Lakers Summer League: Lakers expect signing D'Angelo Russell before Las Vegas opener

Las Vegas Summer League begins on July 10 and the Los Angeles Lakers have some cleanup to do with their roster before it begins. The Lakers "anticipate" they'll have D'Angelo Russell officially signed to his rookie contract before the opening game, however, and he should be available to make his debut on Friday, reports Bill Oram of the OC Register.

Julius Randle missed the first game of Summer League last year for this reason, but it sounds like the team expects to get the final details of their salary cap in order before opening day. The Lakers are still potentially in sign-and-trade discussions with the Dallas Mavericks regarding Jeremy Lin, have yet to finalize the assets that will shift in the Roy Hibbert trade, and the team is said to be shopping for salary dumps of Nick Young, Robert Sacre and Ryan Kelly.

The Lakers' front office is trying to squeeze every drop it can out of the salary space left, and the cap hold on Russell is actually lower than the final salary figure he'll sign on his official deal, causing the wait on finalizing things.

Summer League begins against the Timberwolves at 5:30 p.m. PT for the Lakers. It's almost time to watch the young group go to work.