The Los Angeles Lakers seem unlikely to add a big-name free agent this summer due to difficulties in clearing the necessary cap space and the fact that most top players have already signed elsewhere.
However, this doesn’t rule out the possibility of a trade for a third star, either in the coming months or before next February’s trade deadline. Instead of making a major move now, the Lakers are focusing on quality perimeter players who can assist with ball-handling and provide backup for point guard Gabe Vincent in case of injury.
Jovan Buha and Shams Charania of The Athletic report that the Lakers are particularly interested in Spencer Dinwiddie, who was on their roster last season, and Gary Trent Jr., most recently with the Toronto Raptors.
“Gary Trent Jr. and Spencer Dinwiddie are two names to watch if the Lakers clear enough space to use their taxpayer midlevel exception [MLE], according to league sources,” Buha and Charania wrote in an article published on Sunday, July 7. “The Lakers’ roster stands at 15 players, meaning they need to make a consolidation trade if they want to open up a new roster spot.”
The taxpayer MLE is worth only $5.2 million, which will limit significantly the pool of players L.A. can target, assuming the franchise makes the low-level trade and salary adjustments necessary to open it up as a tool they can utilize to roster build.
Dinwiddie signed a three-year deal worth a total of $54 million in August 2021 with the Brooklyn Nets as part of a sign-and-trade agreement that sent him to the Washington Wizards. He subsequently played a stint with the Dallas Mavericks, during which he helped them to the Western Conference Finals in 2022.
After that, Dinwiddie returned to Brooklyn before a brief run with the Raptors. Toronto waived him at the trade deadline in February of this year, after which he signed a rest-of-season contract with the Lakers that paid him just north of $1.5 million.
For his career, the 31-year-old Dinwiddie averages 13.3 points 5.2 assists, and 3.0 rebounds per game, per Basketball Reference. He is, however, a sub-par 3-point shooter at just 33.3% on 4.7 attempts per night over his 10-year NBA tenure.
Dinwiddie’s per game averages saw a decline when he joined the Lakers for the final 28 games of the season. He averaged 6.8 points, 2.4 assists, and 1.7 rebounds in 24.2 minutes per game, which was 3.6 minutes lower than his career average. However, his 3-point shooting improved significantly to 38.9% on 3.2 attempts per game.
The decrease in Dinwiddie’s role and production, coupled with his enhanced 3-point accuracy, can largely be attributed to playing alongside LeBron James, who often controls the game but creates opportunities for his teammates from beyond the arc. James’s decision to take a slight pay cut of nearly $3 million on his new two-year contract ($104 million reduced to $101.356 million) helped the Lakers stay under the luxury tax threshold, potentially enabling them to add players using exceptions like Dinwiddie or Trent.
Dinwiddie’s willingness to return to the Lakers will likely hinge on whether he’s comfortable with a reduced offensive role on a team led by James and Anthony Davis, as well as his market value around the league for a contract exceeding $5.2 million annually or a multiyear deal with more guaranteed money.