Could Lakers Face Potential $100M+ Tax Bill Next Season?https://t.co/nl7NNBlkWh via @BleacherReport
— LakerTom (@LakerTom) February 10, 2021
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.
Only 4 teams paid luxury tax in 2019-20. 10 will pay taxes this season, headed by the Warriors $149M, Nets $59M, and Sixers $24M. Lakers can afford $100M since their market value, like the Warriors, is over $4B. The question is will they pay that much? If the Laker win this season, there’s no way Jeanie is going to not put up the money for a possible threepeat.
Other thing to remember is the luxury tax for this year and next is tied to BRI, which is expected to drop 30% so all the figures in Eric’ column are likely to be 30% lower than what they would have been last year to account for the uncertain financial landscape in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. So $100M will only be $70M. Luxury tax sale!
So who’s your pick for the Lakers most likely to be gone next season?
Trezz?
Kuz?
Caruso?
Schroder?
Gasol?
Trezz who will play his way into more than we can afford.
Yep. He’s the one we won’t be able to keep, which is a shame. Too much talent and too much cap space available.
Monopoly Money-Spend it Jeannie, you ain’t broke! Lol!