More than 36 hours into free agency, the Los Angeles Lakers have yet to make a meaningful move to improve their roster.
That is somewhat surprising considering that leading into free agency on Sunday, it appeared that several factors were aligning for Los Angeles.
D’Angelo Russell opted into his $18.7 million contract, providing the Lakers an expiring mid-sized contract to use as a matching salary in a trade. LeBron James offered to take a pay cut for a difference-making nontaxpayer midlevel exception signing, including players such as Klay Thompson and Jonas Valančiūnas. And the backdrop entering the free-agency period was that rival teams made notable trades earlier in the week, indicating the trade market could be more active than expected despite the new punitive collective bargaining agreement restrictions.
Thompson, who was atop the wish list for James and the Lakers as far as realistic targets for either the nontaxpayer midlevel exception or in a sign-and-trade, whittled down his list of suitors to the Dallas Mavericks and Lakers, according to league sources. On Monday afternoon, Thompson chose the Mavericks, agreeing to a three-year, $50 million contract in a three-team sign-and-trade between the Mavericks, Golden State Warriors and Charlotte Hornets. Thompson spurned his hometown Lakers despite his longstanding ties to the franchise, including growing up a Lakers and Kobe Bryant fan and his father, Mychal, playing for the Showtime Lakers from 1987 to 1991. Mychal Thompson won two championships with the Lakers and is currently the team’s radio color commentator.