Lakers Dodge Long-Term Deals—Here’s the Real Reason

The Los Angeles Lakers raised a few eyebrows when they avoided offering long-term money this offseason aside from Luka Doncic‘s three-year, $165 million maximum extension.

Their other moves this offseason were only two-year deals each to Jake LaRavia, Deandre Ayton and Marcus Smart.

Both Ayton and Smart have player options on the second year of their deals. LeBron James‘ $52.6 million will come off the books after next season. The Lakers can have as much as over $100 million in cap room next summer to chase a star in free agency, headlined by James and Kevin Durant (if he doesn’t agree to an extension with the Houston Rockets).

But the summer of 2027 is when more stars would potentially become available: Nikola Jokic, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Stephen Curry, Karl-Anthony Towns, Anthony Davis and Donovan Mitchell.

But the Lakers are not singularly focused on landing another star, ESPN’s Dave McMenamin reported after Doncic signed the long-term extension.

While the team’s aversion to offering free agent forward Dorian Finney-Smith a deal that extended beyond 2027 — leading him to sign with the Houston Rockets — left some around the league with the impression that L.A. was preserving cap space to go after a big name in free agency that summer, a source familiar with the Lakers’ thinking insists that their strategy is motivated by flexibility, not pining for another potential star.

Lakers President Explains Cap Strategy

Lakers president Rob Pelinka made it clear they are not punting to chase a star to pair with Doncic, who will turn 27 in February.

“Make no mistake, we’re in win-championship-now mode always, but I think —
I don’t want to bore people with apron talk that the basketball public has had enough of that. But in the new system that we’re in, having optionality is key to building teams,” Pelinka explained during the Aug. 2 press conference that officially marked Doncic’s extension deal. “I think we have seen some teams get stuck in the aprons, and once you’re in them, it’s hard to get out of them.

“And we’ve been very intentional with keeping our optionality to make [win] now moves if there are good [win] now moves to make or to have sort of our flexibility in the future. But I say all that the optionality is there for us to use now if the right move comes our way. We want to make smart moves, but to be in a position of flexibility versus being stuck is really promising for how we’re going to build this team moving forward.”

Jokic is the most intriguing possibility for the Lakers after the Serbian center put off signing a contract extension with the Denver Nuggets until next summer, according to the Denver Post.

Leveraging the Doncic-Jokic Friendship

While it was a smart decision on Jokic’s part since he would be eligible to sign for more next summer, that also left the door open for the Lakers the chance to pair him up with Doncic, one of his close European friends in the NBA.

The Nuggets star was among the first NBA players who reached out to Doncic when the Dallas Mavericks shockingly traded him to the Lakers.

Jokic passed up on signing a three-year, $200 million extension this offseason. By doing so, he will be eligible to add a fourth year at an additional $77 million, according to ESPN’s front office insider Bobby Marks.

A lot can happen in a year. Just ask the Lakers and Doncic.

If the Nuggets’ season goes sideways, there is no guarantee Jokic will sign that extension. He can become a free agent in 2027 if he doesn’t sign an extension and does not pick up his $62.8 million player option. But the Nuggets will certainly consider trading him if he doesn’t extend. That’s where the Lakers are hoping to leverage Jokic’s friendship with Doncic, according to Bleacher Report’s salary cap expert Eric Pincus.

“The hope is that Jokic’s bond with Doncic is why he picks the Lakers. Denver would get most of what the Lakers have in terms of young players and draft compensation,” Pincus wrote on July 2.

The Lakers have held on to their lone draft capital — 2031 or 2032 first-round pick — this summer, which will expand to as many as three first-rounders next summer and up to four in 2027 if they do not trade one.