All of the Los Angeles Lakers\u2019 work so far this offseason has come in the free agent market, and they\u2019ve done so without the benefit of real cap space.<\/p>\n
By letting Dorian Finney-Smith walk in free agency, they opened up their full non-taxpayer mid-level exception of around $14 million, which they split between Deandre Ayton and Jake LaRavia. Ayton was available at such a cost-friendly price because he was bought out of the final year of his contract with the Portland Trail Blazers.<\/p>\n
The Lakers could also use their bi-annual exception (BAE) of around $5.1 million, although considering they are hard-capped at the first apron of the collective bargaining agreement, they needed to open up some money in order to use that.<\/p>\n
With reports coming out that the Lakers were signing Marcus Smart with their BAE after he was bought out by the Washington Wizards<\/a>, they had to make the necessary moves in order to open up that space. <\/p>\n The obvious one was waiving Shake Milton\u2019s non-guaranteed contract<\/a> to get them to around $3.9 million in available space. That meant one more move would be needed to get to $5.1 million though, with the options being to waive Jordan Goodwin\u2019s partially-guaranteed salary or make a trade that clears up some money.<\/p>\n It looks like the Lakers are choosing to waive Goodwin, per Shams Charania of ESPN<\/a>:<\/p>\n The Los Angeles Lakers have waived guard Jordan Goodwin, sources tell ESPN. Goodwin emerged as a key rotation piece for JJ Redick late last season, playing 29 games and four playoff contests. Goodwin and Shake Milton were released to clear space for arrival of Marcus Smart.<\/p>\n \u2014 Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) July 21, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n The Lakers chose to pick up Goodwin\u2019s team option<\/a> earlier this offseason, which made sense considering he was only guaranteed $25,000 of his $2.3 million contract until January.<\/p>\n In 29 games for the Lakers last season (five starts), Goodwin averaged 5.6 points, 3.9 rebounds, 1.4 assists and 1.0 steals while shooting 38.2% from 3-point range. His two-way play made him a key piece of JJ Redick\u2019s rotation down the stretch of the regular season.<\/p>\n Luka Doncic helped recruit Marcus Smart to Lakers <\/p>\n One person who was likely happy to the Lakers able to add a player of Marcus Smart\u2019s caliber is Luka Doncic, who reportedly helped recruit the guard<\/a>.<\/p>\n Smart has guarded Doncic a ton over the years and there appears to be a mutual respect there as they now get set to team up in L.A.<\/p>\n