There has been some hope, not only for the Los Angeles Lakers, but for several teams around the NBA, that rifts forged between the prominent restricted free agents on the market this summer and their current teams could be widened and exploited to the point that the team currently holding the player’s rights would somehow feel obliged to let the player go and not match offers. We’ve seen it in the pursuit of Jalen Duren most prominently, with him first reportedly meeting with the Sacramento Kings and then having a chat with the Lakers.
Walker Kessler, the Jazz big man, is trying the same tactics, hoping that by meeting with teams, including the Lakers, Utah will decide to simply let him walk away once an offer comes in. Star Luka Doncic would like to play with either guy–but that’s not the concern of the Pistons and Jazz.
Silly, of course. Multiple league executives say meetings with other teams don’t really accomplish much because ultimately, the team holding the players rights can match any offer the player receivers and thus, the teams continue to hold the leverage.
“It’s nice, it is good PR, but it does not give you even a centimeter more leverage,” one NBA executive noted.
Luka Doncic Wants Lakers to Get ‘A-Lister’
With the Lakers possessing about $52 million in cap space after letting go of LeBron James, there is certainly the opportunity for Los Angeles to issue a credible offer sheet to Duren, and, perhaps, to Kessler if that does not work out. But it is hard to believe that the Pistons would not match any Lakers offer, especially after Duren had an All-NBA season, even if he struggled in the playoffs.
But multiple reports indicate that the one ask that Luka Doncic made of the team this season was to find a so-called “A-List” center. It’s a nice thought, except that the only real A-Lister on the market is Duren. There is a feeling around the league that the Lakers are going through this mostly hopeless pursuit not because they think they can actually land Duren but because it will show Doncic that they tried.
“It is a pretty hollow pursuit,” another NBA exec said. “But what choice do they have? It’s a show move, to show your star you are willing to try.”
Jalen Duren Pursuit Just a Show?
It’s far more likely that the Lakers wind up with, say, Sandro Mamukelashvili or Mitchell Robinson–or maybe both–than Duren or Kessler. But maybe the point is less about signing players and more about making the gestures Doncic wants them to make.
That was something that Lakers insider Dave McMenamin mentioned on ESPN.
As he said: “The fact of the matter, though, is these are restricted free agents. So while his meeting is scheduled, if the Lakers make an offer with the $52 million in cap space that they have, who’s to say the Pistons don’t just match it? According to multiple people in the Pistons organization, the Pistons are not interested in helping facilitate Jalen Duren’s exit by setting up a sign and trade with another team.
“We’ll see if that leads to anything but that at least shows Luka, and Luka’s camp, that the Lakers are doing what they can to get the interest of a marquee center.”
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