Getty Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James
While the Los Angeles Lakers have come to terms on a trade to bring Anthony Davis to town, it appears they aren’t done there. Instead, their attention has now shifted to trying to add another star to the mix through free agency. But in order to do that, a few moves need to be made, including trading the contracts of the bulk of the remaining players on the roster.
Aside from LeBron James, Davis and Kyle Kuzma, the Lakers have just three other players currently. But as ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and Bobby Marks reported, they are offering the contracts of Moritz Wagner, Isaac Bonga and Jemerrio Jones in trades to create cap space for a max salary slot.
Lakers are trying to expand Anthony Davis trade and create ability to open max salary slot on July 6, sources tell @BobbyMarks42 and me. Lakers offering contracts of Mo Wagner/Jemerrio Jones/Isaac Bonga to additional teams, so LA can satisfy CBA rules on creating $32M in space.
It’s also important to note that NBA salary cap analyst Albert Nahmad explained the Lakers would be attempting to add the contracts of these three players into the Davis trade so they can execute it as “an over-cap team.” In turn, the above players would go to a different team in the deal.
While the moves would help to free up space to potentially make a move happen, Marks points out that Davis would need to waive his $4 million trade bonus in order to create the cap space needed.
There’s no guarantee that Davis will waive that trade bonus, but if the team can land a top free agent it could become an easier decision to make. This is certainly eye-opening, but in another interesting move, the Lakers are attempting to trade back into the 2019 NBA Draft.
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Lakers Attempting to Trade Back Into 2019 NBA Draft
In a follow-up report from Wojnarowski, he points out that the Lakers are attempting to purchase second-round picks “aggressively” at this point. As he cited, the addition of picks would come with minimum contracts, which adds to the appeal of them while evaluating the team’s cap situation.
The pursuit of second-round picks by the Lakers makes a lot of sense, and the obvious hope is that they’d be able to acquire a few players capable of providing production immediately. Even if the team was able to make all of this happen and added a top free agent, they’d have just four players with the bulk of their salary cap tied up, not including any rookies who are added.
At that point, the Lakers would turn to the additions of minimum-salary free agents in order to potentially round out the roster and fill the remaining holes. The Lakers do not own a second-round pick, as they traded theirs previously and it’s currently held by the Atlanta Hawks, as RealGM detailed.
Lakers Poised for Busy Upcoming Stretch
With the Lakers making a push to acquire draft picks and set themselves up to jump in the mix for a max free agent, it means the coming weeks have the potential to be hectic in Los Angeles. Obviously, things will really begin to ramp up if the front office can trade the contracts of Wagner, Bonga and Jones while potentially purchasing a few draft picks.
Even if the Lakers are unable to make these things happen, they still have $23.8 million in cap space if Davis keeps his trade bonus (per Marks) and plenty of roster space to fill. In turn, the offseason is truly just getting underway for Rob Pelinka and company, so fans may want to prepare for all potential scenarios.
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