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Author: Chuck Myron

Union, Isiah Thomas Have Spoken About Top Job

By | at November 22, 2013 9:11 pm

The National Basketball Players Association has had talks with Isiah Thomas about the possibility that he could be its next executive director, Thomas tells Marc Berman of the New York Post. Thomas was “aggressively pursuing” the job at one point, but that’s no longer the case, according to Berman. Thomas served as president of the union for several years during his playing career with the Pistons.

The 52-year-old said this spring that he was “definitely” interested in returning to basketball as either a coach or a GM, but he tells Berman that he’s now more focused on business ventures. Still, Thomas said he’d listen if a team asked him to join its front office. He also left the door open for a return to the Knicks, though he’s not anxious to see that happen.

“I want to be clear about it today,’’ Thomas said. “I have really moved on, and I moved on years ago. Everyone else should really do the same.”

Knicks owner James Dolan said he wouldn’t hire Thomas back, as we passed along today. Berman hears that even if Dolan wanted to do so, Thomas would only work as Knicks GM if the owner would lift his policy of not allowing his executives to freely address the media.

1 comment National Basketball Players Association New York Knicks

New York Links: Woodson, Calipari, Garnett

By | at November 22, 2013 8:32 pm

The Nets are playing the Timberwolves tonight while the Knicks are off, so Brooklyn can either claim last place in the Atlantic Division all to itself with a loss, or win and let the media sharpen their focus on the struggling Knicks. We rounded up news from New York this morning, but there’s still more to pass along:

  • Mike Woodson appreciates owner James Dolan’s comments of support, and he isn’t letting rumors about his job security or the “Fire Woodson!” chants at Madison Square Garden get to him, observes Fred Kerber of the New York Post.
  • University of Kentucky coach John Calipari says he isn’t paying attention to chatter suggesting he could be the next coach of the Knicks, telling reporters, including Jeff Drummond of Scout.com, that he’s “good where I am” in response to a question about whether he’d ever want to return to the NBA.
  • Jason Kidd knows he might not have Kevin Garnett next year, acknowledging that KG might retire as the coach spoke to reporters before Brooklyn’s only game at Minnesota this year. “I wouldn’t doubt that this is the last time he plays on this floor,” Kidd said, as Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News notes.
  • Bondy heard recently from Nets sources that Kidd’s job isn’t in danger, and the coach acknowledged that ownership has been patient with the team’s slow start, as the Daily News Scribe passes along in the same piece.
  • Bleacher Report’s Howard Beck lobs out several questions that James Dolan wasn’t asked when he broke his long media blackout.
  • Whether or not he has to worry about his job, Kidd doesn’t have to concern himself with any hard feelings from Mavs owner Mark Cuban, who says he’s gotten over the point guard’s decision to spurn Dallas to sign with the Knicks last summer. Tim McMahon of ESPNDallas.com has the details.
1 comment Brooklyn Nets Dallas Mavericks New York Knicks

Cuban: Rockets Inquired About Dirk Nowitzki

By | at November 22, 2013 7:37 pm

Mavs owner Mark Cuban told reporters today that Rockets GM Daryl Morey sent him a text message this summer after Houston signed Dwight Howard asking whether the Mavs would be willing to give up Dirk Nowitzki in a trade, tweets Tim McMahon of ESPNDallas.com. Cuban said the conversation went no further and that the Rockets never made an official offer. The owner saw the move mostly as a taunting gesture, since the Mavs had been one of the teams in the running to sign Howard, and “just something rivals do,” as Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News details.

“Now, I’ve brought it on the record just to have some fun with it now that we’ve played them twice we can help them sell tickets next time. I think they need help. Just to build the rivalry up,” Cuban said.

Cuban also brought up an inquiry the Lakers had made in the past about Nowitzki, adding that no formal offer was extended in that case, either. The owner says he’s never entertained any thoughts about trading the perennial All-Star. Even if he did, Nowitzki could block any trade, since he’s one of four NBA players with a no-trade clause negotiated into his deal.

The 35-year-old Nowitzki is in the final year of his contract, from which he’ll earn $22.7MM this season, but he appears unlikely to sign with another team, even if Dallas asks him to take a pay cut. Cuban has expressed confidence that the ninth overall pick from 1998 can continue playing for years to come.

2 comments Dallas Mavericks Houston Rockets Los Angeles Lakers

The Cost Of Traded 2014 First-Round Picks

By | at November 22, 2013 5:56 pm

A look at our 2013/14 Reverse Standings table wouldn’t give you the idea that the 2014 draft class is as heralded as it is. Nor would it suggest how stingy GMs were with their first-round picks at the trade deadline last year. No team dealt away a first-round pick last February, but a dozen of next year’s 30 first-rounders were involved in a trade at some point. Not all of those selections will wind up actually changing hands for 2014 thanks to the protection attached under the terms of the trades, but the teams that wind up having to surrender their picks may rue having given them up.

Of course, no trade is made in a vacuum, and the desire for cap space fuels many transactions that appear lopsided on the surface, like the Pistons’ acquisition of Corey Maggette for Ben Gordon and what could be a lottery pick this year. Still, it’s interesting to see the raw costs of 2014 draft picks and wonder whether any flexibility a team might have gained was worth the cost of a chance at a future star. In many instances, the draft pick wasn’t the only asset the team surrendered, making the cost even higher.

Here’s a closer look at a few of the most interesting cases:

  • The Blazers won’t have to worry about having given up too valuable a pick if their hot start continues, but just as trading Gerald Wallace away netted them the 2012 No. 6 overall selection that became Damian Lillard, acquiring Wallace cost Portland a first-round pick. They also surrendered the pick that became Tobias Harris in the deal to bring Wallace to Rip City, and Harris is beginning to emerge as an important player for the Magic.
  • Dallas is more than a year removed from having to deal with the headache that Lamar Odom became during his time there, but the acquisition still haunts the Mavs. Dallas gave up a first-rounder to the Lakers as part of its deal to acquire the forward, and a pair of subsequent trades have set the Thunder up to see the Mavs’ pick as soon as 2014.
  • Bobcats fans have suffered through plenty, and even though underachieving Tyrus Thomas is gone thanks to the amnesty clause, the repercussions of the team’s ill-fated decision to trade for him remain. Charlotte must send its 2014 first-rounder to Chicago if it’s not a top-10 pick, thanks to the Thomas deal.
  • Drafting Wesley Johnson fourth overall in 2010 didn’t just cost the Timberwolves the chance to grab Paul George, DeMarcus Cousins and Larry Sanders, all of whom were still on the board. It also might have cost the team a late lottery pick next year. The Wolves’ 2014 first-round pick will go to the Suns if it’s No. 14 or below, since the Wolves threw the selection in as sweetener to prompt Phoenix to accept Johnson via trade last year. Ominously for the Wolves, their pick would come at No. 14 based on today’s standings.
  • It’s hard to fault the Knicks too much for trading their 2014 first-rounder, considering they gave it up in the Carmelo Anthony deal. Still, if Anthony bolts as a free agent this summer and the Knicks are left without a chance to grab a budding star in June’s draft, it will no doubt leave New York fans with plenty of regrets. That’s doubly true if the Knicks don’t start winning some games and their unprotected pick winds up as a lottery selection.

Here’s what each team with at least a slight chance of losing its 2014 first-round pick got in return. The number on the left indicates where the pick would fall in the draft order based on today’s reverse standings.

Picks that wouldn’t change hands based on today’s standings:

Picks that would:

RealGM.com and Pro Sports Transactions were used in the creation of this post.

3 comments 2014 NBA Draft

Odds & Ends: Price, Bennett, Warriors

By | at November 19, 2013 11:01 pm

The Knicks and Celtics were among the losing teams on a five-game Tuesday in the NBA, and while those clubs fall farther beneath .500, it sounds like they’re thinking about helping each other out via trade, as Bleacher Report’s Jared Zwerling detailed tonight. Zwerling has a ton of news from New York and Boston, as well as a couple other NBA teams, in the piece we linked to earlier tonight, and there are still more noteworthy items as a busier-than-usual November continues:

1 comment Cleveland Cavaliers Golden State Warriors Minnesota Timberwolves NBA G League Washington Wizards

Zwerling On Amar’e, Wallace, Humphries

By | at November 19, 2013 9:48 pm

Jared Zwerling of Bleacher Report recaps many of the rumors we’ve heard about the Knicks and Celtics in recent days, and adds plenty more in his latest piece. Let’s dive in.

  • Zwerling presents a somewhat different version of an earlier trade rumor, which suggested that the Celtics would take on Amar’e Stoudemire if the Knicks would take back Gerald Wallace and Courtney Lee. Zwerling reports that the teams had talks about such a swap over the summer, and that Iman Shumpert was also part of the package. In the latest version of the proposal, Kris Humphries replaces Lee, while Shumpert is not involved.
  • The Celtics like the idea of Avery Bradley as their shooting guard going forward, and envision the soon-to-be restricted free agent as a $6MM-a-year player. Bradley’s development is why Shumpert is no longer a part of their talks with the Knicks. The Celtics don’t plan to be competitive in 2014/15, fueling their willingness to take on Stoudemire.
  • The Celtics are “desperate” to trade Wallace, Zwerling hears.
  • The Knicks continue to have interest in Humphries after having eyed him in the summer. They would have signed him if the Celtics had bought him out, but Boston wasn’t sure how rookie Vitor Faverani would perform and wanted to keep Humphries as insurance. Humphries maintains his interest in the Knicks as well, and he’s also keen on the Rockets as an option.
  • Miles Plumlee of the Suns is another young center the Knicks might like, but not if it means parting with Shumpert, Zwerling writes.
  • Zwerling points to a clause in Kenyon Martin‘s contract with the Knicks, revealed earlier this month by Mark Deeks of ShamSports, that nullifies his guarantee if he misses 15 games because of arthritis, repair to his patellar tendon, or progressive loss of articular cartilage.
  • The Knicks‘ medical staff has OK’d Stoudemire for up to 20 minutes per game, about twice as many as he’s seeing.
  • The Knicks are concerned about a lack of vocal leadership that can serve as a check on Carmelo Anthony‘s power among his teammates.
5 comments Boston Celtics Houston Rockets New York Knicks Phoenix Suns

Poll: Should Celtics Trade Rajon Rondo?

By | at November 19, 2013 8:33 pm

A summer story line resurfaced this weekend with a report that the Knicks had attempted to trade for Rajon Rondo. The injured point guard is the final remaining link to the Celtics’ last championship team, and when Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Doc Rivers all exited this summer, rumors surfaced that Rondo could be next. Celtics GM Danny Ainge denies having conversations with the Knicks and insists that he hasn’t fielded calls about Rondo from any NBA team. Whether or not that’s true, it seems scuttlebutt about the four-time All-Star will persist.

Rondo is under contract for close to $12MM this season and about $12.9MM in 2014/15. It’s one of the most team-friendly deals in the league for a player of his caliber, but it only has two seasons left, and will likely have expired by the time the Celtics are ready to compete again. Still, Rondo’s the team’s best player, and he’s never played for another franchise. One opposing GM believes the Celtics would seek a major star in return for Rondo if they were to deal him away, so perhaps Ainge feels confident enough about the prospect of re-signing him in 2015 to pass up all but the most generous of trade offers.

What do you think Ainge’s strategy should be? Should he cash out the team’s best asset now while he’s under team control on a bargain contract? Or should he make Rondo the centerpiece of his rebuilding effort even though the point guard can bolt in two years? Let us know with a vote, and elaborate on your opinion in the comments.

Should the Celtics trade Rajon Rondo?
Yes 55.42% (624 votes)
No 44.58% (502 votes)
Total Votes: 1,126
3 comments Boston Celtics Hoops Rumors Polls

Offseason In Review: Phoenix Suns

By | at November 19, 2013 6:58 pm

Hoops Rumors is in the process of looking back at each team’s offseason, from the end of the playoffs in June right up until opening night. Trades, free agent signings, draft picks, contract extensions, option decisions, camp invitees, and more will be covered, as we examine the moves each franchise made over the last several months.

Signings

Trades

Draft Picks

  • Alex Len (Round 1, 5th overall). Signed via rookie exception.
  • Archie Goodwin (Round 1, 29th overall). Signed via rookie exception.
  • Alex Oriakhi (Round 2, 57th overall). Playing overseas.

Camp Invitees

  • James Nunnally

Departing Players

Rookie Contract Option Decisions

Just call him Trader Ryan. New Suns GM Ryan McDonough aggressively used the trade market to set the club’s sights on the future, somehow managing to turn spare parts from a roster that finished with just 25 wins last season into two potential 2014 first-round picks and an intriguing young point guard. That’s on top of protected first-rounders for 2014 and 2015 coming their way from previous trades and Phoenix’s own picks. The Suns could have as many as six first-round picks in the next two drafts, including four for the ballyhooed 2014 class. All of it represents a tantalizing opportunity for the franchise to return to title contention within a few years, but the most significant change McDonough has brought about so far is a sharp focus on the future at the cost of wins in the near-term. The relative safety of the first-year honeymoon for a new executive no doubt plays a role in his willingness for the team to take its lumps this season. Still, predecessor Lance Blanks never seemed to fully embrace rebuilding as he tried to squeeze as much as he could out of an aging Steve Nash before last season’s effort to remain competitive without the two-time MVP fell flat.

“Future” is the keyword for the team, even as the Suns reconnected with a part of their past in hiring Jazz assistant Jeff Hornacek as head coach, replacing interim boss Lindsey Hunter. Hornacek had the misfortune of seeing his six-year playing tenure with the Suns end with a trade to the Sixers for Charles Barkley just before the franchise’s most successful season, but two decades later, he’s probably much more content with Phoenix’s trades this time around. The talent that exited wasn’t likely to help Hornacek win much this year, and with the promise of better days ahead and a front office that seems content to sacrifice the present, there’s not much pressure on the first-year coach for now.

The opposite is true for the team’s new point guard. The team and Eric Bledsoe failed to reach an agreement on a rookie scale contract extension before the October 31st deadline, setting him up for restricted free agency next summer. Bledsoe has never been a full-time starter in the NBA, and that surely weighed heavily on the team as it decided to pass on the extension. Bledsoe must prove that he’s capable of sustaining impressive per-minute numbers, which included leading all NBA guards in blocks per minute last season, per Basketball-Reference. He also finished fifth among guards in steals per minute in 2012/13, and while both rates are down to start this season, his offensive efficiency is way up, as he’s averaging more than 20 points and nearly seven assists with a 23.9 PER. It’s something of a double-edged sword for the Suns, who may rue the chance to lock Bledsoe up at a discount if he proves capable of producing at both ends, but Phoenix nonetheless has the ability to match any other team’s offer and plenty of cap space next summer. Waiting on a new contract for the 23-year-old seems a worthwhile gamble, and the price of Jared Dudley and a second-round draft pick that the team paid to acquire him from the Clippers seems a pittance.

McDonough and the Suns made the cost of bringing Bledsoe aboard seem even lower once they shipped Caron Butler’s $8MM contract off in another trade to a Bucks team that, like the Suns in 2012, is intent on rebuilding and remaining competitive at the same time. Neither Viacheslav Kravtsov nor Ish Smith may be of much benefit to the Suns, but the more than $5.5MM difference between their combined salaries and what Butler is making gave the Suns a savings that makes up for the majority of the rest of Michael Beasley’s contract. Thus, the Suns saw fit to part with one of their mistakes from 2012’s ill-fated attempt to compete and a player who once more ran afoul of the law this past summer. They waived Beasley, convincing him to give up $2MM of his guaranteed $9MM, and used the stretch provision to spread the remaining $7MM over four seasons. Beasley will remain a slight hit on the team’s books through 2016/17, but perhaps most importantly, the Suns excised a player they felt had failed to live up to their “standards of personal and professional conduct.”

Luis Scola engendered no such rebukes as he left Phoenix, and the Suns turned the player they claimed off amnesty waivers in 2012 into new starting center Miles Plumlee, a once-again useful wing player in Gerald Green, and one of its store of 2014 first-round picks. The selection the Suns picked up in this trade with Indiana might be the least valuable first-rounder in the team’s stable, since Scola figures to help the Pacers pile up wins this year, so Plumlee might be the gem of the deal for Phoenix. He’s one year removed from having been the 26th overall pick in 2012, and after the first nine starts of his career, he’s sixth in the league in blocks per game and 15th in rebounds per contest this season. The excitement over his ability greased the skids for the latest of McDonough’s swaps, as he sent Marcin Gortat, last year’s starting center, to Washington for yet another 2014 first-round pick and the injured Emeka Okafor.

Trading a serviceable starting center for a draft pick and a player on an expiring deal who might not be healthy enough to play at all this season would have been anathema under Blanks. Yet it’s a quintessential McDonough move that frees up playing time for a promising young player, doesn’t involve a significant financial commitment, and allows for the distinct possibility that the Suns may have multiple lottery picks among their haul of 2014 first-rounders. If the Wizards miss the playoffs but only narrowly so, the Suns could wind up with that lottery pick in addition to their own, which seems destined to be a lottery selection despite Phoenix’s on-court success early this season. There’s even a chance the Suns could have three lottery picks, though their pick from a previous trade with the Timberwolves would have to fall precisely at No. 14 for that to happen.

There’s so much talk of the draft picks coming Phoenix’s way that it’s easy to forget that the Suns already have the No. 5 selection from this past June’s draft. Injury has limited Alex Len to just 21 minutes so far in his NBA career, but he drew mention as a possible No. 1 overall pick before left ankle surgery knocked him out of predraft workouts. The former Maryland Terrapin is a raw talent, but a year ago he was putting up 23 points and 12 rebounds in a game against reputed defensive whiz Nerlens Noel, an even stronger candidate for the No. 1 overall spot in spite of his own injury. The Suns could face a dilemma if Plumlee sustains his performance and Len comes back to fulfill his potential, but having two promising young centers is a much more desirable problem than having none, and McDonough has already proven a willing and creative orchestrator of trades.

So much of what McDonough has done has seemingly been aimed at undoing what Blanks did last year. The use of the 13th overall pick in 2012 on Kendall Marshall was another of the ex-GM’s moves that went bust, and McDonough offloaded the point guard in the Gortat trade while using one of his other swaps to find a more successful young point guard in Bledsoe to replace him. The contrast between McDonough and Blanks shows up even in the methods they used to make their transactions. McDonough only signed one player who remains on the roster, in contrast to his five trades. Blanks wasn’t averse to a swap, making a pair in the summer of 2012, but he signed seven free agents for the team’s 2012/13 opening-night roster. Goran Dragic is the only one of those seven who remains, and executives from other teams suspect he’ll be the next player McDonough trades away. Trades are fun, but they’re not nearly as enjoyable for Suns fans as playoff victories are. McDonough has set the team up for the opportunity to once more have a winning team in a few years, but he’ll have to prove as skilled at the draft as he is at trades for that on-court success to come about.

Luke Adams contributed to this post.

0 comments Offseason In Review Phoenix Suns

Leandro Barbosa To Play In Brazil

By | at November 19, 2013 5:46 pm

Leandro Barbosa will sign with a team in his native Brazil, but the contract will allow him to move to an NBA team if he can find one that’s interested, tweets Fábio Alexio of the Brazlian website Lancenet.com.br (hat tip to Brian Mahoney of The Associated Press). The 30-year-old Barbosa will play for Pinheiros after spending last season with the Celtics and Wizards.

Barbosa tore his left ACL shortly before the trade deadline last season, prompting the Celtics to throw him into the Jordan Crawford trade with the Wizards for salary matching purposes. Barbosa never played while on the Wizards roster, and a report in May indicated he was rehabbing at Boston’s facilities, several weeks before his contract was officially up. Still, the Celtics didn’t wind up signing him this summer, though Barbosa’s brother Artur Barbosa, who doubles as his agent, said the Mavs offered the combo guard a contract. The agent also said the Bulls and Rockets had shown interest.

The longtime Sun was an October addition for Boston in 2012, but he wound up playing a fairly significant role as backup point guard, averaging 5.2 points and 1.4 assists in 12.5 minutes per game. The “Brazilian Blur” might have lost a step, but his outside shooting remains a threat, as his three-point accuracy last season came close to his 39.1% career mark.

2 comments Transactions

Offseason In Review: Los Angeles Lakers

By | at November 17, 2013 12:59 pm

Hoops Rumors is in the process of looking back at each team’s offseason, from the end of the playoffs in June right up until opening night. Trades, free agent signings, draft picks, contract extensions, option decisions, camp invitees, and more will be covered, as we examine the moves each franchise made over the last several months.

Signings

Trades

  • None

Draft Picks

Camp Invitees

Departing Players

Rookie Contract Option Decisions

  • None

It was perhaps the most difficult summer for Lakers fans since the team’s nearly annual Finals defeats to the Celtics in the 1960s. Dwight Howard turned his back on the chance to join the pantheon of legendary purple-and-gold centers, bolting for the Rockets and leaving the Lakers without much flexibility to replace him. L.A. was still over the cap even without Howard, meaning the team was stuck with only cap exception money to add to the roster, barring a major trade or a nearly unthinkable amnesty of Kobe Bryant. The Kobe amnesty might have become a possibility if the Lakers had landed Howard as well as Chris Paul, but the team had no such luck on the free agent market, and Bryant remains as much a part of the franchise as ever. There wasn’t any significant offseason trade chatter involving Pau Gasol, once a fixture on the trade market, or Steve Nash, so it was a summer for GM Mitch Kupchak to make the best of a picked-over market of free agent leftovers.

The Lakers did cut ties with one member of their last championship squad, using the amnesty clause to remove Metta World Peace from their books instead of Bryant. Subtracting World Peace’s $7.7MM salary for 2013/14 saved the Lakers a much greater sum in luxury taxes, but it didn’t take them under the cap the way shedding Bryant’s $30.5MM cap figure might have. The 34-year-old World Peace isn’t the player he once was, but he experienced no significant drop-off in production last season while playing 33.7 minutes per game. The move was one of austerity more than any other motivation, a rarity for the high-rolling Lakers. Still, there’s no reason to spend extra cash to keep a player on the downside of his career during a season in which championship hopes aren’t realistic.

Kupchak committed his mini mid-level exception to a center who could replace Howard, bringing former Clipper Chris Kaman back to Los Angeles after a season in which he’d been disgruntled under coach Rick Carlisle in Dallas. Kaman had signed with the Mavs on a one-year, $8MM deal, and was one of the top centers on the 2012 free agent market. That makes the 31-year-old a potential bargain for the Lakers after Carlisle limited Kaman to the fewest minutes per night of his career last season. It was nonetheless odd to see the Lakers allocate their largest chunk of free agent money to a big man who could recreate the problems Howard and Gasol had fitting together under coach Mike D’Antoni, who prefers small-ball. Kaman is seeing even less playing time for the Lakers so far this year than he did with Dallas, so it appears D’Antoni’s solution is simply to keep Kaman out of Gasol’s way, limiting the effect of Kupchak’s greatest summer expenditure.

Kupchak used the minimum-salary exception on every other signee this offseason, save for yet another center. He used the team’s Non-Bird rights on fan favorite Robert Sacre to exceed the minimum-salary exception’s two-year limit and give the 7-footer a three-year deal. Sacre won’t make any more than the minimum salary in any of the three seasons, but the team will have him under control until 2016 should he develop into more than the third-stringer he is. It’s somewhat surprising that Sacre’s salary is guaranteed for this season and next, since the Lakers have long been clearing their 2014/15 payroll for a shot at a splashy summer of 2014, but the less-than-$1MM cap hit wouldn’t be much of a dent in the team’s flexibility.

Kupchak may have put another chip in the team’s cap room for next summer with his deal for Nick Young. The Southern California native and former USC Trojan has a player option for next year in his minimum-salary contract. Young, like Kaman, signed a much more lucrative one-year deal in 2012, inking with the Sixers for $5.6MM. The 28-year-old shooting guard also saw a reduction in minutes last season, the third straight year in which his three-point percentage declined. Still, he was a respectable 35.7% from behind the arc in 23.9 minutes per game last season, and the double-figure scorer could have commanded more than the minimum. The lure of playing close to home and his friendship with fellow Lakers offseason signee Jordan Farmar was enough for Young to sacrifice dollars for comfort.

The best bargain Kupchak came across might have been one of the team’s final signees of the summer. Xavier Henry came to camp on no more than a non-guaranteed invitation, and with his NBA career teetering on the brink of extinction, he suddenly delivered on the promise that made him the 12th overall pick in 2010. Henry went for 29 points in a preseason game, and delivered more of the same with a 22-point performance off the bench in an upset of the Clippers on opening night. He’s earned a couple of starts, but he has yet to score 20 points again, so it remains to be seen whether he’ll drift back into his doldrums or if the Lakers stumbled upon a true find.

Henry’s story is somewhat reminiscent of Earl Clark‘s from last season. Clark, another former lottery pick, had his best season by far in 2012/13 with the Lakers after injuries to others pressed him into duty. The Lakers had interest in re-signing the versatile forward, but the Cavs offered him a two-year, $8.5MM contract that was about twice what I figured he was worth. The Lakers had full Bird Rights on the 25-year-old, but they weren’t about to overpay him so steeply when it would have meant millions more in tax penalties.

Of more significance is how much the Lakers will shell out for Bryant now that co-owner and executive VP Jim Buss says the team has begun extension talks with the star and agent Rob Pelinka. Bryant has expressed reticence about taking a significant pay cut from his $30MM salary this year. He could make as much as $32.7MM next season, but doing so would limit the team’s ability to surround him with marquee free agent talent. Much hinges on how well Bryant performs this season once he returns from injury, but Luke Adams of Hoops Rumors pegs Bryant’s annual salary for the next two or three years at around $15MM. The negotiations with Bryant will be the keystone for the team’s long-awaited summer of 2014. LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony and other juicy targets are on the horizon, with the promise of more glory in Lakerland. For now, and for this past summer, the keyword has been patience, and the team must be willing to continue down the path of sacrifice this year and resist sacrificing a bright future to salvage a lackluster present.

Luke Adams contributed to this post.

0 comments Los Angeles Lakers Offseason In Review
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