Why the Lakers won’t benefit from the NBA’s new contract negotiation rules

The NBA’s new rules allow teams to negotiate with their own free agents prior to the start of free agency. Will that help the Lakers?

At last, the Lakers finally have a head coach in JJ Redick. It took a long time to get to the conclusion most had assumed. That means the focus of the Lakers and fans turns to the draft and free agency.

Unsurprisingly, most of your questions for this week’s mailbag focused on free agency. Let’s dive into your questions for this week’s mailbag.

This is a great question because it made me go look up the rule. On paper, it would make sense that this would help the Lakers.

For those unaware, the NBA has a new rule this year that allows teams to negotiate with their own free agents the day after the final day of the season. So, for about a week now, teams have been able to talk to their impending free agents.

For the Lakers, though, this doesn’t help much as teams can’t negotiate with players who have a player option. Here’s the official wording:

A player who (1) will (or could as a result of the non-exercise of an Option or the exercise of an ETO) become an Unrestricted Free Agent or a Restricted Free Agent on the immediately following July 1, and (2) finished the Season on a Team’s roster, is free at any time beginning on the day following the last day of such Season to negotiate a Player Contract with such Team

So, obviously, this means the Lakers can’t negotiate with D’Angelo Russell or LeBron James as both of those players can only become free agents by exercising an option. The only non-two-way players the Lakers could have been negotiating with over the last week have been Taurean Prince, Spencer Dinwiddie and Max Christie.

That’s not nothing. Ideally, they’ve already struck a deal with Christie that leads to him not even testing the market and signing another offer sheet.

So, it’s not a total loss, but it does not mean necessarily that there will be quick resolutions to D’Lo and LeBron’s free agency.

I would prefer the Lakers to almost exclusively hire coaches with experience. Surrounding a coach who has never been an NBA coach before with lots of people who have would counterbalance that.

And the early reports suggest the Lakers intend to do that. Scott Brooks makes sense, as do the likes of Brett Brown and Stan Van Gundy. But more than just guys with head coaching experience should be assistants with that experience, too.

Jared Dudley, for example, would feel like a great hire. Sam Cassell would feel like a home run. Add a lot of experience to the staff to make that acclimation process as easy as possible.

As for the system he’ll run, that’s anyone’s guess. I think he’ll have a very modern approach to the game and early signs point to it involving Anthony Davis a lot. Outside of that, we aren’t really going to know. Free agency and the draft, though, could offer some hints as to what it’ll be.

I don’t think I share the same “nightmares” on this for a number of reasons. First, there’s been nothing linking Zach LaVine to the Lakers in months. That possibility was squashed well before the trade deadline and there’s been nothing to indicate they’d want to circle back to that.

As for Trae Young, again, that’s something that hasn’t really been rumored in a while. All indications have been that they’re looking at upgrading the roster rather than chasing a star.

And even if that star is Young, who I have some reservations about alongside LeBron and AD, I’d hardly call it a “nightmare.” He’s still a 25-year-old All-Star entering his prime. This isn’t a Russell Westbrook situation.

But, again, nothing has indicated they’re even chasing a third star at this point.

Thanks, as always, for the questions! Be on the lookout for next week’s mailbag questions post.

You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude.