Following weeks of anticipation, the Los Angeles Lakers have had quite an eventful offseason in free agency that was headlined by the addition of All-Star forward LeBron James.
Although the Lakers have taken a tremendous step forward with James now in the fold, the front office has continued to have their mind set on what may lie ahead in the future. According to Ohm Youngmusik of ESPN, president of basketball operations Magic Johnson stated on Friday that the team is always open to any move that helps improve the roster.
“If we feel there’s somebody out there or a deal to be made to make our team better, then we’ll do it as long as it’s a great deal for us,” Johnson said during a conference call Friday. “If it’s not, we have our team and we’ll go to battle, go to war with this team. We feel really good about this team.
“Then we’ll have enough room for next summer to give another player a max deal. [General manager] Rob [Pelinka] and I, we already put the strategy together. LeBron of course changed some of that, but we’re still going to stay disciplined and hope we’ll be a team that can have a championship run for a long time.”
Los Angeles has added several proven players to the mix aside from James that includes the likes of Rajon Rondo, Lance Stephenson, JaVale McGee, and brought back Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. What has stood out with these moves is that have each been one-year deal that has them positioned to have more than enough salary cap space to make a strong run at some of the top-tier free agents next summer.
There is expected to be plenty of All-Star level talent available with the likes of Jimmy Butler, Klay Thompson, Kevin Durant, Kawhi Leonard, and Kemba Walker. Los Angeles can now make a compelling pitch with James alongside promising young core group that features Kyle Kuzma, Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram, and Josh Hart.
Ultimately, the chips in the Lakers’ hands but there doesn’t appear to be any rush as the team has a game plan set in place for next summer.
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