After making
Jake LaRavia their top priority in free agency -- there was actually a small bidding war for the young backup forward among several teams, sources told ESPN -- the Lakers were holding about $8 million with the remains of their midlevel exception and watching center options such as
Brook Lopez and
Clint Capela come off the board.
Teams who had centers available were keeping their price for the Lakers high when they called, sources said, after they had established what they were willing to pay for
Mark Williams (in
February's rescinded trade). In case you forgot, that price was:
- a young player (2024 first-rounder Dalton Knecht)
- L.A.'s unprotected first-round pick in 2031
- L.A.'s unprotected pick swap in 2030
That was a sign of the desperation the Lakers felt to get a center to pair with
Luka Doncic. And, five months later, the Lakers still found themselves without one. That was the case until the Lakers agreed to sign
Deandre Ayton on Wednesday, once he cleared waivers following his mildly surprising buyout from the
Portland Trail Blazers.
Ayton is far from a perfect option. There's a reason he was waived on a max deal by Portland. But at the same time, the 2018 No. 1 pick is a talent and arguably the second-best center to hit the open market this summer besides Myles Turner. But sources said Ayton could be a positive option for the Lakers, and at minimum, a significant upgrade on last year's incumbent, Jaxson Hayes, whom the Lakers agreed to bring back as Ayton's backup Thursday evening.
All of that, though, will sit in the background as we wait for the next signal as to how James is feeling about things -- something we haven't learned anything more about publicly since Paul's cryptic statement to ESPN's Charania.
The entire situation, on its face, is a confounding game of dueling passive-aggressive moves. James could've been a free agent had he opted out of the final year of his contract, which, as one executive said, would have been the way to truly make this a wild situation.
James instead opted to collect his money, and perhaps just as importantly, maintain his no-trade clause. Doing so would seem to have indicated he expected to play his eighth season in a Lakers uniform.
Paul's statement, however, left things up to interpretation. And since then, we haven't heard anything publicly -- not from James, not from Paul and not from anyone with the Lakers, be it general manager Rob Pelinka, coach JJ Redick, governor Jeanie Buss or Mark Walter, who just happened to pay several billion dollars for the right to take over for Buss as team owner.
Not even a statement from the Lakers formally announcing the option pickup, which, considering James is one of the greatest players of all time, sent its own nonverbal message.
So where do things go from here?
It's one of the biggest topics of conversation around the league. The concept of a trade is not impossible --
nothing is impossible in the NBA after the Doncic trade -- but it is unlikely due to James' large salary and his no-trade clause.
There were a few inquiries from eyebrow-raised teams, sources said, just to gauge whether this was something or nothing. For now, there is no action. But it is surely being monitored.