For the next few weeks, until at least the 2023 NBA draft on June 22, Los Angeles Lakers fans will likely be left to merely speculate on what their team may do to take the final step next season.
After turning things around with some midseason trades and getting swept in the Western Conference finals, the Lakers are likely close to being a true championship-caliber team. But at least a couple of tweaks and/or improvements will be needed to deliver them their 18th world title.
Fans seem split on whether the Lakers should run it back or take a big, bold swing at a third star such as Kyrie Irving. Insider Jovan Buha wrote in an offseason mailbag article that the team tentatively is planning on running it back.
Via The Athletic:
“The tentative plan for the Lakers is to run it back with as much of this past season’s group as they can possibly afford under the new, stricter collective bargaining agreement.”
Guards D’Angelo Russell, Austin Reaves, Dennis Schroder and Lonnie Walker IV, and forward Rui Hachimura will be free agents on June 30. A new collective bargaining agreement, which is even more restrictive than the previous one, will take effect soon and heavily penalize teams that go beyond a certain threshold above the initial luxury tax threshold.
That new agreement will require executive Rob Pelinka to get creative in order to retain Russell, Reaves and Hachimura.