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kiss the championship goodbye

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Jamie Sweet and his eagerly awaited ‘5 Things’ post after every Lakers game have become a staple feature of Lakerholics. Jamie’s the Laker fan who jumpstarts and drives conversations with his informed comments and insightful observations.

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One very interesting thing that came up in one of the long conversations Jamie and I were having is how the Lakers effort to get rid of the $5 million cap hold due to Luol Deng and why that could be important. Here’s why getting the league to remove Deng’s hold could mean:

First, the Lakers have no cap space right now but if they can get rid of Deng’s $5 million, it could open the door to the following move:

1. NBA removes Deng’s $5 million.
2. KCP, Rondo, Bradley, and McGee exercise their player options.
3. Suddenly, the Lakers salary commitments would equal $91M.
4. If the cap space is set at $109M, they would have $14M in cap space.
5. They could sign Wood to $14M contract.
6. Then use the $9.3M MLE, $3.6M BAE to sign other players.

‘Lakerholics’

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Good comments, Jamie. All signs point to Avery declining his player option, which I think is good for the Lakers. As I said before, I like him a lot and think he brings a lot to the table but I also think it’s naïve to think the Lakers aren’t going to be looking to hit a home run, especially since there are likely to be some big moves made by the Warriors, Clippers, and Bucks to make a leap. If you look back at the initial championships we won at the start of our two repeats and one threepeat, we never stood pat and I don’t see us doing it this time, not with LeBron at 35.

Your question about KCP versus Christian Wood is interesting. First, Wood would be such a signing for the Lakers that it seems too good to happen. All these trade ideas are mostly pipe dreams, even if they make great sense. Wood only earned $1.6 million per year and if the Knicks or Hornets offer him $15 million for 3 years, I don’t see how he declines that and takes $9.3 for a year from the Lakers, even if that might be a very smart move to bet on himself. Would I rather have Christian than re-sign KCP? Absolutely for the same reasons you stated. We could plug Bradley or Caruso in and not miss a beat like we did in the playoffs. I see Wood as being a mini clone of AD. A modern big who can play both ends of the court at all three levels. We have nobody like him except for AD. The idea of having two of them is intoxicating.

Timing is as you said the key. We re-sign AD first, then the MLE. Then we sign the Bird, Early Bird, and BAE, all of which allow us to go over the cap.

Here’s an interesting thought. What if KCP gets an offer we don’t want to match? And what if Rondo and Morris accept their player options. The Lakers have $68.5 million guaranteed plus $28.8 for AD for a total of 97.3 million. Cap is $109 million. If the league approved the Lakers removing Deng, they would have $16.5 million in cap space to sign Wood. They couldn’t then use Bird or Early Bird to sign KCP or Rondo but they would still have their $9.3 million MLE.