Where Lakers, Heat, Raptors and Mavericks stand with Giannis Antetokounmpo.
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This would mean that if Antetokounmpo agrees to sign with the Lakers, there would need to be some financial sacrifice from James, Davis, Antetokounmpo, or all three. Ideally, the Lakers should sign Antetokounmpo to a maximum deal, then have Davis and James agree on how to split the remaining $40 million in cap space. As an example, both players can split the remaining cap space evenly for $20 million salaries each in 2021-22 on one-plus-one contracts with a player option after the first season.
This path would allow the Lakers to keep their role players currently under contract for 2021-22 while also allowing their three stars to all be on maximum salaries relatively quick. The Lakers would still hold the full Bird rights to both James and Davis, allowing them to get back to the market sooner and re-sign for their respective maximum salaries and for multiple seasons.
If the Lakers were to get off of the salaries of Caldwell-Pope, Gasol, and Harrell, they would still require a temporary financial sacrifice from James and Davis from their maximum amounts in 2021-22. And even if the Lakers strike out on a star in 2021 and want to pursue one in 2022, they’d still need to take pay cuts, especially since the salary cap may only increase by three percent over the next two to three seasons.
James and Davis have made financial sacrifices before. James took less than his maximum amount in 2010 to join the Miami Heat, and Davis waived his trade bonus in the 2019 offseason to help the Lakers maximize their cap space. If Antetokounmpo wants to join the Lakers, there’s a strong possibility that James and Davis will make the required compromises to make it happen.
Best path for Lakers is still to trade for Giannis. From the above article:
“The Heat can now generate $26.2 million in cap space if they keep the cap holds of Robinson and Nunn, which would put the Heat approximately $7.5 million short of being able to offer Antetokounmpo a maximum contract. If Adebayo qualifies for the 30 percent criteria, in that same scenario, they’d be $13.2 million short of offering Antetokounmpo a maximum salary.”
“After signing Trey Burke to a multi-year deal and first-round pick Josh Green, the Dallas Mavericks can generate $24 million in cap space in 2021. That figure assumes they renounce all free agent cap holds, decline Willie Cauley-Stein’s team option, and waive Jalen Brunson. That would be just under $10 million short of being able to offer Antetokounmpo a maximum salary.”
“If the Raptors decline the team option of Baynes and waive all their non-guaranteed players, they’ll have a projected $21.7 million in cap space. That is approximately $12 million short of the $33.7 million maximum for Antetokounmpo.”