Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - Are the Lakers Already Priced Out of the Free Agent Center Market?

Starting point is 00:00:00 Hey everyone, welcome to Locked on Lakers for Tuesday, Brian Komenetsky, Andy Komenetsky. It's not even the end of June. Are the Lakers already locked out of the free agent center market? That's next. You are Locked on Lakers. Your daily Los Angeles Lakers podcast, part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. Thanks to everybody for making Locked on Lakers first listen to every day,

Starting point is 00:00:31 Monday through Friday, no matter how you get your podcast. This one's always free. Never Behind a Paywall. Locked on Lakers. on YouTube is where people who are not subscribing, perhaps on iTunes, Apple, podcast app, or maybe Spotify, Andy. That's where people who like to watch can go hang out with over 35,000 other subscribers to the channel.

Starting point is 00:00:53 They're talking to each other. They're talking to us, leaving questions, leaving comments, a lot of chatter based on Monday's show where we talked about Austin Reeves and his potential trade value following the big Memphis to Orlando swap. Desmond Bain to Florida. Some other fallout from that trade that could be influential for the Lakers, which we'll get into here in a second. I want to let people know that today's episode's brought to you by Fandul.

Starting point is 00:01:19 Right now, new customers can get $200 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet win. So we're going to try to get back to a couple of things that we did not quite finish up with the Reeves conversation. If we don't get to it today, we'll certainly get to it over the course of this week because there's a lot to unpack there. But Andy, it wasn't the only, that giant trade wasn't the only important stuff that happened in the league over the course of the weekend. Stephen Adams extends with Houston three years, $13 million per, so $39 million total. Not a surprise that Adams was out of L.A.'s price range or that he stayed in Houston, but it was a number that I think probably got some people's attention.

Starting point is 00:02:03 It was more than I expected the Rockets to pay Stephen Adams to stay. And both of us said in shows leading up to this deal eventually happening that we thought Stephen Adams was unlikely to be within the Lakers price range. Or really even that close. Right. But that being said, I mean, the Lakers for those not up to speed, as far as free agents, they have a taxpayer mid-level, which is worth a little bit less than $6 million. And both of our thought was Stephen Adams had a very impactful playoff first round for the Rockets. He is known to be a very good culture setter in a very young locker room. He's experienced.

Starting point is 00:02:45 He sets just bone breakers of screens. He's one of the best offensive rebounders in the league. We thought that it would make sense that the Rockets wouldn't keep him. I did not expect this price point. But it did reinforce our general concern in thinking about. the taxpayer mid-level and how the Lakers are going to target it and center often comes up, if there's a team that has a free agent center and they want to keep them, it's going to be very easy to outbid the Lakers and not terribly financially burdensome

Starting point is 00:03:22 to out because once you get to about six and a half mill, Lakers are out. Well, yeah. way out. In terms of being able to equal your bid, here's where the Lakers can compete, where they can make a very compelling pitch, playing time. The Lakers have, of all contending teams, if you're a free agent center who, for whatever reason, wants to reestablish value, sign a short contract to maybe get back on the free agent market faster, whatever the situation might be.

Starting point is 00:04:00 But you also want to play for a team where you're playing meaningful basketball because honestly, you know, everybody wants to win. That plan works better if you have your choice playing on a team, playing consequential basketball. If you're playing on a lousy team, you can sort of reestablish your value, or establish a higher value or whatever it might be. But it doesn't work as well as doing it in minutes that really matter. So the Lakers, more than any team, I think, in the, we'll call them top

Starting point is 00:04:33 10, I think around the league, which is fair, can offer playing time to a center. So that's the pitch. You come here, you're going to get twice as many minutes as you might with contender X, contender Y, and contender Z. But that's good because it can't be money. Which, by the way, another reason that neither one of us thought Stephen Adams was ultimately a realistic target, not only was going to be too easy for Houston to outbid him when it was clear that they wanted to keep him and it seemed like he wanted to stay. Stephen Adams is not somebody who was going to be super concerned about his playing time, particularly in the regular season. Like he only played about 15 minutes a game. And I know this was coming off a season that he lost due to injury. So some of that may have been easing him in.

Starting point is 00:05:22 Right. And he plays behind an excellent center in Alphe Schengoon and all that. Right. And if by definition, if he was happy in Houston, then he was happy in a situation where his minutes were going to be for a variety of reasons capped. So the idea of showcasing himself, if that's even what Stephen Adams wanted, didn't seem likely if by all appearances he seemed to want to stay. in Houston because that wasn't that's going to be one of the only calling points not there with the

Starting point is 00:05:53 right and and you know it's and obviously houston is a is a team that is just as much in contention as the lakers so like again neither one of us expected that to be an outcome where where adams ends up as a reasonable possibility for the lakers but what really got me worried um if you're thinking about the free agent market is what this means for the value of you start going down like if you get a chance, viewer, head over to Hoops. Just Google Hoops hype, Top Centers, Free Agency, NBA. It's not an encouraging list. So Miles Turner, not happening. We all know that. Nas Reid, not happening. We all know that. So after that, you're talking about somebody like Stephen Adams. Well, already off the market. You're talking about Clint Capella.

Starting point is 00:06:45 If Adams is worth 13 to a team that wants him, Capella was not bad with Atlanta last year. He's certainly lost a step. He's not quite the guy he was at his peak in his early seasons in Atlanta. But he's hardly a bad player. It's just that Onieka-onkongwu is really good, really young, and Atlanta's invested a lot in him. And, you know, it's time for him to take that job.

Starting point is 00:07:10 But Capella is still young enough that he can play. if Adams is a $13 million player, Capella certainly seems like a eight or nine or $10 million guy for a team that values his skill set and wants what he does. It is not hard for me to picture a team paying him or offering him more than the Lakers could at $6 million. Maybe. I think that is certainly.

Starting point is 00:07:34 I'm not guaranteed. I'm just saying it's very possible. I think it is possible, but I would need to go through all of the teams that actually have cap space and then look at how badly do they actually need a center or need a quality backup center. Like at this stage of his career, I think Clint Capella is, he's more of a high-end backup than I think he is an optimal start. He's kind of a low-end starter. He lost that job to a Kongwu. Very clearly, that's the guy for Atlanta moving forward. And if he was going to stay

Starting point is 00:08:07 in Atlanta, like if, say, Atlanta wanted to keep him badly enough, it would have to be. be a situation where I'm guessing Capella's okay with probably a cap at around 18 to 20 minutes a night. Like I don't picture him. I think it would be somewhat similar to how the last month and a half ended last year where a Kongu gets the bulk of the minutes and Capella has a significant role. You know, like, but the the, the Lakers aren't if, if Atlanta wants to keep him and the Laker and Capella wants to stay, the Lakers certainly are probably not be able to have to do it. Absolutely. It's less the hawks than it is potentially other teams that might have a needed center. But like you say, you've got to go through each team individual.

Starting point is 00:08:50 Yeah, I mean, I don't know how many teams have that type of cap space. I mean, I truly don't know. I have not going to do all of them. But how many of them actually have both the cap space and the most pressing need that you would want to pay nine, 10, maybe even higher for Clint Caput? Capella a season and, you know, I guess that pressing need that would make him feel like he'd be showcased. Like I, the Lakers are going to be looking for teams like in there, they're hoping Capella with the Hawks where if nothing else, his role was decreasing. And unless Capella can

Starting point is 00:09:27 just get another two or three years out of Atlanta, if he's just getting, say, one year with them and a shrinking role, that may not be appealing to him. Sure. Because then if he's in a reenter free agency looking for maybe his last opportunity in his early 30s to get a multi-year deal. He doesn't want to stay, I'm guessing, in a situation where he's only going to be playing 20 minutes a night max. Yeah. A couple more names that are interesting here. One of them directly related to the Orlando trade.

Starting point is 00:09:55 And even a name when you start factoring in the market and the lack of depth in the center pool for free agency, even some of the names that you wouldn't think could call. lost a lot. Could the Lakers could find themselves with some competition? I'll break some of those down next. Walk on Lakers is brought to you by Fandul, the NBA playoffs. They are in full swing. Hell of a performance by the Thunder in game five, taking a three to lead over the

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Starting point is 00:11:13 Head to fendool.com, place your first $5 bet. If it hits, you will get $200 in bonus bet. So pick something obvious. Make every moment more with Fandual official sports betting partner of the NBA. So real quick, before we get back to the center conversation, I was really impressed with what the Thunder did. You mentioned game five there in the read. That was for people who may not have seen it or people following along,

Starting point is 00:11:47 that thing they did in the fourth quarter was the one of the first time, really I think the first time in this series where they put things into a gear that was like, oh, that's championship, your done gear. Like that was something that like they dropped into, you know, 11th or something. And there was even a team with, with Indiana's athleticism and cohesion.

Starting point is 00:12:15 I know Halliburton was hurt. That was super impressive. So kudos to Oklahoma City for what they did there. So I pulled up, Andy, the hoops hype rankings there for the offseason free agents. You've got, I mentioned Turner, Nas Reid. Brooke Lopez is the third ranked guy, given that Janus is probably, at least for now. trying to, is going to stay, looks like. Wouldn't shock me if Milwaukee tried to hold on to as much talent as they could.

Starting point is 00:12:50 But even then, Lopez of all the top rank centers that are available is probably one of the lesser fits, I think, with the Lakers. It's not great. It works for some things. It works for others. I really want to do a show where we focus on, like, which aspects of a center are most important, like if you can only pick some. then after that, I mentioned Capella.

Starting point is 00:13:14 He's my favorite choice of guys who at least seem vaguely getable. Same with me. Mo Wagner is someone who at least in theory would have been affected by the Orlando trade. They're going to have to unload some team options just to avoid massive tax payments. They turn down the options on Gary Harris on Monday, on Corey Joseph. There is some talk that they might turn down Wagner's, I believe he's got an $11 million or $12 million contract for next year. But there are also reports saying that Orlando might try to sort of renegotiate.

Starting point is 00:13:52 Most of what I've seen is that Orlando is going to try to keep Mo Wagner, if at all possible, between I think they like him and Franz's brother. He's a very good backup sound. Yeah, he is. I mean, if nothing else, I think it is more likely that they look to, they're going to need to move at least one of their centers because they've got Mo Wagner, they've got Goga Potazzi, they've got Wendell Carter Jr., plus Apollo Bancah and Fraudson Wagner taking up front court minutes.

Starting point is 00:14:23 And Jonathan Isaac's like they've got, if you think the Lakers have some redundancy in the front court, the magic can give them a pretty, I mean, they've got pretty quality redundancy, but they've got redundancy on Jay. They got a lot of dudes. And that's why that's why Goga and we'll do trades. We'll talk about trades a little bit maybe before this episode's over. That's why Goga is considered such a target. But I am willing to bet that the number that even, you know,

Starting point is 00:14:49 with a guy like Wagner who go look him up, numbers were better than you than you probably remember for Wagner this year. Is he a perfect fit with the Lakers and Luca? No. But, you know, just in the sense that he's not like a crazy athlete. He's a good, good player, good backup. up. Average 13 points a game last year, five rebounds, shot over 56%. Can step out and hit a three-pointer. He made $11 million last year. I'm willing to bet the

Starting point is 00:15:16 number that he lands on if he does stay in Orlando is going to be higher than $6 million. So without- He strikes, I would love for the Lakers to be able to get Mo Wagner. He strikes me as very unlikely. I would love to be wrong. Yeah. I mean, it doesn't, but he adds to the, he adds to the skill set. You know, the, to the depth of the position. I'm going to jump down to seven because six on this list is Al Horford, who I actually don't think is going to leave Boston. But actually wouldn't mind Al Horford.

Starting point is 00:15:48 But as long as we're talking about old people, we went through a bunch of old people, Chris Paul, Brooke Lopez last week. Horford's still a very productive player and can defend. Where I think it's either the market really starts to get interesting. Number seven on this list. is Luke Cornett from the Celtics, essentially a career backup,

Starting point is 00:16:12 and in sometimes, Andy, a deep career backup, but has had good moments. He can certainly is a pretty good shop locker, can protect the rim a little bit, can get above the rim a little bit, decent rebounder, but has never been relied on to play real minutes. I look at the market for centers.

Starting point is 00:16:34 I wonder if a guy like Cornett is he, and going to face, like the idea, I think, if you had asked Laker fans two months ago, would $6 million absolutely get you, Luke Cornett, they would say, of course it would, and that's a massive overpay. Who are we splitting up the taxpayer mid-level with? Right. That's what they would ask. I think it's going to take most of your mid-level to get Cornett.

Starting point is 00:17:03 So, like, is that where you want to spend your money? They may not have a choice. This is just sort of the market that we live in. He would be a good addition to what the Lakers have. I don't think he's a starting caliber player. He's probably can't get that. We can't get that for $6 million. But like I don't think I'm going to be wrong about that,

Starting point is 00:17:21 that the competition, even for guys like him who are sort of unestablished, but show some potential people might think they might be able to get a bargain, he's going to cost more than I think people are expecting. If the Lakers cannot somehow get Clint Capella or Brooke Lopez, who are the biggest, if nothing else, they are the biggest most established names that are going to be out there as free agent centers. I just want to prepare our audience ahead of time for you're not going to be inspired by whoever the Lakers end up, if they end up targeting a center with that taxpayer mid-level, you're not going to be inspired by the options. We just talked about Luke Cornett, you know, Al Horford.

Starting point is 00:18:03 Kavan Looney maybe could be an option, like someone like that, which I'm not even saying that those guys Andrew Drummond made $5 million last year. And he's got a player option. I'm guessing he just, if he's looking for that type of money, you might as well just opt in and not have to move. I mean, I'm being serious. Right. That's serious.

Starting point is 00:18:25 Absolutely. You might as well just stay put. The money's pretty negligible. Why hire a bunch of movers and relocate and whatever? but like the options are going to be uninspiring. Now, that does not mean that whoever they land on couldn't potentially be helpful. Sometimes you end up getting more than you felt like you paid for. I mean, that stuff, for a while, it looked like that was going to be happening with the Lakers and Jackson Hayes.

Starting point is 00:18:53 And, you know, our listeners who have followed Luca's career and came over from like locked on Mavs, they will remember that the year that the Mavericks went to the finals with Luca and Kyrie, a huge part of that was the Mavericks that season hit an absolute grand slam on Derek Jones Jr. as a betman player. I don't know off the top of my head, but I'm willing to guess that was the best betman signing of that season. So a couple of years ago, Malik Monk was a great vetman signing for the Lakers. It can happen. It can happen.

Starting point is 00:19:28 It can happen. I, the guy, there, I mean, there are other names around that, you know, are sort of intriguing, you know, I, somebody like, you know, Deeron Sharp is a restricted free agent. If the Lakers offered him, you know, gave him that as an offer sheet, I suspect Brooklyn would match. I would be pretty surprised if they didn't, you know, especially since everybody expects Nick Claxton to be traded. I would be very surprised if Sharp didn't get matched. You know, Sondra, Mamukalachvili in San Antonio. Antonio has had some decent moments. It's certainly a very large human. Some people still like Jericho Sims. I mean, the Lakers will be able to kind of troll around and pick up some,

Starting point is 00:20:12 like they might find that from a free agency standpoint, it's better just to not spend the money. Like, you know, if you feel like Luke Cornett, who is, by the way, almost 30, it's not like you're getting a young center with tons of upside. You know, if you think that a guy like that could be a just a solid backup center for three or four years, okay, you can't fix necessarily every hole in your off season unless you're the Oklahoma City Thunder and have all those assets. And also, ironically, no holes to fill. Bastards. So next, let's talk about this.

Starting point is 00:20:54 Like, whether or not the Lakers, like, which path should they take? Like, is it worth even really trying if a guy like Capella falls off your board to pick a player like Lopez? I'm just making it, pretending he's available, if it's not the right fit for you short and long term. What's the best avenue for the Lakers to take here? That's the question we'll ask next. I mean, it's becoming pretty clear to me, Andy, that the Lakers, if they're going to make substantial progress in shoring up center position are going to have to do it through a trade, which gets to the rest of the Reeves conversation, which we might start today, but otherwise we'll get into it tomorrow. What's your,

Starting point is 00:21:46 what's your thinking? Like you saw Adams, it sort of sets the market a little bit or at least give some relative idea of pricing. What's your feeling about how the best way to proceed here vis-a-vis free agent centers? I think it's honestly just who are we talking about. Like if Clint Capella is available, obviously that's a no-brainer. Go get him. At worst, he's a low-end starting center. At best, he is a high-end backup. Even if you're playing from a position of like, man, our starting center isn't as good as some of these other ones. He still a pretty big leap over what the Lakers were starting post-trade last year. You know, if Brooke Lopez becomes available, I would want him more as a backup than a starter. I don't love the idea of Brooke

Starting point is 00:22:35 Lopez as a starter playing a lot of those minutes with Luca. I think he can help out in certain ways, but there's other ways where it doesn't seem totally ideal for what you would want with Luca the way he likes to play, some of the athleticism that you're looking to shore up. And also, too, the type of defense that it seems like JJ Reddick, the way he likes to scheme. I don't think Brooke Lopez is a great fit for it. But then with Lopez, you start getting to how many years are we talking? That was my giving me my next question. If it took three and eight, I mean, the Lakers, you know, it's $6 million a year or whatever it is. But like, if it was 3 and 18, like, is that what you want to do?

Starting point is 00:23:10 No. I don't really want to do that either. And even though the $6 million would be probably relatively easy to move or to add or like you get a $6 million contract and becomes, I don't think that's. I mean, is it the worst use of $6 million in the world? No, is it the worst use of $18 million? three years, no. Is it what I would be particularly excited about doing? No. Would I be wary of doing it? Yes. Would I look somewhere else? God, yes. I just, you know, and Sky Falcon 5, not to be confused with Sky Falcon 4. He makes the point. I think he's right. If there's not a

Starting point is 00:23:53 decent center available for the MLA, you use it on a player like Bruce Brown or Gary Trent, Gary Harris is going to be available. You know, is a good defender, at least in it has had moments when he's been a good shooter. Corey Joseph looked better in the playoffs for Orlando than for Orlando than Gabe Vincent. That's true. But I think whether you want to argue about the players or this or that or everything, it's fine. And the name is kind of irrelevant. But I think the point that Sky Falcon is making is correct.

Starting point is 00:24:23 Like it's better to use that money. Center might be your biggest need. But if you can find a player that is a better fit for what you need to do, it's not the only need. So if that, if it takes that to, if you can get the best, a better player who fills what seems to be a slightly lesser need, a really good backup point card, like a true facilitating ball handling point guard who can be a secondary guy behind Luca, you know, something like that. Like there are an athletic wing. Absolutely. That is not a bad idea. And so I, I think it is, it's possible to sort of over compensate for this thing where you let you,

Starting point is 00:25:09 where you bypass a player who ultimately would be more useful or a better fit because you just feel this desperate need to close a hole at center through free agency. I just, the more I look at this, the more I just don't see it as a as a really realistic possibility for anything, for a Capella or above level player. There really is no, I mean, it's Capella, there is no above. If you want to put Lopez in that group, if you want to put, I don't consider him above. I would maybe, maybe consider Mo Wagner above, but again, I don't think he's going to get be getable for the Lakers. If he is sold, snatch him up before he changes his mind or Orlando changes their mind.

Starting point is 00:25:56 But I don't think that's going to be possible. Yeah, I think the only way that happens is if Orlando really does decline and actually, with the intention of not bringing him back. Right, exactly. He gets out in the free agent market. I mean, because Bogner at this point is, how old is MoVogne? He's probably about 28, 29. I will tell you in a second, if you are correct.

Starting point is 00:26:15 He is 28. Good job, Andy. Remember when they, he's an old friend. I remember when the Lakers draft. I know. I just can't, I can't remember the exact years and I can't do math. But he's just, he's a good player. And he would actually be an interesting.

Starting point is 00:26:32 compliment in the front court as, you know, when you think about Luca as a, you know, point guard with a, you know, front court player's size and then LeBron with his ability to move the ball, a ball moving, you know, facilitating type guy like Mo Wagner, it's just a smart player. He'd be great. But I don't see it happening. I think ultimately they're just, they're going to have to, if they're going to fill this hole, it's going to be through a trade. Absolutely. I mean, and this will get into this over the course of the week, like the idea of centers to target via trade, who would be potentially worthy of including Austin Reeves because he is perceived as the best Chip the Lakers can play. Like you start running into a whole bunch of

Starting point is 00:27:22 other problems there as well. Like the question of we'll get into this, but would you trade Austin Reeves for Center X. For the most part for me, when I've gone through these thought exercises, the answer is no, not even because I am so high on Austin Reeves. I think he's a very good player, but I've made it clear. I think the Lakers should be more open to trading him than they seem to be. And I think that they have overcoveted him over the last couple of years in ways that I think is actually possibly now starting to get the Lakers into some trouble.

Starting point is 00:27:58 but if you start looking at the centers around the league that you could even talk yourself into believing are available, there are only maybe one or two that you could look at and then say, would I include Austin Reeves in a trade for this guy? Like, you know, Nick Claxton has been linked to the Lakers all the time. And he's been my number one realistic target for the Lakers at center. But I'm not essentially trading up Austin Reeves for Nick Claxton. straight up. No, I'm not going to be. There would have to be other things that come back in, you know, from, you know,

Starting point is 00:28:34 there are. Austin Reeves is worth more than Nick Claxton. He's worth more than Daniel Gafford. By a lot. Yeah. Claxton is worth more than Daniel Gaffert. But the clippers on the flip side, they are not going to trade a Vita Zubots for Austin Reeves, which I would do.

Starting point is 00:28:50 I would do that too. They're not going to do it. Right. So you start just getting yourself into. We'll get into it in later shows. It's tricky. So, yeah, the big question with Reeves is if you did put him on the market, and this is part of the re, this is part of this equation, are you better off, if you decide, you know what, let's make them available? We saw what Desmond Bain is worth.

Starting point is 00:29:15 Let's put them, let's make them available. Are you better off doing it to try to fill that center hole? Are you better off trying to get assets that you can then turn around? and include in a different deal to try to make the team better. That is the question we'll lead off with for Wednesday's show. In the meantime, Lockdown-Lakers on YouTube is where you can hang out. There are 35,000 subscribers to the channel, Andy. We will see everyone tomorrow.

Starting point is 00:29:43 Everyone have a great, great day.

Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - Are the Lakers Already Priced Out of the Free Agent Center Market?

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