Despite having somewhat limited resources, the Lakers will exit the offseason as a better team than when they entered it. The process might not have been great, particularly with how the team lost Dorian Finney-Smith, but being beneficiaries of a pair of notable buyouts that landed them Deandre Ayton and Marcus Smart led to a successful summer.

That being said, there is one issue that remains with the roster. After all their moves, they sit just $1.1 million away from the second apron, which serves as a hard cap for the team this season. With the roster at 14 players, the team has very little wiggle room and won’t be able to sign a 15th player until much later into the season.

The Lakers still have multiple expiring contracts on the books, giving them the potential ability to consolidate deals, save some money and improve the roster. With that in mind, let’s look at three trades that could accomplish just that:

Grizzlies get: Gabe Vincent, Maxi Kleber
Lakers get: Caldwell-Pope

Let’s start with one that pretty much any Lakers fan can get behind. Caldwell-Pope eventually became one of the best role players in the league, starting with the Lakers 2020 title team and carrying through his years in Denver.

His career has gone on a bit of a downward trend since leaving Denver as he was little more than matching salary in the trade that sent Desmond Bane to the Magic this summer. He feels very attainable considering Memphis just traded away Bane and clearly aren’t in a win-now mode.

Lakers fans have seen how well KCP plays next to stars firsthand. Even if his game has dropped off, he’s still a 3&D wing and you can never have too many of those. It’s a far more useful way for the Lakers to spend their money than on Vincent and Kleber.

With KCP having a player option for next season, the Lakers could save the Grizzlies some long-term money by sending them two expiring contracts. Gabe Vincent is a lot more expendable with the arrival of Marcus Smart while Maxi Kleber is the third center on the roster.

And, spoiler, but these two are going to be in every trade. While I also think Jarred Vanderbilt is another player who could be traded, he has much less value as he’s not an expiring contract.

As for the cap situation with this trade, it does open up some room for the Lakers, but only about $878,000. While that gives them some more wiggle room under the first apron, it still leaves them pretty far away from being able to sign any veteran’s minimum. However, it will allow them to sign a player earlier in the season.

Suns get: Gabe Vincent, Maxi Kleber
Lakers get: Brooks

From a fan favorite to a villain of the fans.

Brooks immediately became the target of the fans during the Lakers’ series against the Grizzlies, one that went terribly for him. He antagonized LeBron before the playoffs, then spent the series ducking reporters and getting ejected from games.

However, he wouldn’t be the first villain turned Laker with the likes of Ron Artest and Matt Barnes. Even Dwight Howard redeemed himself in more recent years.

And Brooks still is a decent player. He’s a great defender, arguably one of the best wing defenders in the league. He’s a streaky shooter who is capable of some big performances, too.

With the Lakers, he’d almost certainly be a reserve, meaning his leash could be much shorter when he starts doing crazy things, which could help him, too.

Financially, it is also a more beneficial trade than the one with the Grizzlies as it saves the Lakers $1.3 million. That’s still not enough to sign any free agent to a veteran’s minimum, but it gets you much, much closer and allows you to sign a player in-season pretty early on.

This deal would, however, require lots of Lakers fans to likely delete some old tweets about Brooks.

Kings get: Gabe Vincent, Maxi Kleber, lottery protected 2030 first round pick
Lakers get: Monk

This is a fully “hear me out” type of trade, I’m aware. On this Lakers team, Monk might not be worth giving up a first round pick for, even if it’s lottery protected.

However, from a value perspective, it makes sense. Sacramento bizarrely spent a portion of the offseason trying to trade away Monk for all sorts of downgrades or to create space to sign more guards, to no success. Truly, it’s hard to fathom what the Kings are doing.

It wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world for the Lakers to try to swoop in and nab Monk, then. Perhaps you could convince Sacramento to take Dalton Knecht instead of a first, which makes the deal feel even better for the Lakers.

On the court, this is another former Laker to gelled with LeBron James in the past. Monk was one of the few bright spots in a rather dark 2021-22 season. He priced his way out of LA but having him back would be a fun story.

It also could serve as a bit of leverage in negotiations with Austin Reaves next summer as Monk is a good fallback plan in case things go awry when discussing a new deal, though that doesn’t feel like it’ll be a problem.

All that being said, the big worry here is that between Reaves, Monk and Luka Dončić, you have minimal defense. Can the Lakers afford to have that many backcourt players who struggle on that end of the court? Realistically, probably not. But Monk was so much fun in LA that my heart is going to overtake my head on this one.

You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude or on Bluesky at @jacobrude.bsky.social.