Not that I want them to be successful, but the Lakers have a path to fielding a highly competitive team. If they c an convince NOP to wait to consummate trade to August and make draft pick on their behalf, they will have just shy of $32m to spend. This should land them Jimmy Butler. Rondo could be had for the League Exception (~$5m) it maybe even Marcus Morris would accept that. They could field the rest of their team with league minimum contracts. Lance Stephenson, Javale McGee or Tyson Chandler are all at the point in their career where this might be acceptable.
They could field this team:
PG: Rondo
SG: Butler
SF: James
PF: Kuzma
C: Davis
Bench: McGee, Stephenson, Chandler and every other ring chasing veteran willing to accept vet minimum.
The frustrating thing about all this is the Lakers just jumped ahead of our ability to compete for a championship. This is getting frustrating. We compiled assets to make moves like this. I’m tired of watching the build.