Los Angeles Lakers: D’Angelo Russell better than any max option

The Los Angeles Lakers officially cleared up enough cap space for a third max superstar and it appears as if a reunion could be in the cards.

The Los Angeles Lakers had some cap-savvy wiggling to do in order to make room for a third max superstar but that is exactly what the team did. Two significant things on Thursday gave the team the freedom to add star power.

First, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that Anthony Davis was going to waive his $4 million trade kicker. This ironically broke at the same time as it was announced that LeBron James would be giving him the number 23, so it appears as if that number was worth $4 million to Davis.

But hey, he probably doesn’t even care about that $4 million. Not only does waiving it help the Lakers’ chances of winning a title but he will probably make that back by being in Space Jam 2 as well.

The other news of the day being that the Lakers would be trading Moritz Wagner, Isaac Bonga and Jemerrio Jones to the Washington Wizards. The Wizards officially became the third team in the Davis deal as New Orleans will receive $1.1 million in exchange for the three players.

And as a result, the Los Angeles Lakers now have a roster that has three players on it — Davis, LeBron and Kyle Kuzma — and enough cap space to bring in a max star.

Personally, I believe that adding depth with legitimate role players would be a better route than spending all the cap space on one player. However, if the Lakers are going to spend big, the player they should target should be the former Laker himself, D’Angelo Russell.

The Russell rumors have been growing steadily and we even urged readers to calm down, that it would not happen. Now, it seems like a surefire thing.

He is simply the best option available for the Clippers, aside from maybe Kawhi Leonard, who the team has a very marginal chance of signing this summer.

The other premier free agent of the summer, Kevin Durant, is injured and would not help the Lakers’ roster. Jimmy Butler wouldn’t fit alongside James and Davis, Kyrie Irving seems to be all but a guarantee to Brooklyn, Kemba Walker appears to be going to Boston, etc.

Russell not only fills the hole at the point guard position but is that perfect shot-creating guard that LeBron has had on all of his title-winning teams. It would be interesting to see how big of a step down his game would take with LeBron and Davis on the team but he certainly is a capable third star of a title-winning team.

Not only is that in play but there is a chance that he might not get a max deal, as some of these other players would. He certainly would still get paid but the Lakers could probably get him for four years and $100 million, giving him an annual salary of $25 million.

If the Brooklyn Nets or some other team want to offer him the max then so be it, the Lakers now have that flexibility to spend. However, chances are he will cost the Lakers less than a max deal and leave the team at least some cap to pursue someone that is not a veteran minimum signing.

At the end of the day, the Los Angeles Lakers are going to look to add as much star power as possible. And unless the team strikes gold and gets lucky with Kawhi Leonard, D’Angelo Russell is the guy to pursue.