Lakers News: Estimated Prices Set For Possible Los Angeles Point Guard Targets

D'Angelo Russell upgrades could cost a pretty penny.

Your Los Angeles Lakers appear to be aggressively pursuing personnel upgrades ahead of what could potentially be their final season with future Hall of Famers LeBron James and Anthony Davis both rostered in LA (James has a player option for the 2024-25 season, when he will turn 40). Just today, the team has been linked to free agents Kyrie Irving of the Dallas Mavericks, Fred VanVleet of the Toronto Raptors, Dillon Brooks of the recently-vanquished Memphis Grizzlies and Eric Gordon of the Los Angeles Clippers, among others.

Now, ESPN's Bobby Marks (in a subscriber-exclusive article) is projecting the salaries for all of the NBA's top free agent prospects heading into this afternoon. Free agency kicks off at 3 p.m. PT.

Marks projects Irving's value at $38-40 million, and VanVleet's at $30-35 million. He considers both players (accurately) to be the top free agent point guards on the market. The third is a familiar face, incumbent LA starting point guard D'Angelo Russell, whom Marks believes deserves an initial new salary at $16-18 million, a significant pay cut from his 2022-23 season contract.

He believe's LA's other key free agent point guard, reserve Dennis Schröder, warrants a deal in the vicinity of $6-8 million, which would be just a hair above the taxpayer's midlevel exception or the bi-annual exception. To keep him around, LA could operate as a below-the-cap team and sign him to a portion of the full non-taxpayer's midlevel exception ($12.4 million).

Marks believes Gordon, an ace veteran shooting guard, is worth annual salary of $4-6 million, right in the range of the $4.5 million bi-annual exception. He thinks LA's Lonnie Walker IV deserves something in the range of $6-8 million. The team could sign him to a $7.8 million deal using his Non-Bird Rights, so that's right in line with this valuation.

When it comes to Brooks, whom Marks perhaps optimistically perceives as a "top starter" (even though he was played off the floor during the postseason due to his lackluster offense and only semi-impactful defense), his value is listed at $14-16 million, which is above the non-taxpayer's midlevel exception. That is bonkers, LA should absolutely walk away if that's his actual asking price.

There are plenty of other intriguing prices for plenty of other intriguing names. The full piece is well worth a look!

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