The Los Angeles Lakers have to make some bold decisions this NBA offseason to make the most of LeBron James’ remaining time with the organization. After failing to even make the playoffs amid Anthony Davis’ injury issues and Russell Westbrook’s disappointing season, they are a team to watch.
While Malik Monk is not atop the list of names to watch for the Lakers, they still need to work to re-sign him to keep him. He is set to reach free agency this offseason and is coming off a 2021-22 season with averages of 13.8 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 2.9 assists while shooting 39.1 percent from deep.
The most the Lakers could afford to pay Monk is the near $6.3M Taxpayer Mid-Level Exception. For a player who could potentially earn over $10M annually in free agency, he’d be taking a discount.
“They might not be able to pay me as much as I want,” Monk told The Athletic. “But I could be here and be way more comfortable as a Laker than going to any other team and they’re paying me $5 million more. So it’s just me trying to figure out what team would really want me.”
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Where it gets potentially complicated for the Lakers is if they are in pursuit of Kyrie Irving amid his fallout with the Brooklyn Nets organization. If he isn’t acquired via sign-and-trade, the Lakers would need to use the Taxpayer MLE to sign him — requiring Malik Monk to sign for the veteran’s minimum to stay.
The situation would change significantly if the Lakers were able to get a sign-and-trade deal done to acquire Irving while preserving the Taxpayer MLE to then use to re-sign Monk.
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The Brooklyn Nets are not interested in taking on Russell Westbrook’s contract in a possible sign-and-trade deal or in their other available packages. The Los Angeles Lakers likely would need to send Westbrook to a third team and attach assets to move him, which is something they’ve been unwilling to do and get very creative.
