maybe this has been mentioned, but if rob and magic are as gangster as everyone claims, it's possible to get pg and lebron to commit to the lakers, then ask lopez to take a low-money one-year deal, to be signed prior to the other deals, thus a) preserving bird rights and b) freeing the space necessary to sign others. if everyone's still happy the following year, the lakers could use the retained bird rights to pay lopez a lot more, over the cap. Let's assume doomsday--you can't move deng. I'm assuming clarkson can be moved: Lonzo (7.5) Ingram (5.8) Nance (2.3) Kuzma (1.7) Hart (1.7) Zu (1.5) Bryant (1) Deng (18) +4 cap holds (3.2) 43 million or so here, so 61 to spend. would lebron take a few million off to keep lopez in the scenario described above? if not, the lakers could stretch waive deng to free up the cash.
Well if LBJ is set on coming here and hooking up (pardon the expression) he damn well better take commensurately less as did Durant, so we can have the super roster needed to beat GS or what's the point of coming and gutting our depth? Same thing with PG. Or let's just do PG and f*** LeBron.
The big thing will be the contract he signs. The past few years with the Heat and Cavs he's only signed 2 year deals with the 3rd being a PO. If this is the deal he signs with us. I will be relieved. If we sign him to a 4 or 5 year deal, I'd be really upset
I'm happy to let Pope and Lopez show us how great of a fit they can be first, along with seeing Randle and Kuzma develop. We might have something not worth breaking up. I think our starting five might be clicking by the end of the year if they stay healthy. Backup PG is a concern, as I don't think you can expect Lonzo Ball's frame to hold up for 82 games yet. It's early, but he already had a groin and calf issue in Summer League. His main concern is getting stronger. He knows he's going to be overmatched physically every night.
Groins not so much an issue going forward with the Pullettes on staff now .... say goodbye to the pain.
not to persuade anyone from Lopez but I have feeling Randle would give us a discount before Brook does if he see's James/PG incoming and for him it wouldn't be considered a pay cut, his max is in the 20's which he hasn't earned and something around 15-17 is more than fair but Lopez could still benefit from this season and parlay a good season into a 18-20 mill a yr, I dont see him taking a pay cut
Thanks for the detailed breakdown Doc and I'll try to address other points when I get the time later tonight, but with Lopez's bird rights you simply bypass his cap hold by offering him an extension and messing around with the remaining cap towards Bron & George afterwards. The way around Lopez's cap hold is the order that it is addressed in. First you have Lopez agree to an extension where year 1 is much lower than his 34M cap hold. Then you bring Bron and George in with the remainder of the cap room we have. But you don't do that till all 3 guys commit to us. Essentially, we eliminate the 34M Lopez cap hold by securing his long term extension. Year 1 of that contract essentially becomes the new cap hold number on our 2018 cap space and I'm sure the Lakers will have the right number in order to lock up year 1 contracts for both Bron and PG. I'm sure those guys will do 1+1 deals anyways till the Lakers can gain their bird rights as well. So you basically have everybody verbally agree to commit to the Lakers and you play with the cap in a particular order of extensions and signing FAs. This is essentially what the Spurs have been doing for years. Its all about the particular order in which we sign these guys.
Do people have like rings in their legs like trees do in their trunks so we know how old they are? That way we could cut off one of Deng's legs to get his contract voided when we count too many rings.
Can someone please explain to me what is going on in this exchange above with KD? It's a good thing right? Is KD recognizing Kyle?
