LOL, actually I posted this for me so that I can easily check when there is a player movement and how it affects our salary structure. The guy updates it when it's time.
Yes, but even if we don't trade him we can stretch him. Stretching Deng though would mean probably sacrificing bringing back one of KCP, Randle, or Lopez. The ideal situation is you trade away Clarkson for a heavily protected 1st or a 2nd or something. You trade an unprotected 1st and whatever goods you got for Clarkson with maybe one of the kids like Zubac, Hart, or Kuzma. Then you pick which of the three guys you want to keep around. You go to George and LeBron and ask them what they're willing to give up to keep Lopez or KCP or Randle around. You probably have to pick one. If you're lucky, George agrees to a 25 million, LeBron takes a slightly less than max deal, you bring back 2/3 of the Randle, KCP, Lopez crew on what's left over cap space and the room exception. Whoever you kept with the 1+1 deals sticks around until their Bird Rights are full and then you give them big bucks over the top and become a massive spender, but you have a great team.
Exactly and this isn't or shouldn't be the goal. We want 2 Max spots and the flexibility to keep JC, KCP, Randle, Brook, or another player willing to take less. While keeping our core of - Ingram, Kuzma, Nance, Zubac, and Hart in tact
It isn't the goal I'm sure, but it may be the reality. I think it's likely to take more than an unprotected 1st to move Deng today. If we try to move him in the summer when it looks like the Lakers are about to get LeBron and Paul George, what kind of value is our 1st going to have? It probably takes two 1sts. Maybe more than that. If LeBron and George are willing to accept contracts below the max in the short-term like Durant did, we can still have our cake and eat it too.
I don't and haven't ever thought we would be able to move Deng. If we want him off our roster unfortunately he's going to have to stretch his contract. JC on the other hand I can't imagine it being impossible to move him even if it is harder than we think it will be. In any trades me make this year we aren't even going to want to take a 1st round pick unless we're attaching that to go out in another trade. Can't have any guaranteed money on our roster than what's expected.
I'm holding out for a medical retirement. Maybe he overdoses on ephedrine trying to lose some fat, of maybe he takes too much viagra and has an "issue" for longer than four hours that causes complications You just never know Old age issues can be very strange. One day you tear your pec, and the next day you're using a colostomy bag.
i've posted this elsewhere, but my eye is on lopez this year. is he playing well? does he like it here? if those things are true, i'm really trying to sell him HARD on a one-year minimum (or very low salary deal) wherein we can retain his bird rights while building a juggernaut (juggler knot?) around him, with a wink-wink towards a long-term larger money deal next year. we can't do that with kcp, but i'm pretty sure that cap loophole still exists in the lopez case. now, if rob and magic are the salespeople that folks suggest, i can imagine scenarios where they do something similar with kcp to get early bird rights (at a higher salary), too. but really, it all hinges on selling two max FAs (preferably lebron and PG) on la. it's going to be a really interesting calendar year for lakers fans.
We'll have to let the season play out to see for sure but between KCP and Lopez if I have to choose now, I think KCP's youth let's him be around to watch this squad grow and grow a bit with them. He's the right kind of 2-way guard for this bunch. Lopez will be in his mid-30s when these guys are coming into their mid-20s while KCP will still be prime and who knows how good if he refines his shot (as he seems to be with his 3s). This is why it's such a big deal for us to dump Deng and not stretch. And the difficulty in doing so sheds light on the fact that the deal with Brooklyn was very good for us. As brought up, Deng's money could clear away more for the second star FA spot while enabling the signing of an important role player like KCP or Lopez etc. Even worse than having to dump Deng would be being Deng right now. Wealth aside, it's got to be tough having everyone in an organization and LAL fans everywhere look at you like you are not pulling your weight and holding back everyone. We aren't talking injury here either. He is being referred to by everyone as if he's already dead. Maglinka sure aren't coy about the need to ditch him. When he's done with his Sudanese ambassadorship or whatever this summer he's in for a rude awakening here in LA. I hold no ill-will for him without any actual evidence that he's not trying. He got a great deal from a couple of idiots who made panicked decisions. Not Deng's fault. Hopefully vets like Lopez and KCP make Deng accountable for his contributions to the team and if he can at least perform like an NBA player this year maybe pairing his contract with all our picks for ? years and JC/Randle will get it done and give us the room we need to really exploit our position next Free Agency. I wonder if there's an expiring contract out there that would take JC/Randle/Deng and ? picks. LBJ's? Westbrook's? Dwayne Wade's would be perfect or JJ Reddick's. We just need Randle to ball and Deng to play decent and try not to break a hip. All the vet mins that would chase a couple stars here just to live in LA and chase a ring... we could fill a roster with 2 stars, one of KCP/Lopez, Ball, Ingram, Nance, Kuzma, Zubac, a couple scrubs, that's 10, and add some vet mins.
