Los Angeles Lakers: Four-step guide for LeBron James-Paul George team
By Jason Reed
3. Re-sign/Match Julius Randle, under one condition
The Los Angeles Lakers have a free agent to worry about on their own roster in forward, Julius Randle. Prior to the 2017-2018 season, the restricted free agent seemed to be out of the Lakers’ future plans.
Contract extension talks were nixed and rookie Kyle Kuzma was stealing the spotlight at power forward. Add in that Larry Nance Jr, who is no longer on the Lakers, was named the Opening Night starter and Randle’s LA future seemed bleak.
Quite frankly, Randle did not seem to fit the Lakers’ salary cap plans. As a restricted free agent, the Lakers would have to match any offer sheet sent his way to keep him on the roster. With some desperate teams out there, the Lakers likely would have had to pay Randle more than the team wanted.
However, a red-hot second half of the season, in which Randle averaged 19.5 points and 9.4 rebounds per game, made it seem foolish to let him walk this summer. Now, one of the Lakers’ priorities should be to bring Randle back to serve as the starting center in a small-ball Lakers lineup.
However, there is a catch. The Los Angeles Lakers should re-sign or match Randle as long as the annual amount does not exceed $16 million. As good as Randle it, he simply is not worth that much when the Lakers could go out and get a traditional center for cheaper
Although the team does have Bird Rights, signing Randle to a contract this large would only make it harder to re-sign Brandon Ingram, Lonzo Ball and Kyle Kuzma when their times eventually come.
The ballpark estimate for what the Lakers should be spending annually on Randle is somewhere between $10 million and $16 million.
Remaining cap space: $6.8 million-$12.8 million