The Lakers are trying to expand the Anthony Davis trade in order to carve out maximum salary room, sources tell ESPN duo Adrian Wojnarowski and Bobby Marks (Twitter link). Los Angeles is offering the contracts of Moritz Wagner, Jemerrio Jones, and Isaac Bonga to teams as part of the Davis deal in order to make cap room.
The Lakers would likely still need Davis to waive most or all of his trade bonus, something that he’s not necessarily expected to do. In a scenario where the Lakers get Davis to agree and find a taker for each of the three aforementioned players as part of a larger AD deal, Los Angeles would be looking at roughly $32MM in cap space. The Lakers would use the cap space before officially completing the Davis deal.
Players like Jimmy Butler and Kemba Walker are eligible to receive a projected $32.7MM starting annual salary on a max deal. Under the projected $109MM salary cap, the Lakers will likely need a third star to make a slight financial sacrifice regardless of any additional moves, as I previously detailed.
Nobody wants those bums…or to help the Lakers
With all the pics were giving up the Lakers need to make the Pels hold off until July 30th so they can count the #4 picks salary in the trade.
I’m sure that both sides have already agreed to the date.
I’m not sure the Lakers management team even thought if all these creative ways to maximize cap space. They were so eager to get the headline that AD is coming to town. Then they read all these headlines… about what they could have done… how insane the concessions they made to NOLA were…
im certain they have someone in their front office an assistant or something that has knowledge of the salary cap and is competent. i mean, Rob P was an agent and in that capacity im sure having a great understanding of how to maximize the most out of team payroll. this deal may have gotten done recently but im sure they’ve been examining ADs contract and how to squeeze it in plus others for months.
The media has been very unclear on this entire situation, but everybody keeps mentioning how the Pelicans wont delay the trade to help the Lakers, but dont the Lakers also have the ability to delay the trade? Even while reporting that if they trade their current players they’ll have 32 million in space, they’re making it sound like it will be extremely difficult to trade a 19 year old player in Bonga drafted 37th last year making 1,000,000 a year, Wagner a 1st rd pick from last year who is 22 and making 1.7 million, and Jones a 24 year old making 52k…
What concessions did the Lakers make? A pick swap that probably won’t happen? Keeping Kuzma over Hart? The Lakers wanted to get the deal done before the draft. They kept one of their 3 young core and got one of the best players in the league. Stop hating.
The Lakers employ capologists… they absolutely know what they are doing and to assume otherwise is asinine. There have been multiple reports that they have plans in place for either date. Y’all can keep hating on the Lakers FO and pretend that they are idiots but you don’t get hired as a GM if you don’t understand how to do the job. Thanks for coming to my TED talk
if i was them I wouldn’t wait to help the Lakers without extra picks as Lakers have nothing to leverage
The Lakers had all the leverage as AD stated he wanted only the Lakers and Knicks and the Knicks offer doesnt compare even without the pics. If the Lakers dont get them to wait til July 30th then the deal shouldnt be done.
How do you have any leverage on a player you don’t have under contract? Lakers taking lessons from waiting on PG13 and what happened with Toronto. Can’t take these superstars for granted or someone else will make them feel wanted
Why? The Pelicans are giving the Lakers a top 5 player in the league and none of the picks in the deal are guaranteed to be top 10 let alone top 5.
Well the #4 this year is guaranteed to be in the top 5. Why do people forget that?
He said top 5 in the league, not draft.
No he didn’t. He may have MEANT that, but that is not what he wrote.
He didnt write “the pelicans are giving the Lakers a top 5 player in the league”? You need to look at that again.
Besides, Davis is not guaranteed to be a top 5 player in the league either. He may have been in the past, but that’s not next year. Kevin Love was a top player when he was with Minny, then when he joined Lebron his numbers went down. Davis’s numbers will go down a bit since he is not the #1 option too.
Lol is that a joke? Kevin love did exactly what he needed to do in Cleveland as the THIRD option. How were Kyrie’s numbers with Bron…
Well you completely missed the point of my comment, so I guess if you don’t understand it , then it could be a joke.
The point was that Love went from a #1 option in Minnesota to a #2/3 option in Cleveland so his numbers went down. Anthony Davis is going from a clear #1 option in New Orleans to a #2/3 option in LA depending on who they add so his numbers are likely to go down the same as Love’s did.
I guess it could still be funny. I have been told that I have a dry wit, but I don’t think it is on display here. To each their own, I guess.
Why is AD gonna be close to a 3rd option? There’s no conceivable way that happens unless we sign Kawhi Leonard or something and then who cares?
What team is going to help the Lakers build a 3 headed monster? Maybe someone in the East who really hates the Clippers? Or a team that would do literally anything for $3 million in cash?
GarPax seems like they’d take on these guys for the cash…
Enough teams aren’t ridiculous enough to not take Mo Wagner for free. Espically a small market
Never underestimate a cheapskate like Reinsdorf. Lol
They have roughly 32 million to fill out a whole team, good luck! Maybe it’s time for LBJ to take a salary cut since he can’t carry a team!
That’s not how you determine salary. It’s what the guy is worth to the team in terms of $$$. LBJ is worth every penny. For now.
lmao!
The fact that this was not done and understood before they announced this thing speaks to the lakers’ management inadequacies. I don’t think they knew all these different and creative ways to maximize cap space. They were so eager to grab the headline… For what they are giving up, NOLA should have (and almost certainly would have) been more than happy to extend the trade out until the end of July AND take those tiny contracts. They are NOT savvy in Lakeland.
Pelinka dang well knows how the timing works and the outcomes of when its announced. You people tried every way to paint the Lakers as dysfunctional and now that its proven wrong its something else.
What? They just got fleeced. It’s completely dysfunctional and horrid management.
LOL sure. Pretend you weren’t on the Lonzo was a bust, Ingram doesn’t have value because of blood clots, the 4th pick in a 3 deep draft narrative train. People constantly said no one wants the Lakers “garbage” but when the trade happened it was all of a sudden a “fleece”. Classic Lakers derangement syndrom
I don’t care about the players. I think they are both garbage. Josh Hart… meh. It’s the picks, man. Not just the three first rounders, but the swap rights. And #4… I think DeAndre Hunter is going to be the best player in the draft.
The odds of any 1 of those picks being as good as AD is minuscule. If the Lakers win 1 title the trade is 100 percent worth it, even if it means a high pick goes to NOLA down the road. You play for titles not draft picks.
Not to mention that they didn’t get a commitment on the timing of the trade and these other two nothing contracts. The devil is in the details, and it looks like they were not aware they could cook the books for another 9 mill. It’s a bad look.
Preach on brother
And… I want the lakers to be great. Always have. But they have run this thing into the ground. I think. You can think what you want.
You just not be a laker fan. Pelinka was hired for a) his relationship with Kobe b) his understanding of the salary cap.
The media has blown the “laker drama” way out of proportion.
From what I read NOLA insisted on the early date for the trade to be completed. Of course, that was probably because Griffin understands the rules and doesn’t want the Lakers to have the extra cap room.
You just seem to like to complain. You act like the people on the Lakers don’t understand salary cap implications when that’s basically all they’ve been doing the last 4 damn years
I see the plan now, the Lakers are going to dominate the Big 3 league with AD, LeBron, and Butler.
Wrong AD LBJ Kawhi!
If Kawhi leaves Toronto it’ll be for the Clippers
We’ll see… Im not saying the Lakers will get him but you never know. Hell the Lakers were supposed to get PG and Kevin Love but those never happened.
The Lakers just added a future Hall of Famer in the prime of his career. And somehow they’re messing that up too.
Albert Nahmad does a top notch job explaining what’s really going on hear.
What about what’s going on smell?
How did the Lakers not have the Pelicans take those players / find packages that included them as part of the deal? It’s astonishing that they gave up all of those picks and didn’t get at least partial concessions from the Pelicans. The pick swaps combined with the lack of foresight on these players is atrocious.
Why would the Pelicans, now with 2 of the top 4 picks and 3 young Lakers take even more young players? And they are trying to include them as part of the deal… with another team. And there’s only one pick swap, and if the Lakers are significantly worse than the Pelicans at the time for it to matter, we’ve got way bigger issues
Why wouldn’t they have to take them? Now they wouldn’t, but why wouldn’t that have been placed in the deal somehow whether though the Pelicans or a 3rd party.
And the pick swap(s) matter. What if AD is injured for 50 games, the Lakers squeak into the lottery and get the first pick? That’s a dagger.
I realize they are trying to include with another team, but that’s how you make deals in the NBA many are 3 team deals whether or not they are explicitly 3 team deals.
There are two pick swaps. They traded the 19, top 8 protected in 21 which becomes unprotected in 22, and unprotected 24 1sts. They also traded the right to swap 1sts in 23 and 25.
Even if the Lakers are still good in 4 and 6 years, which is a big if, the Pelicans with Zion and whoever they take at 4 and probably another good pick next year should be very good by then. So even if the Lakers are picking at 20, it’s possible the Pelicans still move up.
And since the Lakers are only going to have a 2 firsts in the next four drafts and LeBron will be gone, it is likely those mid 2020 picks will not be in the mid 20s.
No they didn’t. The pelicans have the right to defer their 2024 pick until 2025 but there’s no swap in 2025.
Absolutely. The Lakers leveraged their future for this season and maybe next. Having Davis to build around didn’t do the Pelicans any favors, but maybe the draw of Los Angeles is enough to constantly put other stars around him.
I wouldn’t accommodate the Lakers for anyone of those bad players.
Serious question how will the Lakers fill out the rest of the team if they were to sign another max slot? Mid level exception and signing Bullock with bird rights still is not close to a full roster
They will still have their MLE as well as several players will sign for the minimum (chasing a ring, buyout players, etc)
Ring chasers and LeBron’s former Cav buddies. Undrafted free agents.
Like JR Smith. His salary isn’t guaranteed and could be dropped and not owe but around 3 mil on the cap.
Good example. I was thinking of Lance Stephenson also. Maybe Channing Frye too.
One would have thought that when he demanded a trade that he would have been willing to wave the bonus
SF LeBron James
PF Kyle Kuzma
C Anthony Davis
SG Jimmy Butler/Kawhi Leonard or MLE
PG Kyrie Irving/Kemba Walker or MLE
and the rest of the roster will be minimum contracts- some chasing a ring veterans and some un drafted rookies or sleepers
lol. They don’t have the cap space to sign one max. Definitely not 2
I think he meant that they’ll sign one marquee FA at either PG or SG and then fill the other spot with a MLE.
The Pistons should send Drummond to the Pelicans for the 4th pick and take Wagner and Bonga. If they have to include their 15th so be it. Then they could sign Cousins or even Horford if they couldn’t get Demarcus and use the 4th on the best player available.
DMC to Lakers book it
Golden State said you need more the 6 league minimum contracts on your bench to win a title …. Lakers are gonna have Labron score 30 a game, AD score 35 a game and the rest of the team score 30 a game.
Lakers will have no Defense and will fight to stay in the playoffs all year.
Ohhhh yea, Book It!
If they want pick #54 in the draft…. Sixers should take a flyer on Wagner.
This is what Lakers should do.. Fill out the roster with proven players.. Resign Rondo 3/24 mill. Zaza pachilia 2/10ill.. JJ redick 2/18mill. Patrick Beverly 2/15 mill. Taj Gibson 2/12 mill. Robin Lopez 2/12. Then resign Reggie bullocks cause you have his bird rights and Pope.
You could get some cheap 2nd rounders to fill out rest
If you replace Robin with Brook Lopez and not waste money at all on Zaza I like it. Give me JaVale again over Zaza
1st 2 are overpays.
Question… why can’t the Lakers go over the lux tax to fill out the team? or can you only go over it to keep players with “Bird rights” or drafted by the team?
Only with birds
They can go over the luxury tax, but it’s hard to do because once they hit the cap, they are limited to bi-annual and ML exemptions and min veteran contracts. I think they will be close if they can delay the trade and sign multiple second tier guys. And then next year when they re-sign AD, I’d expect them to be over it. And BTW, this article isn’t very good. Jones is a team option so they don’t need to trade him. They can cut him.
Jones would likely have to be involved in the trade for salary-matching purposes in the scenario the Lakers are reportedly pursuing here (ie. using their cap room in free agency, then completing the trade as an over-the-cap team without waiting until July 30 to do it).
Just adding Wagner and Bonga would still leave the Lakers a little short, so the best ways to make up the difference would be guaranteeing some or all of Jones’ salary and trading him, or signing-and-trading someone else.
Yes…I just figured that out too. AD needs to take the 27M and then with including those guys, the 1.25 works. Outgoing is 22.8 x 1.25 = 28.5.
Yeah, if Jones had his full salary guaranteed, Davis could even get about $1.5MM of his bonus.
I think jones can be traded and then released by new team. I don’t think anyone would guarantee him $1.4M.
Non-guaranteed salaries on contracts signed under the current CBA count for $0 for salary-matching purposes, so he wouldn’t be useful as a piece in a Davis deal unless his salary is partially or fully guaranteed and could be put toward matching AD’s salary.
Actually, the Lakers have a $1.5M trade exception. So I think they could keep Mo and use that as long as AD comes in without kicker. Seems like we would have $34m in cap space after renouncing all cap holds, but before trade. So you sign $34M in free agents, then trade 6 guys (Inc unsigned no. 4) and I think the deal works.
Trade exceptions can’t be combined with other exceptions/players. That exception would have to be used to acquire a player making $1.5MM or less.
fully expect lebron to lebron and brow to bounce after year one – toxic poison
Wait a minute. Davis gets a bonus for getting traded? He demanded the trade, so he should forfeit the right to receive any trade bonus
Correct me if I’m wrong but isn’t a team allowed to exceed the salary cap if they want to pay a luxury tax? If this is the case then there is no reason for the Lakers to deprive themselves of a shot at winning it because of a tax which will only cost them a few million, especially since they received billions from the network that simulcasts their games.
Once a team reaches the salary cap, their options for exceeding it become more limited. The teams that go WAY over the cap and into the tax are generally the ones that are re-signing their own free agents, since there are exceptions that allow for that.
In the Lakers’ case, they’ll have to renounce all of their own free agents to maximize their cap room, so once they use up their cap room, it’ll be tough for them to add much more salary. Their options would basically just be the room exception and unlimited minimum salaries (trades too, but they’ll barely have any trade-eligible players left after the AD deal).
It sounds like they will have no problem trading three young prospects that were drafted (27th and 39th last yr) both players are young and still ascending and making under 1.7 million a year… I cant imagine all 29 teams being unwilling to take these players on their roster, especially if they package 2nd rd picks or cash considerations..
Ideally they trade these players plus cash for early 2nd rd picks in this years draft…
I’m also not buying that they cant convince AD to waive his 4 million trade bonus. First, he can easily make up that 4 million just by playing in LA, secondly his career earnings combined with future earning potential makes 4 million a relatively insignificant amount. Finally, AD and LBJ both know that this is their best chance to win a title, and he understands how impactful an additional 4 million in space is for this team to reach their potential..