A few names to keep an eye on this Lakers offseason

Ranging anywhere from "yeah, it's happening" to "huh, maybe" and to "oh my god could you imagine," let's offer up a few names Lakers fans should tuck away for later.

The Lakers roster as we can fairly confidently predict it right now heading into next season will be LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Jarred Vanderbilt, Max Christie, Austin Reaves and Rui Hachimura. Those last two obviously have to be re-signed but everything I’m hearing right now has indicated they’ll be back.

From there, boy, who knows.

So, let’s quickly run through a few (or a bunch, depending on how long Myles naps, we’ll see) names Lakers fans should be paying attention to — old and new alike.

Chris Paul

This one is pretty straightforward. If Paul becomes available as a free agent, he’s going to be a Laker. He’s already had upwards of $30 million guaranteed this season in order to make the Bradley Beal trade work. So, if Washington doesn’t find a third team to send him to, he’ll be looking to sign on the minimum, or whatever amount he and Washington agree to cut off his current deal to be matched by whatever his team next pays him.

Where it gets tricky is the Clippers’ interest in bringing him back via trade. They have a ton of expiring deals that could theoretically save Washington a little more (think two players giving some money back to eventually sign minimum contracts elsewhere instead of one) and are still desperate to find a point guard who better maximizes Kawhi Leonard and Paul George than the likes of Russell Westbrook, John Wall, Reggie Jackson etc.

The L.A. Times is also reporting that the Clippers could potentially bring in Paul and retain Westbrook, which, yes. Yeah, I know Paul fills a need on the Lakers and would improve the team but also that pairing is guaranteed to end hilariously and the world needs to watch that.

Prediction: