NBA exec: Lakers figure to be 'shut out' on big free agent targets

If the Los Angeles Lakers are to improve their roster this summer, they may have to do so completely through free agency. While they can offer two future first-round draft picks, plus their first-rounder this year, in a potential trade, they lack players who are attractive on the trade market. This year's free agent market is expected to be fairly tepid, especially since many of the best free agents — other than the Lakers' own LeBron James and Austin Reaves — will be restricted free agents.

That means that the player's current team will have the right to match any offer for such players that is made by another franchise. According to a Heavy Sports report by Sean Deveney, one Western Conference executive feels the Lakers will be "shut out" on the restricted free agents they desire. L.

A. 's biggest free agent targets are thought to be Walker Kessler, the rising young center of the Utah Jazz, center Jalen Duren of the Detroit Pistons and Denver Nuggets wing Peyton Watson. Deveney broke down the situations with all three players as far as L.

A. is concerned (h/t Lakers Daily ). "Walker Kessler of the Jazz is a player the Lakers were poised to make an offer on, one that would force Utah to match, something in the $30 million range," Deveney wrote.