Lakers meeting with Julius Randle and Tyreke Evans, interested in Nerlens Noel

After getting a verbal commitment from LeBron James on Sunday, the Los Angeles are just getting going. While the team might be capped out already, they can still offer players the veteran’s minimum exception in free agency, or re-sign their own player. Among the names the Lakers are rumored to be interested in are Julius Randle, Tyreke Evans and Nerlens Noel, according to reports.

Julius Randle, a restricted free agent, hasn’t received a formal offer from the team that drafted him, according to Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports, but is reportedly intrigued at the prospect of playing alongside LeBron James, contradicting an earlier report that Randle wanted out.

The two sides will meet on Monday with the hopes of getting a deal done.

Randle has a cap hold worth $12.4 million restricting the Lakers ability to spend any more in free agency. However, they can go over the cap to sign Randle because they have his bird rights.

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It’s unclear what Randle is looking for in free agency, but considering his market is getting thinner every day, he might be forced to take the qualifying offer. If that’s the case, the Lakers will have roughly $7 million to fill out their roster, which might be enough to snag Tyreke Evans in free agency.

Evans is expected to meet with the Lakers’ brass on Monday, according to Chris Haynes of ESPN. The 28-year-old reportedly met with the Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday.

Coming off of a breakout season with the Memphis Grizzlies, where he averaged 19.4 points per game on a career-high 39 percent shooting from behind the arc, it’s doubtful Evans signs with the Lakers for the veteran’s minimum, especially when the Thunder can offer him their midlevel exception worth $5.3 million.

But if the Lakers and Evans had serious mutual interest, the team could either renounce Randle, opening up roughly $12 million, or they could use the stretch provision on Luol Deng, which would give them just over $5 million in cap space. Doing both puts them in the conversation for high profile free agents again.

If not, the front office can take fliers on guys like Nerlens Noel, who the Lakers have reportedly shown interest in, according to Charania.

Noel, the No. 6 pick in 2013, has all the physical tools to be a defensive star, but injuries and off the court issues have kept him from reaching his potential. In the right position, he could be a bargain. As a fellow Klutch Sports client along with James and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, him signing seems like nearly a certainty.

The Lakers currently have 12 roster spots filled, including the verbal commitments made during the free agency moratorium period but not including the rookie deals of Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk and Isaac Bonga, who haven’t been signed yet.

Suffice to say, the Lakers have options, now we’ll just have to wait and see which direction they decide to go.

You can follow Christian on Twitter at @RadRivas.