown insinuated shots at Ham in particular. There have also been instances of bad body language around the coach during timeouts. One has to wonder if this it for the second-year coach. However, it wouldn’t be shocking if Jeanie Buss decides to keep Ham for one more season, given how quick she was to defend him earlier in the year when everyone wondered if he was on the hot seat.
LeBron James, the aging superstar, will get to decide himself if he wants to opt in or opt out of the last season on his contract soon. As widely known, James has expressed a desire to team up with his son, Bronny. But, there seem to be no guarantees that a team would be willing to take a chance on him this summer, and Bronny also hasn’t closed the door on transferring to a different college next year.
This presents a dilemma for the 39-year-old. Should he opt in and play the last year of his deal in Los Angeles as his son gets another year to mature as a player? Or should he just opt out and go somewhere he can get a better chance to win his fifth championship? Plus, he has openly talked about not being sure if he was willing to hang it up now and riding into the sunset. Along with his Summer Olympics duties in Paris, James will be busy making decisions about his future.
D’Angelo Russell also has a player option, but his situation is drastically different. It has already been rumored that Russell plans to opt out and test the free agency market, and it’s hard to blame him. After the trade rumors sizzled up to the deadline, Russell went on a tear during the start of 2024, and put together one of the hottest stretches of his career. That was before another pretty rough playoff performance, though.
Repercussions from the new CBA
The Lakers aren’t just a first-round exit, but they are one of the eight teams over the salary cap. They are set to be $11.2 million over the tax, which would force the Lakers to pay an excessive amount in penalties. The team is due to pay about a $30.3 million penalty due to the repeater tax.
Assuming Russell opts out, the Lakers could try to upgrade at the point guard position. If the Lakers wanted to stay within the first apron in a trade, they would need to match the first apron salary and stay within 125 percent of the incoming salary.
For example, let’s look at both the Hawks’ Trae Young and Dejounte Murray. Since Young makes about $43 million and Murray makes $25.5 million, the Lakers would need to send out at least $34.4 and $20.4 million in salary respectively for each of them. For the Lakers to facilitate that, they would need to let go of a combination of Rui Hachimura, Gabe Vincent, Jarred Vanderbilt, or Austin Reaves.
It would not make sense for the Lakers to get into the second apron ($17.5 million over the luxury tax threshold) as it would freeze up the team’s ability to use their mid-level exception, sign buyout players, or even take on more salary in any trades. The team can ill-afford to lose any flexibility around their aging stars. With what we saw between Anthony Davis and James, the Lakers need a strong supporting cast if they want to contend in the rugged West.
204-25 SALARY SITUATION
Players rostered: 7
Two-way players: 0
Guaranteed salaries: $104.5 million
Non-guaranteed salaries: $78 million
Total salary: $182.5 million
Luxury tax space: -$11.2 million
Apron space: -$4.6 million
Second apron space: 6.2 million
Spending power:
Taxpayer Mid-level: $5.2 million
Bi-Annual: $4.7 million
LeBron James
2024-25 salary: $51,415,938 (player option)
Remaining salary guaranteed: $0
Anthony Davis
2024-25 salary: $43,219,440
Remaining salary guaranteed: $119,818,179 through 2026-27
Additional notes:
2027-28 salary is a player option worth $66,821,676
D'Angelo Russell
2024-25 salary: $18,692,307 (player option)
Remaining salary guaranteed: $0
Rui Hachimura
2024-25 salary: $17,000,000
Remaining salary guaranteed: $18,259,259 through 2025-26
Austin Reaves
2024-25 salary: $12,976,362
Remaining salary guaranteed: $13,937,574 through 2025-26
Additional notes:
2026-27 salary is a player option worth $14,898,786
Gabe Vincent
2024-25 salary: $11,000,000
Remaining salary guaranteed: $11,500,000
Jarred Vanderbilt
2024-25 salary: $10,714,286
Remaining salary guaranteed: $23,999,946 through 2026-27
Additional notes:
2027-28 salary is a player option worth $13,285,714
Jalen Hood-Schifino
2024-25 salary: $3,879,830
Remaining salary guaranteed: $7,944,414 through 2025-26
Christian Wood
2024-25 salary: $3,036,040 (player option)
Remaining salary guaranteed: $0
Cam Reddish
2024-25 salary: $2,463,946 (player option)
Remaining salary guaranteed: $0
Jaxson Hayes
2024-25 salary: $2,463,946 (player option)
Remaining salary guaranteed: $0
Maxwell Lewis
2024-25 salary: $1,891,857
Remaining salary guaranteed: $100,000 guaranteed through 2025-26
Additional notes:
2025-26 salary increases to $2,221,677 if not waived by June 29, 2025
2026-27 salary is a player option worth $2,406,205
Taurean Prince
Cap hold: $5,419,200
Type of free agent: Non-bird (unrestricted)
Spencer Dinwiddie
Cap hold: $2,093,637
Type of free agent: Non-bird (unrestricted)
Max Christie
Cap hold: $2,293,637
Type of free agent: Early bird (unrestricted)
Colin Castleton
Cap hold: $1,867,723
Type of free agent: Non-bird (restricted)
Skylar Mays
Cap hold: $1,867,723
Type of free agent: Non-bird (restricted)
2024 Pick No. 17
2024-25 salary: $3,830,280
Remaining salary guaranteed: $8,235,360 through 2027-28
