The Los Angeles Lakers have had an offseason to forget thus far, having failed to make a single addition to their roster via free agency or trades. One of the big targets the Lakers failed to land was Klay Thompson and insider Andy Kamenetzky stated on the Locked On Lakers podcast that the team was willing to overpay him greatly too.
“I know the Lakers attempted to really overpay Klay Thompson pretty badly, it just didn’t work out,” Kamenetzky said.
(starts at 29:11 mark):
The Athletic’s Sam Amick had reported, that the Lakers were willing to offer Thompson a four-year, $80 million deal. That appeared to be a lot more than what other teams were willing to fork out for the 34-year-old, who averaged 17.9 points, 3.3 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 0.6 steals, and 0.5 blocks per game in the 2023-24 season.
In fact, the Golden State Warriors rejected Thompson’s final proposal of a two-year, $40 million deal. They had no interest in bringing the five-time All-Star back on a 20-million-a-year contract for two years.
The Lakers, meanwhile, were willing to give Thompson the yearly rate he wanted and two more years too, but he still chose to go elsewhere, landing with the Dallas Mavericks on a three-year, $50 million deal via sign-and-trade. If you’re wondering why the four-time NBA champion chose to go that route, there appear to be multiple reasons.
According to NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski, Thompson chose the Mavericks for a greater opportunity at winning his fifth championship and state tax differences. While the second factor was beyond the Lakers’ control, the fact that the veteran guard felt he had a better chance at winning elsewhere, is an indictment on them.
The Mavericks made it all the way to the NBA Finals last season and were just a more attractive landing spot for Thompson, who has already made around $266 million in salaries during his time in the NBA. The Lakers, on the other hand, were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs and have now hired an inexperienced head coach in JJ Redick. If I was in his position, I’d find the Mavericks to be the better landing spot too.
Thompson also reportedly felt that his experience with the Lakers would be like the one with the Warriors. It was like going from one fishbowl to another. With the Mavericks meanwhile, the microscope wouldn’t be on Thompson at all times, a welcome change for him.
Following the Lakers’ failure to land Thompson, they reportedly were interested in acquiring DeMar DeRozan. According to Kamenetzky, though, DeRozan was not a realistic target, as the Lakers would have needed him to take a significant pay cut. He wasn’t interested in that and ultimately went to the Sacramento Kings on a three-year, $73.7 million deal via sign-and-trade.
With that, the Lakers had pretty much lost out on every top free agent they were interested in, in the offseason. We now wait and see if they can pull off any significant trade before the start of the 2024-25 season to upgrade their roster. Jerami Grant is a name that has come up a few times and I think he is certainly one to keep an eye on.
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