But you do raise an interesting point - if the Lakers manage to move KCP and Kuzma for no returning salary, it does open up some options.

In that case, you've still got LeBron/AD/(ghost of Luol Deng)/Gasol accounting for $82.3M. So if they renounce their rights to Schroeder (get rid of cap hold of $24M), Caruso ($5M), Horton-Tucker ($2M) and Harrell opts out (and they renounce their rights to him $10M), that gives them $30M to play with under the cap. But we need to remember the empty cap charges of $900k for each of the 10 empty spots and the Lakers are up to $91.3M, or only $20M to play with.

That's not nothing - maybe enough to get a Conley or Lowry, except that the Jazz are similarly limited and likely to pay a premium to retain Conley since their salary situation also precludes easily replacing him. For comparison, Fred VanVleet signed a $22M/yr deal a few seasons ago, so let's optimistically assume that's about the quality of player you can get.

So by moving KCP and Kuzma for nothing, you've carved enough room to maybe sign a Fred VanVleet type. And that's not nothing - but it also means that you now have no avenue to go over cap to retain Schroeder, Caruso, Harrell, Horton-Tucker, and can sign only MLE (about what Caruso will get).

So basically it comes down to whether you'd prefer to have a VanVleet type with a bunch of min contracts or if you'd rather have all of KCP/Kuzma/Schroeder/Harrell/Horton-Tucker