The Los Angeles Lakers could have upwards of $60 million to spend this upcoming offseason
With the upcoming draft lottery less than a week away, much of the focus has surrounded what the Los Angeles Lakers will end up doing with the pick, should they keep it.
That said, unlike the draft, one thing that is for certain is that the Purple and Gold will have an abundance of cap space to chase free agents with this upcoming offseason.
Salary cap projection for 2016-17 NBA season: $92 million, per memo sent to league executives.
— Jeff Zillgitt (@JeffZillgitt) April 15, 2016
If the cap indeed rises to $92 million as reported by Jeff Zillgitt, NBA reporter for USA Today Sports, the Lakers could have around $60-$65 million to spend depending on what they do with their roster this offseason.
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Currently, the team only has six players on contract — Lou Williams, Nick Young, D’Angelo Russell, Anthony Brown, Larry Nance Jr., Julius Randle — but seeing how they’re likely to re-sign Jordan Clarkson and could sign a top three pick, this number falls into the $50 millions.
Trading Nick Young could add around $5.5 million to this number but only if they traded him away and took no salary back, an unlikely scenario to say the least.
Seeing how players in year seven through nine could earn up to 30 percent of a team’s max salary (roughly $27.6 million) the Lakers could possibly have enough money to sign two max free agents. However, some predict that the number of true max contracts signed this offseason will be significantly less than in years past.
Were this to be the case, Los Angeles would not only have the ability to sign two “max” players, but also a supporting cast of role players as well. General manager, Mitch Kupchak, recently revealed that “nobody’s off limits” in regards to trading players, so this number could change in the upcoming weeks.
Mitch Kupchak: ‘Nobody’s off limits’ on Lakers roster. Says it’s his job to listen (via @TWCSportsNet)
— Lakers Nation (@LakersNation) May 6, 2016
Additionally, the fact that he said he prefers a “dramatic improvement . . . as opposed to a slow build” adds to the ambiguity.
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Fans will have to wait until July 1 to find out just how much cap space the team will have, but they’ll get a better picture after the results of the draft lottery come out on May 17.