The Lakers Open Space to Use Full Midlevel Exception as NBA Free Agency Begins

Wednesday, speculation that the Lakers had their eye on a full midlevel exception worth over $12 million a season, rather than the smaller taxpayer version (a little over $5) began to ramp up. And with decisions to make on Malik Beasley and Mo Bamba, we'd all learn pretty quickly what direction the Lakers would be taking.

Thursday, we got our answers. The Lakers declined a team option on Beasley, then released Bamba (along with Shaq Harrison) to give themselves a chance to use that larger exception. The big target? Likely Denver's Bruce Brown, and Thursday The Athletic's Jovan Buha reported the Lakers feel like they have a good shot at signing the versatile, hard-nosed guard.

Granted, they'll have a lot of competition, because basically every team in the league would love to have him.

So should fans print their Brown jerseys? Is Milwaukee center Brook Lopez, mentioned as another player the Lakers would want, even a small possibility? Because he'd be a perfect fit next to Anthony Davis. But if it's not those guys, who else would be worth that kind of money? Did the Lakers take a big risk in letting someone like Bamba, who definitely fills a potential need at backup C that the Lakers will need to fill (and the market is slim, to say the least)? Does it make sense to chop up that big exception into smaller parts? How many dudes could the Lakers bring in, if the market breaks their way?

The whole thing begins at 3 pm Pacific time. That's when teams can start signing players, and things tend to get wild and wooly very, very fast. The Lakers might not be at the front of the line, and someone like Brown (reportedly set to visit the Mavericks, among other teams) will likely take his time.

Stay tuned!

HOSTS: Andy and Brian Kamenetzky

SEGMENT 1: The Lakers make moves to open up the use of a full midlevel exception.

SEGMENT 2: If not Bruce Brown, then who?

SEGMENT 3: More names the Lakers could target with all of, or part of, their newfound access to contract options.

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