Keep the money flowing: How 3 lottery teams should spend this offseason
The NBA offseason forecast calls for frugality, but that likely won't apply to teams in the lottery.
Here are three teams that should keep the money flowing this summer.
Los Angeles Lakers
It's no secret the Lakers are planning to splash the cash, as they've been fined repeatedly for tampering with free agents.
Magic Johnson and Rob Pelinka's plan was obvious from the moment they took over. They're targeting two maximum-level free agents this summer, and those will be LeBron James and Paul George.
Whether they manage to land either is uncertain, but the Lakers have carved out an abundance of cap space to make it happen. If they renounce all their free agents, the Lakers will have just $34.5 million on the books, which leaves over $70 million for spending. They can open up another $10 million if they choose to use the stretch provision on Luol Deng.
James and George would command most of that cap room, but the Lakers would still have young prospects to fill out the supporting cast. Lonzo Ball, Kyle Kuzma, Josh Hart, and Brandon Ingram will remain fairly cheap given they're still tied to rookie-scale contracts.
New York Knicks
You can always bet on the Knicks to go on a wild spending spree, but chances are good they'll regret it.
They signed Robin Lopez to a big contract in 2015, then it was Joakim Noah in 2016, and Tim Hardaway Jr. in 2017. The Knicks could have roughly $40 million in cap space depending on whether Enes Kanter and Kyle O'Quinn exercise their player options, which would set them up for another desperate reach.
Having an impossibly rich owner in James Dolan means the Knicks always want to spend, but that same owner's track record of incompetence scares away the best talent, which usually leads to overpriced contracts for mediocre players.
If the Knicks were smart, they would decide on a new head coach before rushing out to sign players. Building synergy between the front office and coaching staff has proven impossible in recent seasons, but this summer could be a chance to start fresh.
Then again, that's the hope with the Knicks every summer.
Chicago Bulls
The Bulls are in the first year of an extended rebuild, and chances are good they won't add more talent to decrease their lottery odds.
However, they could still spend their cap room on taking back bloated salaries for the price of draft picks and prospects. Most analysts anticipate it will largely be a summer of frugality as current free agents face the crunch from the ludicrous contracts inked in 2016 during the cap spike. Therefore, a rebuilding team with a clean sheet like the Bulls could poach some assets to facilitate the spending of other clubs.
The midseason trade for Omer Asik will be the blueprint for the offseason. Chicago took on an additional $11 million dead salary and gave up an expiring contract in Nikola Mirotic to return a first-round pick from the New Orleans Pelicans.
Add a few more draft picks to the arsenal, hit on those selections, and the Bulls could be an up-and-coming team in 2019 and beyond.