Last offseason, after getting swept by the Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference Finals, the Los Angeles Lakers chose not to make any major moves and instead retool around largely the same core that made that run. This included signing free agent D’Angelo Russell to a two-year contract with a player option after the first year.
The deal reflected solid value for Russell, while also having built in protection on both sides depending on how 2023-24 went.
Russell turned in arguably his best regular season as a pro, especially in the second half of the year when he became a sharpshooter and the Lakers’ clear third-best player from January on. However, even with that, the Lakers still had a phase where they had to bench Russell, and he once again has underperformed in the postseason, struggling through three games against the Nuggets.
This means that Russell has two options. He can opt out of the second year of his contract for 2024-25 and test the free agency market, or he can opt in to the $18.7 million he’s slated to make next season, and very likely be included in a trade for the Lakers to land a third star player.
As things stand, Russell is very likely to opt out and become an unrestricted free agent, according to ESPN’s Brian Windhorst via The Hoop Collective:
“As Lakers fans or NBA fans start to figure out what trade they’re gonna make this summer that’s gonna get them a third start because that will begin, it already will begin tomorrow because this series is cooked. It’s likely that D’Angelo Russell is gonna opt out of his contract, OK. Because the Lakers gave him a one-year with a player option and I would say it’s likely he’s gonna opt out of that and once he’s a free agent, they can’t really trade him. Yes, you could in theory do a sign-and-trade, but if the Lakers are in the apron, they can’t receive a player in the sign-and-trade… So it’s likely that they’re not gonna be able to execute a sign-and-trade even if there was a team out there that wants D’Angelo Russell and wants to trade the Lakers a star, which is a totally different conversation.”
Russell opting out would make things much more difficult for the Lakers in terms of landing a star player. Without his $18.7 million, the Lakers would need to add several pieces in order to get to the salary matching required for certain players. Take Trae Young, who will have a 2024-25 salary of $43.03 million, for example.
In order for the Lakers to acquire him and stay within the confines of first apron salary matching (125%), the Lakers would need to send out around $34.5 million in a deal. This would require three of Austin Reaves, Rui Hachimura, Gabe Vincent or Jarred Vanderbilt to get a deal done, instead of just Hachimura or two of the four.
The Lakers and Russell are sure to have plenty of conversations between now and then, where if they can agree on a destination ahead of time, perhaps Russell would opt in.
Lakers still focused on winning Game 4
Before offseason chatter becomes too overwhelming, the Lakers first have to focus on trying to climb out of a 3-0 hole against the Nuggets in the first round. Lakers star Anthony Davis is looking ahead to Game 4 as a chance for L.A. to finally get a win over Denver.
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