Lakers

[Flystripper]

You must think Ramona Shelburne doesn’t know what she is talking about.


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[wapiti]

I see Lebron and/or AD spending significant time on the injured list and the Lakers not being deep enough to be competitive with only one of the two. "Load Management" will be impossible. That is why getting a 3rd star, even if he doesn't fit that well, is important. Kemba would work.

[SoCalCoug]

You must think Ramona Shelburne doesn’t know what she is talking about.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I like Ramona. I think the does a great job. I think she may be working with incomplete information and doing the best she can.

I guess we'll see soon.

[SoCalCoug]

Came across this post this morning, purportedly from a Celtics fan.

https://www.reddit.com/r/lakers/comm...ter_all_xpost/

I'm a Celtic fan. I have no dog in this race. It's just clear to me that a lot of fans are misinformed about this Lakers cap situation. Woj/Marks tweeted out what they were hearing, that got taken out of context and has been spun into a bunch of clickbait headlines about Pelinka "not understanding the cap". Woj/Marks have already started walking back the comments a bit.Honestly, it sounds like a bunch of bullshit to me. You should fully expect the Lakers to have around 32 mil in cap space. You should fully expect them to use it to sign a 3rd star. For clarity, none of these trades have been made official yet. To be clear, none of them are going to become official until all parties involved (Lakers, Pelicans, Hawks, etc) jump on a group call (either on July 6th or 30th) and send it into the league.
Here's a breakdown of how this plays out.
Current Laker Cap situation:

• LeBron - 37.4 mil
• Lonzo - 8.7 mil
• Ingram - 7.2 mil
• Wagner - 2 mil
• Kuzma - 1.9 mil
• Hart - 1.9 mil
• Bonga - 1.4 mil
• Jones - 1.4 mil
• Deng (stretch) - 5 mil
• Cap Hold for Hunter (4th pick) - 7 mil
• Minimum Roster Charge - 900k
• Minimum Roster Charge - 900k
• Minimum Roster Charge - 900k

Total salary: 77 mil
Salary Cap: 109 mil
Cap room: 32 mil
July 1: Free agency opens. Lakers likely will have meetings with all the notable names... Kemba, Kyrie, Kawhi, Butler, etc. They'll offer a deal that pays 32 million the first year. Someone will agree to take it.
July 6: The free agent moratorium ends. It's signing day. The Lakers will sign someone to a near-max contract making 32 mil
"The Problem" explained: After the Lakers sign their max star, they then look to execute the Davis trade. There will be no "gotcha" from the Pelicans where they call it in and screw over the Lakers. That isn't how this works. The trade will not be executed until the Lakers get on the call. Technically, all parties can just back out... but that isn't happening... it's an unprecedented haul for the Pelicans and they have ever incentive to make it work. There's also now a 3rd party involved (Hawks getting #4).
The Lakers are sending the salary of Ball (8.7 mil), Ingram (7.2 mil) and Hart (1.9 mil). In total that's 17.8 in outgoing salary. You're allowed to take back 125% of that. That would only allow the Lakers to take back 22.25 mil. This is the crux of the issue, because Anthony Davis makes 27 mil.
The Lakers selected De'Andre Hunter with the #4 pick. They own his rights now. He has yet to sign a contract with the Lakers. Before a rookie signs a contract, he can still be included in a trade, but it doesn't count as outgoing salary. In other words, despite #4 being sent out by the Lakers, they still functionally are only able to take back 22.2 mil in salary assuming they eat up their 32 million with a max signing.
Solution 1: Solution #1 is to just sign De'Andre Hunter to his contract. Doing so starts a 30 day clock before he can be traded. This was essentially the exact situation that happened during the Kevin Love/Andrew Wiggins trade. The Cavs had to sign Wiggins and then wait 30 days before including his salary in a trade for salary matching purposes. There was a month where everyone knew the trade was happening, but they had to pretend like it wasn't official. Nonetheless, if the Lakers choose to sign Hunter, he couldn't be traded until 30 days after the start of the season. The season officially starts July 1st... so he wouldn't be tradeable until July 30th. At that point, his contract of 7 mil can be included with Lonzo, Ingram and Hart (24.8 mil outgoing) and the Lakers can take back as much as 31 mil in trade... plenty enough to take back Davis' 27 mil contract.
Again... there is no "gotcha" here from the Pelicans or the Lakers. You can safely assume that both parties are being open and transparent, because both have heavy incentive to make this work. Otherwise, the Lakers just sign Hunter and force the 30 day clock to start. There's no way the Pelicans can just make this trade happen without the Lakers involvement. Again... that's not how NBA trades work.
Solution 2: This is what both parties are likely working on right now. The Pelicans have already looped in a third team (Atlanta). They can easily expand the trade further. Essentially, as long as the Lakers are also sending out the salaries of Wagner, Bonga and Jones, this gets done. The Pelicans probably don't have the roster spots for those 3 guys at this point, so the Lakers just need to send those guys to Atlanta or send some 2nd rounders along with them to some teams willing to get a freebie. Bottom line is that if the Lakers are sending out Ball (8.7 mil), Ingram (7.2 mil), Hart (1.9 mil), Bonga (1.4 mil to another team), Wagner (2 mil to another team) and Jones (1.4 mil to another team)... that's a total of 22.6 mil in outgoing salary. 125% of that is 28.2. Davis makes 27. Done deal.
This is pretty typical of massive trades like this. If for whatever reason the Lakers are incapable of getting teams to take on Bonga/Wagner/Jones along with some 2nd rounders... this deal just gets delayed until the 30th. In which case, the only real issue is that it fucks up some Summer League rosters (kinda like Wiggins playing Summer League for the Cavs, because they couldn't officially make the trade yet).
TLR: This Laker salary cap shit is much ado about nothing. You should fully expect them to sign a 3rd star for 32 mil and then complete the trade after

One note to add: Pelinka signed Jones right before the end of the season. Is it pure luck that his salary might be necessary to bring the Lakers' cap space for a max free agent to $32 million?

[Color Me Badd Fan]

Came across this post this morning, purportedly from a Celtics fan.

https://www.reddit.com/r/lakers/comm...ter_all_xpost/



One note to add: Pelinka signed Jones right before the end of the season. Is it pure luck that his salary might be necessary to bring the Lakers' cap space for a max free agent to $32 million?

Random Celtics internet message board shitposter (aren't we all shitposters though?) has totally scooped Woj.

Here's what Woj has to say about Kawhi: it's really a two team race between the Clippers and the Raptors, but he'll still take meeting with the Knicks, Nets and ... Philly (?!). No mention of the Lakers at all.

https://nesn.com/2019/06/nba-rumors-kawhi-leonard-open-to-free-agent-meetings-with-these-five-teams/

[SoCalCoug]

Random Celtics internet message board shitposter (aren't we all shitposters though?) has totally scooped Woj.

Here's what Woj has to say about Kawhi: it's really a two team race between the Clippers and the Raptors, but he'll still take meeting with the Knicks, Nets and ... Philly (?!). No mention of the Lakers at all.

https://nesn.com/2019/06/nba-rumors-...se-five-teams/

Time will tell, I guess.

Random Celtics fan didn't say the Lakers are getting kawhi, by the way. He just said they could sign someone for $32 million, if they are able to come to an agreement.

[SoCalCoug]

Time will tell, I guess.

Random Celtics fan didn't say the Lakers are getting kawhi, by the way. He just said they could sign someone for $32 million, if they are able to come to an agreement.

And Woj's information comes from certain teams, not from Kawhi - I don't believe Kawhi or his team have actually talked to any media.

[Sizzle]

And Woj's information comes from certain teams, not from Kawhi - I don't believe Kawhi or his team have actually talked to any media.

Take it to the bank!

[Commando]

Hypothetically, if the Lakers signed Kawhi, would they have to just round up a bunch of G-leaguers to fill out the roster, being that's all they would be able to afford?

[SoCalCoug]

Hypothetically, if the Lakers signed Kawhi, would they have to just round up a bunch of G-leaguers to fill out the roster, being that's all they would be able to afford?

They would have a "Room exception" of something like $4-5 million they could sign someone for, and then they can fill out the rest of the roster with players taking the veteran minimum (up to about $2.5 million per year, depending on the number of years in the league). There would be a number of title-chasers who might be willing to sign for the veteran minimum for a year, in the hope of finally getting a ring. Several of the media members around here have said Trevor Ariza is likely one of those.

[Moliere]

They would have a "Room exception" of something like $4-5 million they could sign someone for, and then they can fill out the rest of the roster with players taking the veteran minimum (up to about $2.5 million per year, depending on the number of years in the league). There would be a number of title-chasers who might be willing to sign for the veteran minimum for a year, in the hope of finally getting a ring. Several of the media members around here have said Trevor Ariza is likely one of those.

Would absolutely love to have Ariza back.

[Applejack]

Would absolutely love to have Ariza back.

Is Trevor ariza still alive????!

[Moliere]

Is Trevor ariza still alive????!

I don’t know!!!!

[New Mexican Disaster]

Is Trevor ariza still alive????!

Whether he is or is not we can afford him at the mid-level exception!

[SoCalCoug]

Whether he is or is not we can afford him at the mid-level exception!

Actually, the talk is they could get him at the veteran minimum.