Jordan Goodwin’s new two-year deal is risk-free from the Lakers’ perspective.
The Lakers converted Jordan Goodwin from a two-way deal to a two-year standard contract on Thursday, which means he’ll now be eligible to play in the playoffs.
This move was weeks in the making. The Lakers just needed to time it correctly to leave themselves enough financial wiggle room under the second apron to make additional moves as the Luka Dončić trade hard-capped them at the second apron.)
Goodwin will only have a $223,718 cap hit this season, which puts the Lakers roughly $670,000 below the second apron. Minimum contracts prorate based on how many days are left in the regular season, so the Lakers could still sign two players without bumping into the hard cap. They figure to convert fellow two-way signee Trey Jemison to a standard contract before the final day of the regular season, but they have enough flexibility to swing another move as well.
According to Keith Smith of Spotrac, Goodwin’s contract contains a $2.35 million team option for the 2025-26 season with a “small partial guarantee.” The rest will become guaranteed in mid-January if he’s still on the Lakers’ roster by then.
Goodwin’s salary in 2025-26 is roughly $53,000 above the projected minimum salary for a player with two or more years of NBA experience, so the Lakers figure to pick up their team option on him and see how he fares over the first few months of next season.
If they keep him through the full 2025-26 campaign, they’ll have Early Bird rights on him when he becomes an unrestricted free agent in 2026. That means they can offer him a starting salary worth up to 105% of the league’s average salary from the 2025-26 season.
Picking up their team option on Goodwin would have a minimal effect on the Lakers’ offseason outlook. If they can keep LeBron James — whether he picks up his $52.6 million player option or signs a new contract in free agency — the Lakers will be well over the salary cap.
The big question is whether they can convince James and Dorian Finney-Smith to leave them enough wiggle room under either the first or second apron to use the non-taxpayer mid-level exception or taxpayer mid-level exception, respectively.
That, however, is a topic for another article.
The Lakers already have most of their rotation under contract through 2025-26, but their books are largely clean after next season. If Goodwin works his way into a larger role, he’ll have the opportunity to prove that he should be a long-term member of the roster.
Unless otherwise noted, all stats via NBA.com, PBPStats, Cleaning the Glass or Basketball Reference. All salary information via Salary Swish and salary-cap information via RealGM.
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