Great stream covering the Bucks, Kings, and Lakers cap space situation after their big trades. Must watch for Lakers fans wanting to know how Schroder trade affects what the Lakers can spend on free agents. Thanks, Eric. https://t.co/ShwTteXZuJ
— LakerTom (@LakerTom) November 18, 2020
How Schroder trade affects what Lakers can spend on free agents
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November 17, 2020 6 Comments
Per Eric, after trading for Schroder and assuming Rondo, Bradley, and McGee opt out, the Lakers can do the following:
1. Use Bird rights to pay KCP $11.0 million.
2. Use Non-Bird rights to pay Howard $3.1 million.
3. Use Non-Bird rights to pay Morris $2.8 million.
4. Sign 1 or more free agents with $9.3 million NT MLE.
5. Sign free agent with $3.6 BAE.
6. Sign 4 free agents to vet minimum contracts.
9 Players Under Contract:
PG: Schroder, Caruso
SG: KCP, THT
SF: LeBron, Kuzma
PF: AD, Morris
CE: Dwight
6 New Free Agents:
MLE, BAE, VM, VM, VM,VM
This is $400K below $13.9 million hard cap.
So can only bring back salaries in trade equal to what is sent out.
Man would it be great if that Deng $5 mil could come off the books… Be able to up the KCP offer to $16 mil which feels like a slam dunk keeper deal. That Or split it up a bit and add some money to other offers.
Getting rid of Deng’s $5 million would be a game changer.
Lakers also have to figure out how to get rid of JaVale’s $4.2 million too for Eric’s numbers to work since he’s likely to opt in.
Can’t ‘get rid of’ McGee without bringing back salary. Even if you waive him his money counts against the cap until he’s picked up by another team but then you only subtract the difference from his new deal from our cap. Likely we’d be on the hook for the majority of his salary.
I’m assuming that, since nothing has come out of the Lakers attempt to use the medical exemption for injury to shed Deng’s cap hold we’re stuck with it. But maybe there’s still a but of hope since, technically, there’s still time.
Luol Deng, the gift that keep on effing everything up…
The likely options to get rid of JaVale’s $4.2 million are to include him as filler in a Kuzma trade or get a team with cap space like the Hawks or Hornets to accept him in a trade for a second rounder.
JaVale’s still a serviceable backup center. Just not on a championship caliber team like the Lakers. He would be an excellent veteran and mentor on a rebuilding team like the Pelicans.
Finally, as a last resort, he could be waived and stretched if needed and reduced to just $1.4 million per year.
The Hawks idea could be legit.