The Lakers‘ off-season has been relatively quiet so far. Apart from signing Max Christie to a four-year, 32 million contract and selecting former Tennessee guard Dalton Knecht and former USC guard Bronny James in the 2024 NBA draft, Rob Pelinka has not done much with the Laker’s roster. But can Bronny alone change the cursed fate of the Lakers? With only $45,001 to spare below the second apron, the Lakers must dump significant salary to gain access to the taxpayer mid-level exception this offseason. This has raised concern among Lakers’ faithful and NBA analysts.

“This is a 47-win team that did not make a significant move other than go from Darwin Ham to JJ Reddick as coach. I don’t understand the Lakers’ off-season at all. Look, they tried to make some moves. They could not get Klay Thompson. They did not get DeMar DeRozan.” Howard Beck said. “Here we are in late July and it feels like the off-season is largely over. Most of the free agents have signed. There’s still time for teams to make moves and try to figure out how to maneuver under the aprons, but are the Lakers done? is this it?”

“The Celtics are really well positioned in that. Yeah, there’s a second apron and all the stuff that goes with that and luxury taxes. But second apron is only really a problem if you need more talent,” the media veteran added. The taxpayer MLE for this season is $5.168 million, and teams that utilize it cannot surpass the second apron at any time. The Lakers would need to cut at least $5.1 million in salary to gain access to the taxpayer MLE and stay below the second apron.

Since the Lakers need new talent in the team, Pelinka needs to figure out how they’re gonna cut that $5.1 million and sign a new player. While teams like the Celtics are above the second apron, they have everything they need to be contenders for the championship, at least for this season. Will Pelinka work some magic and make the Lakers a contender?

The possible next moves for the Lakers

Currently, the Utah Jazz and Detroit Pistons are the only two teams that have a minimum of $10 million in available cap space. While the Jazz are focusing on reserving most of their resources for a renegotiation and extension with Lauri Markkanen in early August, the Pistons could become an attractive option for shedding salary.

The Detroit team has enough cap space to accommodate either Gabe Vincent ($11.0 million) or Jarred Vanderbilt ($10.7 million), leaving them with $11.5 million. This would give the Lakers enough space under the second apron to use the taxpayer MLE. The Lakers have the option to salary-dump Christian Wood ($3.0 million) and either Jaxson Hayes ($2.5 million) or Cam Reddish ($2.5 million) to gain access to the taxpayer MLE. The question is if the cost of salary-dumping one player is greater than the benefit of signing someone new.

Teams can take on Wood, Reddish, and Hayes without cap space since they are on minimum contracts. The Lakers should see what it takes to get rid of Wood, Hayes or Reddish’s contracts. If, by chance, they stumble upon an amazing signing; they are in luck.

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