I would like to address something—there is a lot of “woe is us, we’re just a small market” talk on here. That mattered through most of the Stern years vis a vis lottery outcomes, but the paradigm has shifted somewhat. Or, put another way, the “big” market advantage in FA really only applies to the Lakers and Heat. Players will always take meetings with those teams, mostly cause the WAGS want to live there full time. However, even those teams got skunked last summer. Today’s top free agent is looking to parachute into a situation where they are the last key piece to becoming a contender. The NBA is ubiquitous, being in LA makes a marginal difference in exposure, today. Now, the Lakers may still end up with Kawhi and Paul George this offseason, but those are also LA natives so don’t freak out.
The point is, there is no reason we can’t land a top FA in 2019, and we need to stop the Eeyore routine about our city. If Sacramento were in any other state it would be on all the “hottest” lists and that kind of thing. So, we don’t need to have the 2018 cap space burning a hole in our pocket out of some misplaced anxiety about FA. We still need to sign guys that fit the program.