Lakers: The expiring deals that have the best chance of getting re-signed

The Los Angeles Lakers made their off-season flexible by agreeing to and acquiring multiple expiring deals. Of the expiring deals, which is most likely to re-sign?

Led by President of Basketball Operations Magic Johnson and General Manager Rob Pelinka, the Los Angeles Lakers front office has set the table quite nicely for the future of the franchise.

First and foremost, the Lakers have developed a young core four of guys that will all blossom into stars. Brandon Ingram, Lonzo Ball, Julius Randle and Kyle Kuzma all have massive ceilings that potentially could lead to all four becoming all-stars.

On top of that, the Lakers have done a great job of clearing up old contracts and opening space for any new additions. Los Angeles was able to part ways with Jordan Clarkson and Timofey Mozgov while bringing in several expiring deals. This, in turn, has led to $61 million in practical cap space this coming off-season, according to Spotrac.

The Lakers currently have four notable guys on expiring deals: Brook Lopez, Isaiah Thomas, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Julius Randle. Three are unrestricted free agents; Randle is a restricted free agent.

Most are likely to go, but some may indeed stay. Thus, we wanted to rank how likely each expiring deal is of returning, starting with…

4. Isaiah Thomas

For a second, I thought the Lakers would be better-suited in bringing back Isaiah Thomas a depth piece in the backcourt on a big, one-year deal.

Then I came back to reality.

Although Thomas has been better on the Los Angeles Lakers, there are significant hurdles to overcome if he returns. First and foremost is the playing time. Both Lonzo Ball and Josh Hart are going to need good minutes to develop at guard; leaving Thomas as a potential sixth-man, spending more time at the two than the one.

And while that has worked decently thus far, Thomas’ time on the Lakers has primarily been when either Ball or Hart was hurt. While he did good in the two games he played alongside the pair, that is an issue waiting to happen.

Thomas has made it clear that he is not a sixth-man in the NBA and he also feels as if he deserves a max deal. While I think the Thomas shouldn’t be completely ruled out if the Lakers cannot sign anyone else, he should not be their number one priority.

Especially if the team pursues a superstar like LeBron James or Paul George; we all saw how bad Thomas’ relationship was with fellow stars in Cleveland.

Chance of re-signing: 5%