Lakers shift focus to filling out their roster

Mitch Kupchak’s worries have shifted from whether the Lakers will play to who will play for the Lakers.

It may seem counterintuitive to think that a team with an NBA-high $91-million payroll would fret over manpower, but those expenditures have left the Lakers with little wiggle room when it comes to filling out the fringes of their roster.

“Based on our financial structure, we would be very limited in what we can do with our team in terms of free agency in the next two weeks,” Kupchak, the Lakers’ general manager, said Monday at the team’s El Segundo training complex.

A year ago, the Lakers could have offered free agents a five-year, $32-million contract.

This isn’t last year.

Under the terms of the new NBA collective bargaining agreement expected to be approved next week, the Lakers have only two tools at their disposal to sign free agents: a so-called mini mid-level exception of three years and $9.4 million, as well as a veteran’s minimum of one year and $1 million.

The changing economic landscape that penalizes free-spending teams will force the Lakers to make a trade or to daydream about quality free agents who might want to join their roster for reasons besides money.

“We’re hopeful that there will be a player out there who’s maybe made money in his career and he is maybe at the back end and is looking for a shot at a championship,” Kupchak said, “or maybe we can get a player who is still developing, which is even harder to do, that can play some minutes.”

The Lakers will need help in the frontcourt since Kupchak said he anticipated that the team would not re-sign veteran forwards Theo Ratliff and Joe Smith. A dynamic guard might also become a priority if free agent Shannon Brown signs with another team; Kupchak sounded almost resigned to losing the shooting guard, who has explored securing more lucrative offers at the end of each of his Lakers seasons.

“You can only continue to do that for such a period of time where it doesn’t make any more sense,” Kupchak said, “so I would think this year he would look for and probably get a package that’s financially much more attractive than we could offer under the present rules.”

The Lakers are faced with other roster decisions as well. They can exercise team options on second-year players Devin Ebanks and Derrick Caracter and must quickly decide whether they want to sign second-round draft picks Darrius Morris and Andrew Goudelock.

Morris, Derek Fisher and Matt Barnes were among the Lakers who stopped by the team’s training facility Friday for informal workouts. Coach Mike Brown hailed Fisher from across the practice court before smiling and putting a finger to his lips, a nod to the fact that team officials are not supposed to interact with players before the labor deal is approved.

Barnes pronounced his surgically repaired right knee as 98% recovered and appeared to enjoy returning to familiar surroundings.

“It’s good to smell my locker and how dirty it was,” he said. “It’s great to be back.”

Fisher, the NBA Players Assn. president, indicated that the labor deal was reached in part because of worries about how a lost season would affect those making far less than millionaire owners and players.

“We believed it was the best time to try and close it out and get back to work, get the fans back into the buildings and more important than that, get our vendors and city employees and arena employees, so many families back into a situation, particularly going into the holidays where they had some sense of stability and a way to earn a living for those they love,” Fisher said.

Mike Brown deflected a question about whether the 37-year-old Fisher would be his starting point guard given that the Lakers no longer run the triangle offense, saying, “Possibly. … When we get to camp and everything shakes out, I’ll have a better feel.”

With only 16 days to hold practices between the start of training camp and the Lakers’ season opener on Christmas, the first-year coach said he would try not to overwhelm players and would continue to work on new concepts well into the season.

There will be plenty to ponder in coming weeks, including what to call Metta World Peace.

“I might just call him Metta or Mett,” Mike Brown said. “I definitely don’t want to call him Peace, because he may think that’s grounds for him to be able to leave practice.”

ben.bolch@latimes.com