What the Lakers turned LeBron James' contract into during 2026 NBA free agency
· Yahoo Sports
The Los Angeles Lakers didn't just lose the NBA's all-time leading scorer this week; they also found themselves in a unique situation with a nice sum of salary cap space heading into 2026 NBA free agency. James was slated to make $52.6 million if he opted into his player option, but opting out allowed the Lakers to address multiple areas of need, which became even more pressing as they were expected to lose Rui Hachimura and Marcus Smart, among others, in free agency.
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Not surprisingly, Rob Pelinka didn't wait long to take advantage of the newly found salary cap space, and one day after free agency got underway, he struck a blockbuster trade to acquire Utah Jazz restricted free agent Walker Kessler, as ESPN's Shams Charania reported. The sign-and-trade brought the 24-year-old center to Los Angeles on a $130 million deal over four years.
Let's take a look at exactly how the Lakers were quick to utilize that cap space, including the Kessler trade and three noteworthy signings that were all reported just minutes apart.
Lakers move quickly with Kessler trade, 3 free-agent signings
In a flurry of moves that filled Charania's X timeline, the Lakers' free-agency moves began pouring in. First was the Kessler trade, which hit the free agency news mill at 11:32 a.m. ET. Almost exactly 30 minutes later, the next player the Lakers agreed to terms with was former Toronto Raptors forward Sandro Mamukelashvili, on a four-year, $52 milliion deal.
If that didn't keep your head on a swivel as free agency ramped up, Charania announced Quentin Grimes and the Lakers agreed to a four-year, $60 million deal just three minutes later. And a whole one minute later, there was the news of the agreed deal between the Lakers and Collin Sexton, a two-year, $19 million contract.
So, to break down just the baseline averages of those contracts on a yearly basis:
- Walker Kessler: $32.5 million annually
- Sandro Mamukelashvili: $13 million annually
- Quentin Grimes: $15 million annually
- Collin Sexton: $9.5 million annually
**Note: All annual salaries are just averages, and contract structures are likely set up differently but have not been confirmed yet.
While these four moves add up to $70 million annually, the deals are likely to feature first-year values that vary, bringing that number right around what was left after James' opt-out of $52.6 million. All things considered, it appears the Lakers didn't waste much time before using their newly found salary cap space from James' departure, and now comes the question of how this new-look group will mesh with the likes of Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves.
This article originally appeared on For The Win: What the Lakers turned LeBron James' contract into during 2026 NBA free agency