The Los Angeles Lakers hope to make some changes with their roster, following the 2025-26 NBA season. While Los Angeles made the NBA Playoffs, the team wasn’t able to reach the Conference Finals. An ESPN report is painting a murky picture regarding the Lakers, heading into the offseason.
“The Los Angeles Lakers have the possibility of having $50ish million in salary cap space. Exciting, right? But the “possibility” part is important,” Brian Windhorst wrote. “To get that amount of space, they’ll likely have to lose 32 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists a night. Those are the combined per-game averages for LeBron James and Rui Hachimura, who would have to be off the roster in order to create the room.”
In Windhorst’s eyes, this creates a situation for the Lakers that is very difficult. To cap it all off, the team has to figure out if they can hold on to Austin Reaves.
“That is a real challenge for the Lakers’ front office, especially because they have no player in their rotation from their past four drafts who is ready for a larger role. This is why rival teams look at the Lakers as having “phantom” cap space,” Windhorst said.
The writer feels the Lakers do have a need they have to address this offseason.
“The Lakers do badly need a high-level starting center. The two best ones on the free agent market this summer, Jalen Duren (Detroit Pistons) and Walker Kessler (Utah Jazz), are restricted free agents, and their teams have indicated they want to keep them,” he wrote.
During the 2025-26 season, Los Angeles won 53 regular season games. The team was eventually bounced from the NBA Playoffs by the Oklahoma City Thunder.
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