When the Lakers decided to acquire a third star and the mega-salary that comes with that class of player, they functionally limited the ways they could fill out their roster by greatly restricting their flexibility. Maneuvers that put them in a position to be hard capped (like using the full mid-level exception or acquiring a player via sign-and-trade) were out the window. They’d have the taxpayer mid-level at their disposal, but that’s only one salary slot, and only goes up to $5.9 million (ultimately used on Kendrick Nunn). After that, the rest of the team would be filled out with minimum-salaried players or holdovers from last year’s team.
The Lakers have a wing-sized hole on their roster
