How does the Lakers clearing cap space affect the Toronto Raptors?

Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN earlier reported that the Los Angeles Lakers have now cleared enough cap space to offer a max contract. How does that affect the Toronto Raptors?

Contrary to popular belief, the race to acquire the long-term services of Kawhi Leonard might no longer be a two-horse race. Originally, it seemed like only the Toronto Raptors and the Los Angeles Clippers were in the running for the two-time Finals MVP, with the Lakers cap frailties proving to be the pioneer of their downfall in the hunt for another star.

The news first broke by Adrian Wojnarowski on Thursday afternoon has shifted that presumption entirely.

That news was shortly followed by the proclamation that Anthony Davis was opting to waive his $4million trade kicker, which then lead to one final tweet from Wojnarowski. A tweet that could change the whole complexion of the NBA.

That could mean everything or nothing to the Toronto Raptors, but as we now know, Kawhi Leonard intends to meet with both the Los Angeles Clippers and the Los Angeles Lakers when free agency commences next week.

The Lakers traded for Anthony Davis before the draft, pairing LeBron James with a superstar worthy of his greatness once more. At that time, they only possessed $23million in cap space, which wouldn’t have been enough to sign Leonard. Now, with $32million firmly in the bank, they are more than equipped to offer Kawhi the money he deserves.

Adding Leonard to that team instantly makes them the runaway title favorites on paper. How many teams can really match up against a team that has three of the best ten players in the league in it’s starting line-up?

If Leonard’s intentions are to play in Los Angeles, then it serves more likely that he will want to play for a team that is built to win now. That may or may not be true. No one really knows what Kawhi wants, and that’s really that. Everything that’s said speculation.

But we do know he’s taking meetings with both L.A. teams, so there’s definitely a fire creating all of this smoke. There’s definitely a reason to be feeling rather nervous if you are a Toronto Raptors fan or a Los Angeles Clippers fan.

The Lakers can offer the luxury of L.A. along with the glamour that comes with playing for one of the most famous franchises in all of sport. Whether or not that’s something that comes into Kawhi Leonard’s thinking is — again — purely speculation. Regardless, the Lakers can offer that.

There’s a flipside to the concern, though. A reality where the Lakers take the safer, and to be honest, the smarter approach in using their new-found cap room to acquire role players.

Like a lot of teams in the NBA, the Lakers don’t have a whole roster full of players on their books. But yet, their situation feels a little more precarious than most. The Lakers currently have LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and Kyle Kuzma on the roster. As well as the rights to Alex Caruso and Talen Horton-Tucker.

That’s a starting line-up and nothing else. They do have the room exception to use as well, but that only projects to be around $4,760,000, less than the taxpayer MLE and the non-taxpayer MLE.

If they so choose, they can stretch out the room exception — which is available to teams that go under the cap and use their space — over multiple players, but that’s a tall task. A lot of players will either have to take pay cuts or sign league-minimum contracts. That remains unlikely.

Filling out a roster with that amount of money seems difficult, and the Lakers haven’t proved that they’re capable of signing role players in recent times. It really could go either way at this point.

Realistically, the Lakers will struggle to fill out the roster either way, and they might be willing to take that risk and shoot for the stars with Kawhi Leonard. You have to commend them for that, in a roundabout way at least.

One thing is for certain, though. The roster construction if they do sign Leonard would figure to be extremely top heavy. If the Lakers don’t have the depth to sustain an 82-game season then the playoffs could prove to be a real struggle, regardless of the talent they have on the team.

We saw this season how much a player like Kawhi Leonard can benefit from load management. If the Lakers can’t offer that, how much mutual trust is there and can they really be trusted to protect their prized assets?

Who knows, but it’s most certainly a three-horse race heading into free agency.