En route to winning the NBA title, Bruce Brown produced many game-winning moments for the Denver Nuggets. As one of the best two-way wings in the league, he is a valuable role player for them, and it’s no secret that Denver is aiming to re-sign him as a free agent this summer.
Unfortunately for the Nuggets, however, there will be other teams in the mix for Bruce Brown, including the Los Angeles Lakers. In a report by The Athletic’s Jovan Buha, he explained that the Lakers are growing increasingly confident in their odds to steal Brown away from the reigning champs.
“The Lakers are increasingly confident they can sign Nuggets free-agent wing Bruce Brown Jr. for the non-taxpayer midlevel exception starting at a projected $12.4 million, multiple league sources not authorized to speak publicly on the matter told The Athletic.”
Of course, the Lakers would need to clear cap room to lure Brown with an offer, but it wouldn’t be difficult at all for LA to make the necessary space.
“If the Lakers sign Brown, they could still retain restricted free agents Austin Reaves and Rui Hachimura, as well as unrestricted free agent D’Angelo Russell. While Brown could sign for more than the midlevel exception with a team with cap space, the most the Nuggets can offer him is a contract starting at about $7.8 million.”
The Lakers are waiving Mo Bamba and not picking up Malik Beasley’s team option, sources confirmed to The Athletic.
The moves put them in a position to use their non-taxpayer MLE starting at a projected $12.4 million.@jovanbuha on what that means: https://t.co/T9E6txeN8B pic.twitter.com/4DktBGgKgh
— The Athletic NBA (@TheAthleticNBA) June 29, 2023
It’s rather unusual for any player to leave the team they just won a championship with, but Bruce played well above his salary this season and he is no doubt looking to get rewarded financially for all his hard work.
Lakers Not Likely To Pursue Kyrie Irving
This summer, all of the talks around the NBA have suggested that the Lakers would rather go all-in for a star over re-signing role players like D’Angelo Russell and Malik Beasley.
But now we know that Rob Pelinka prefers to run it back, and Bruce Brown could end up being their biggest acquisition of the summer.
“When league insiders speak about next year’s team, D’Angelo Russell is usually included,” wrote Los Angeles Times’ Dan Woike. “He’ll hit unrestricted free agency after a disappointing conference final, but his value to the Lakers extends beyond the team having his Bird rights, which allows them to re-sign a player while exceeding the salary cap.”
NBA free agency is still hours out and it could be days before we find out where some of these players end up. But for the Lakers, they have seemingly already settled on a plan, and it may or may not include the signing of Bruce Brown.
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