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Could Lakers Face Potential $100M+ Tax Bill Next Season?

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After winning last season’s NBA championship, the Los Angeles Lakers have a realistic chance to repeat, but the potential three-peat price would significantly increase in 2021-22.

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How much of an appetite will Lakers governor Jeanie Buss have for the luxury tax?

The Lakers could face a bill near or even past the $105.6 million total tax they spent over the entire 2007-2014 period that included Kobe Bryant, eventually Pau Gasol and two NBA titles. Will Buss match that amount if needed? Can she scale back while keeping LeBron James and Anthony Davis competitive and happy?

Best-Case Scenario Includes a $96M Tax Bill

With an incomplete roster featuring Marc Gasol, James, Davis, Caldwell-Pope and Kuzma under contract, a 2021 first-round pick and the final year of Luol Deng’s stretched salary ($5 million), the Lakers will already be locked into about $112 million for 2021-22.

Perhaps the best case for the Lakers would be $43 million combined for Schroder, Harrell, Caruso and Horton-Tucker. By rounding out the rest of the roster with minimum players—perhaps bringing back veterans like Markieff Morris, Wesley Matthews, Jared Dudley and Quinn Cook—the team’s payroll would hit $162 million, plus $65.4 million in luxury tax, for $227.4 million.

And that’s assuming “reasonable” contracts for the Lakers’ free agents. Push their combined salary up to $50 million; that extra $7 million in salary pushes the luxury tax up to a massive $96.4 million. If they are integral parts of a team that wins a title this season, their prices could climb even higher, and even if it’s just by a small margin, the tax bill could easily push the Lakers closer to $100 million to $110 million in total payroll.

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That’s why one of Harrell, Kuzma (via trade), Caruso or Horton-Tucker could be a budget casualty. As a tax team, the Lakers will only have a smaller mid-level exception (roughly $5.9 million) to replace whomever they lose. After that, it’s just minimum contracts.

If there’s a saving grace, the NBA will give teams a tax discount until the salary cap normalizes, presumably once the pandemic is behind us. The Lakers won’t know the damage for some time, but a $100 million tax bill may “only” cost in the neighborhood of $75 million.

That may be the saving grace that enables Buss to give her squad the chance to win three in a row, presuming the Lakers can muscle their way through the 2020-21 season with another title.

Vaccine

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Just to give info, had my 1st Moderna shot a while back, arm soreness for a couple days. Going in a week to get 2nd. I’ll let you know the after affects of it. That’s what I experienced.