{"id":2011016,"date":"2026-06-25T18:39:35","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T15:39:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2011016"},"modified":"2026-06-25T18:39:35","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T15:39:35","slug":"the-bounce-lamelo-ball-to-minnesota-makes-no-sense-plus-lakers-roster-options-after-reaves-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2011016","title":{"rendered":"The Bounce: LaMelo Ball to Minnesota makes no sense. Plus: Lakers\u2019 roster options after Reaves deal"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Bounce Newslette<\/b>r<\/strong>\u00a0\":basketball:\"<\/span>\u00a0| This is The Athletic\u2019s<\/em> daily NBA newsletter.\u00a0Sign up here<\/a>\u00a0to receive The Bounce directly in your inbox.<\/p>\n

Last night\u2019s second round of the draft wasn\u2019t too earth shattering. My favorite picks were Bruce Thornton to Houston at No. 31, Isaiah Evans to Minnesota at 33, Meleek Thomas to Cleveland at 34 and Emanuel Sharp to Sacramento at 45.\u00a0Here\u2019s the full breakdown of all things draft<\/a>!<\/p>\n

Oh, and\u00a0the Hornets just agreed to trade LaMelo Ball<\/a>\u00a0to the Timberwolves! More on that below.<\/p>\n

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Pay Day<\/strong><\/h3>\n

How do Lakers structure their roster now?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Before Austin Reaves could truly test the free-agent waters, the Lakers decided to eliminate the option. They didn\u2019t want a team like Detroit or someone else poaching Reaves away from them.<\/p>\n

The Lakers offered up $185 million over four seasons to Reaves, and\u00a0<\/strong>he agreed to it<\/strong><\/a>.\u00a0<\/strong>That\u2019s an average annual salary of $46.25 million. Considering Reaves had to turn down a $14.9 million player option to do this, it feels like tripling your salary is a pretty good thing.<\/p>\n

Reaves does have a player option for the fourth season, and we need to get clarification on the structure of the payout, but the annual salaries for this deal will likely be in the range of $41.25M, $44.55M, $47.85M and $51.15M, respectively.<\/p>\n

That leaves the Lakers paying $90.7 million to Luka Don\u010di\u0107 and Reaves this season, with the salary cap estimated to be around $165 million.\u00a0In two years, the Lakers will find themselves paying over $100 million annually for this backcourt,<\/strong>\u00a0and while the offense from them will be stupendous, the defense means you have to fill out this roster pretty carefully.<\/p>\n

So what does that look like in the short-term?<\/strong><\/p>\n

If LeBron James is expected to come back to the Lakers for one (???) more season, how much he\u2019s willing to give up in salary will be one of two major keys to whether or not the Lakers can truly re-shape their roster this summer. Going into free agency, the Lakers will have eight players under contract for certain. Those players total up a little over $121 million.\u00a0The Lakers could, in theory, have around $44 million to play with, except that\u2019s not the case at all.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Deandre Ayton has a player option for $8.1 million, Marcus Smart has a player option for $5.3 million and Nick Smith Jr. has a team option for $2.4 million. Those all eat into the $44 million (making it more like $28 million). If those options all get picked up, the Lakers are at 11 players on their roster.<\/p>\n

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What about the free-agent crop? What\u2019s it look like for them?<\/strong><\/p>\n

You can maybe get a significant player or two at $28 million. If we\u2019re looking at wings and big men on the market, here are some players who are out there:<\/p>\n