L-Train’s future hangs in the air despite the draft having come and gone. With Austin Reaves signing a record-breaking extension, the Lakers’ next logical move will be to decide James’ future and bring in a center who suits Luka Doncic’s wishes. ESPN’s Bobby Marks highlighted how Los Angeles can bring him back alongside Marcus Smart and a starting centre. Mark wrote in an article on Saturday:

“There is a balancing act in how the Lakers could have cap space and also retain their free agents, including LeBron James.”

If the Lakers move James, Rui Hachimura, and Luke Kennard, they can open up to $47 million in cap room. The organization reportedly wants to offer LeBron a deal in the $25 million range, which would leave up to $25 million in cap space, alongside a $9.4 million room mid-level exception.

That structure also allows the purple and gold to exceed the cap to sign Reaves to his agreed four-year, $184 million extension, keeping the core of Doncic, Reaves, and LeBron intact while also creating room to address one of the roster’s most important needs: a two-way starting centre.

Per reports, Smart will decline his $5.4 million player option and seek a longer-term deal, and the Lakers have made it clear they want him back. The Houston Rockets have emerged as a destination, with Marc Stein and Jake Fischer of The Stein Line reporting that Rockets coach Ime Udoka, who coached him in Boston, has expressed interest, giving Smart genuine leverage on the open market.

The centre list Marks mentioned includes Jalen Duren, Mitchell Robinson, Nikola Vučević, Robert Williams III, and Walker Kessler. The Brooklyn Nets and Chicago Bulls are the only other teams guaranteed to have cap space this summer, which so far has limited the number of external competitors for most of these names. This market condition could work in the Lakers’ favour if they make the move quickly. 

“A Balancing Act”: Why the $47 million figure overstates the real flexibility

The $47 million maximum is a ceiling, not a floor, and reaching it requires renouncing James, Hachimura, and Kennard simultaneously. That is a decision the organisation does not actually want to make.

Kennard could return to Los Angeles. Hachimura is reported to be a potential odd man out given the cap constraints, making him the most likely casualty if the Lakers need to create room for a centre.

LeBron at roughly $25 million, Reaves at $46 million annually via the Bird rights exception, Smart via the room mid-level at roughly $9-12 million, and the remaining space going to whichever centre the market produces.

Cleveland Cavaliers center Jarrett Allen is reportedly high on that list. According to ESPN’s Brian Windhorst, if the Cavaliers offered Jarrett Allen, the Lakers would trade LeBron “in seventeen-tenths of a second.” He said that Allen is exactly the type of younger center Los Angeles needs to build around the Slovenian. He also noted that a Cavaliers reunion remains difficult financially despite the speculation.

“There is a thought process out there in Los Angeles, and I think if the Cavs were interested in this, the Lakers would sit up in attention right now, that they would sign and trade LeBron for Jarrett Allen. I think if the Cavs were willing to do that, they could have LeBron.”

Further, Shams Charania reported that there has been little talk between James and the Lakers since free agency began. According to the report, the purple and gold have not yet made LeBron a contract offer, as there has reportedly only been one check-in call between the two sides.