The next Lakers head coach, why LA shouldn’t trade Anthony Davis and free-agency targets: Lakers mailbag, Part 1
In Part 1 of our two-part Lakers mailbag, we cover some of the team’s head coaching candidates, why trading Anthony Davis doesn’t make sense, wing free-agent targets for the taxpayer midlevel exception, Kendrick Nunn, if LeBron James and Davis can win another championship together and more.
(Submitted questions have been edited for clarity and length.)
What’s the first move to make? — @blackdragonroll
Shout-out to The Athletic’s Jerome Cheng, the star video editor of “Stargazing,” for the question to kick things off.
The Lakers’ first order of business this offseason should be hiring a new head coach. That monumental decision will have a wide-ranging impact on the direction of the roster, the best Russell Westbrook trade package (depending, of course, on the market for Westbrook) and the identity of next season’s team. James and Davis probably can keep the Lakers competitive in spite of their next coach’s weaknesses, but it would help if he was simpatico with his stars’ strengths.
The Lakers’ next head coaching hire could be one of the few ways the franchise could close the gap with the growing list of teams that have passed them. It’s going to be difficult to upgrade the roster dramatically, but the right coach could raise both their floor and ceiling.
From there, they need to trade Westbrook and fill out the roster with better-fitting pieces.
Do you think the Lakers pony up a five-year deal for a coach or continue doing short-term deals? Who are some of your personal preferences? — @pickuphoop
What kind of deal do you think the Lakers offer a coaching candidate? I imagine the coach would want a four- to five-year deal with certain perks. — @lakid213
I think it depends on the coaching candidate. The Lakers are aware their last coaching pursuit prompted backlash — from both the fan base and around the league — and I think they’re going to do their best to not repeat the same mistakes. They need to come correct with years and money.
If the Lakers are going to land a coach the caliber of Nick Nurse, Quin Snyder or Doc Rivers, they are going to have to offer a four- or five-year deal at or above market value (at least $7 million annually, but likely more).
That said, I don’t know how much their approach changes with a coaching candidate with less experience and cache. I could see them trying to finagle a shorter deal with a lesser-known candidate by leveraging the allure of the Lakers’ brand. It really depends on the name and experience.
Your top three coaching candidates? — @lelaker6
Among the rumored and reported candidates, my top three are Nurse, Snyder and Mike Brown. I prefer tactical ability over gravitas (a factor that Lakers vice president of basketball operations and general manager Rob Pelinka indicated is going to be atop the Lakers’ search).
Nurse is the obvious top choice. He’s a top-five, if not top-three, coach in the NBA. I assume his job is safe, even if the Raptors are swept by the 76ers. He won a championship just three years ago, and that historically means a coach is protected (unless you’re Frank Vogel). Nurse is a tactical wizard and one of the most creative minds in the league. There’s also the obvious Klutch connection. He should be the top candidate, though it’s unclear how available he actually is, or how much Toronto would demand in compensation for a coach still under contract.
Snyder’s reputation likely is going to take a hit if the Jazz lose to the Luka Doncic-less Mavericks after losing to the Kawhi Leonard-less Clippers last season. Part of that is on him for the team’s repeated meltdowns, its inability to carry over regular-season success to the postseason, and its struggles to counter when teams attack Rudy Gobert with five-out lineups. But a large part of that also is on Gobert’s limitations in the modern NBA, the front office’s roster construction and the weird vibes around the team the past couple of years.
Brown is a retread, as a former head coach and, specifically, as a former Lakers head coach. But he’s been on Steve Kerr’s coaching staff since 2016, with a front-row seat to two championships and three Finals (and perhaps another one this season). Jason Kidd is a great example of a coach learning and growing in an assistant coaching role in a championship environment and becoming a better head coach. It’s reasonable to envision similar success for Brown. He has a strong defensive reputation and is now steeped in Golden State’s motion offense principles.
Juwan Howard probably is my top honorable mention. He has NBA experience, both as an accomplished player and an assistant coach in Miami under Erik Spoelstra. He specializes in player development, has a good relationship with James and has done an impressive job in Michigan.
I have reservations about Rivers, Terry Stotts and Mark Jackson.
Are the Lakers seriously going to entertain trading Anthony Davis? — @sarathdasaraju
No, I don’t think so. If the Lakers were to trade Davis, they’d be trading him at arguably the lowest point of his career. His trade value isn’t where it was six months ago, to say nothing of where it’s dropped from 12 to 18 months ago.
Plus, Davis is still a top-15 player in the league when healthy. The “when healthy” caveat is an issue, of course, but the Lakers are unlikely to get another top-15 player in return for him. And even if they get increased and much-needed depth in return for Davis (think a 3-for-1 trade), you still need to flank James with a top-tier co-star to have a true shot at a championship.
I think trading Davis would be a death knell to the James era. I’ve never understood the idea. I’ll write about this later in the offseason.
Who should the Lakers target with the taxpayer midlevel exception besides Malik Monk? — @lakersview_
For as well as Malik Monk played this season, if the Lakers can find a 3-and-D wing/forward who fits well next to James and Davis, I think they need to spend their taxpayer midlevel exception on that type of player over retaining Monk.
I expect the market for Monk will be more robust than some project. I envision him becoming one of the league’s better sixth-man scorers (a la Lou Williams, Jamal Crawford and Jordan Clarkson). He’s probably going to cost more than the Lakers can afford.
As far as the types of players the Lakers should target with their taxpayer midlevel exception, I think these are some names that could be available: Bruce Brown Jr., Robert Covington, Nicolas Batum, P.J. Tucker, Otto Porter Jr., T.J. Warren and Andre Iguodala.
I think each player could fit around James and Davis in meaningful ways. Covington probably is the best fit. His jumper is erratic, but he has size and length and is a defensive playmaker. He might be the most expensive of the group.
Brown is undersized (6-foot-4), but he can defend bigger players, has shown he can shape-shift around stars and is underrated offensively. Batum and Tucker are older options with the risk of regression, but they’ve shown they can start and contribute in meaningful ways to winning teams. Warren is a wild card coming off foot injuries that have kept him out for almost two years. Iguodala can’t shoot anymore and seems to prefer staying in Golden State, but is worth a mention.
Joe Ingles also is worth monitoring, though probably not for the taxpayer MLE. The Lakers need to prioritize wings over bigs and/or guards, as it’s easier to find those types of players for cheaper, and they’re less essential around Los Angeles’ superstar tandem.
Could Jalen Brunson be a free agency target? — @ipodkillz
Could the Lakers possibly target and bring Cameron Johnson this offseason? — @RichardAller2
In short: No. Jalen Brunson and Cam Johnson are going to each be making eight-figure salaries next season. They’re far out of the Lakers’ price range.
I chose to answer these questions because it shows the constraints the Lakers have in building next season’s roster. Brunson and Johnson aren’t traditional third options, but they’d clearly be the third-best players on this Lakers team. And yet the Lakers won’t even be able to sign those types of players in free agency (one loophole would be trading Westbrook for a player in the Brunson/Johnson range).
I think the Lakers will continue to be a top free-agent destination and punch above their weight in terms of the caliber of players they can nab in spite of their financial constraints, but it’s going to be a challenge to find significant upgrades.
Most likely the Lakers get as head coach: Nick Nurse or Quin Snyder? — @God91In
I know Las Vegas odds disagree with me, but I’ll say Snyder, if only because he’s less likely to be coaching his current team next season than Nurse is.
Nurse is under contract for next season and would require compensation from the Lakers (similar to the Clippers trading for Rivers back in 2013). I’m not sure the Lakers would part with a pick for a coach.
Snyder, meanwhile, seems likely to be fired if the Jazz lose in the first round or are embarrassed by Phoenix in the conference semifinals. Therefore, by virtue of Snyder being the candidate more likely to be available, I would peg him as slightly more realistic.
Are the Lakers likely to keep Kendrick Nunn? Since his contract is basically a bargain next year. — @DomDolla22
Can Nunn be traded this offseason? If yes, when? — @SushantRao
Well, it’s not solely the Lakers’ decision.
Nunn has a $5.1 million player option, and he already said during his exit interview that he plans on picking it up and returning next season. So, odds are greater than not that Nunn will be on the roster next season. If Nunn can remain healthy and return to his Miami production, that’s a bargain for the Lakers.
However, the Lakers can still trade Nunn once he opts in for next season — and likely will try to. He can be traded once the free-agency period officially starts.
Can the Lakers win another championship with LeBron and AD, in your opinion? — @andres21vergara
Yes, but I think they missed their two best remaining chances (2020-21 and 2021-22).
The West is only going to be that much more difficult next season, with Kawhi Leonard, Jamal Murray, Michael Porter Jr. and Zion Williamson all healthy and theoretically returning to their teams (the Williamson situation is murky).
Leaguewide, Doncic, Jayson Tatum, Ja Morant, Devin Booker, Trae Young and Anthony Edwards are on the rise. Kevin Durant, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Stephen Curry, Nikola Jokic and Joel Embiid are top-seven players who are forces to be reckoned with in the postseason.
The Lakers’ supporting cast should be better than last season — it’s obviously difficult for it to be worse — but James and Davis each will be a year older with more mileage. I think the Lakers could return to contention, however ambitious that may currently sound, but their path to a championship will be as difficult as it’s been in the James-Davis era.
What did we do to deserve this? — @gameova38
On the one hand, the Lakers disrespected the basketball gods with their approach, attitude and effort this season. I also think they’ve chased names and experience over continuity, which continues to be one of the more underrated ingredients for team success (and was an underrated part of the 2019-20 group’s championship run). Investing in Westbrook as a third star also was a self-inflicted mistake.
On the other hand, I’m not sure what they did to deserve just 76 regular-season games from Davis and 101 regular-season games from James over the past two seasons. For all of the justified qualms with the Lakers’ roster-building since their title, I think the past two seasons look a lot different if Davis and James each play around 120 games (so, about 60 games per season). There’s some bad juju that needs to be cleared.
The million-dollar question: Will the Lakers move on from Russell Westbrook this offseason? — @ShowTime_32
The million-dollar answer: Yes.
Stats, thassit.
