NBA Free Agency 2020: 5 offseason targets for the Los Angeles Lakers

3. Danilo Gallinari

In a normal offseason, Danilo Gallinari’s value would far exceed the Non-Taxpayer MLE of $9.3 million. Even with the salary cap staying the same as last year, it still does. But there are only so many teams who will have enough cap space to make him the kind of offer he deserves, and Gallo has already said he will prioritize winning over money in free agency.

It’s hard to find a better fit for a guy who wants to win than the defending NBA champions, so we can’t rule out a favorable Lakers discount just yet.

While Gallinari is best-utilized as a stretch-4, the Lakers could play him as a 3, and they’d always have a nuclear option in their back pocket with AD at the 5, Gallo at the 4 and LeBron at the 3. That’s the same kind of supersized lineup that gave teams problems throughout the 2020 playoffs.

Gallo’s injury history is a concern, given that he’s only reached the 70-game threshold twice in his 12-year career (and not once since tearing his ACL in 2013). But he’s stayed relatively healthy in his resurgent last two seasons with the Clippers and Oklahoma City Thunder, so for an LA squad that will be coasting through the first part of the season anyway, they could do much worse than a shooter, slasher and serviceable team defender of Gallinari’s caliber.