Where the Lakers are at and what they have going forward.
The Los Angeles Lakers signed 12 players to new contracts this season. Four of the players were resigned last year’s roster. They are Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, JaVale McGee, Alex Caruso and Rajon Rondo.
Three of the players, KCP, JaVale and Rondo have iron-clad no-trade clauses in their contract because they re-signed on “1+1” deals. This means these players were playing on a one-year deals last year.
Per the collective bargaining agreement, if any of these players were traded, they would lose their “Bird Rights” when they hit free agency. Also read: they stand to lose money in the open market because there are limits to how much another team can offer them. Because of this clause, players have the right to reject any trade deal.
Caldwell-Pope showed that the option is very valid. The Lakers tried to trade him reportedly to the Chicago Bulls last year. Well, you see KCP is still in a Lakers uniform.
The Chicago Bulls had a tentative deal in place with the Los Angeles Lakers on the weekend of January 25th to acquire Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Michael Beasley for Jabari Parker.
— Daniel Greenberg (@ChiSportUpdates) April 9, 2019
The Bulls waited three days but KCP never approved the deal.
(Via Bill Oram of The Athletic)
The point is, there are three players on the roster that is not going anywhere. The Lakers are the hottest story going in the NBA and they reside at the top of the Western Conference despite the four-game slide. So let’s talk about the buyout route.
Remember last year when the Lakers traded Michael Beasley and Ivica Zubac to the Clippers to create a roster spot? Lakers rumors had Carmelo Anthony as the guy for that spot if the Lakers made a playoff run. They didn’t. Many free agents, most notably Enes Kanter didn’t want anything to do with the Lakers last year.
Boy, has things changed.
Now L.A. can sell a prospective free agent an opportunity to win a championship with two superstars in LeBron James and Anthony Davis. But here’s what the Lakers have as a caveat in the post-trade deadline market.
The Lakers can use the $1.75 million disabled player exception due to DeMarcus Cousins missing the season with a torn MCL. Unlike veteran’s minimum contracts, the disabled player exception won’t prorate throughout the season, so instead of a player signing a minimum deal, they could sign with the Lakers for $1.75 million.
Now based on this information, let’s talk about the Lakers rumors floating around.