Lakers Rumors: Lakers returns loan and Shaq talks Vegas and team sales

The Clippers fans will take these Lakers rumors straight to the Western Conference Finals! 

Lake Show Life tends to be brutally honest at times which in turn tends to ruffle the feathers of Los Angeles Lakers fans. Well, this situation will apply. Assuming that the season starts up again and the playoffs are finished, more than likely there will be a Staples Center Western Conference Finals. In that playoff series, Clippers Nation will be clowning the Lakers. Prepare for it and get used to it. Patrick Beverley will bring it up and radio talk shows will use it for comedy relief.

The Los Angeles Lakers qualifying for the Paycheck Protection Program is so egregious that this will come up in the Presidential debates. First, let’s figure out what the Paycheck Protection Program is exactly.

• The Paycheck Protection Program is a program to keep small businesses afloat during the economic challenges during the shutdown put in place to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
• This is considered free money in the form of a forgiven loans from the federal government as long as the PPP loan is used for one of a handful of things which includes payroll to mortgage interest to rent.

Here are the rules for qualification for the PPP, according to the Small Business Administration.

• Any small business concern that meets SBA’s size standards
• Any business, 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, 501(c)(19) veterans organization, or Tribal business concern (sec. 31(b)(2)(C) of the Small Business Act) with the greater of:
  500 employees, or that meets the SBA industry size standard if more than 500 
• Any business with a NAICS Code that begins with 72 (Accommodations and Food Services) that has more than one physical location and employs less than 500 per location
• Sole proprietors, independent contractors, and self-employed persons

Now let’s hold on to the 500 employees part because that is the major stipulation that is surrounding this controversy. However, none of these qualifications will help justify the Lakers getting a dime of this money based on these facts.

• Forbes ranked the Lakers second on its list of most valuable NBA teams, with a valuation of $4.4 billion, slightly behind the New York Knicks’ valuation of $4.6 billion.
• Forbes lists the Lakers as the eighth-most valuable franchise in sports, with an operating income of $147 million. 
• Lakers superstar LeBron James was due to earn more than $37 million for this current season.
• Anthony Davis will be collecting well over $25 million this season. Throw in the fact that he will probably get a max deal this offseason will raise that number up a ton.
• Danny Green is collecting $15 million this season. 
• Overall, the payroll is set at $122 million dollars.

For the record, the team returned that money reportedly after learning that the pool of federal lending assistance from the Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program had been drained of cash. That’s if you see the glass half full. If you look at it empty, this was a PR nightmare waiting to happen.

So if you run into fans like this.

You can say the Lakers also maintain a full and part-time staff of just over 300 workers, which, technically, makes them eligible for a PPP loan. Then say that this incident helped The Treasury Department fix a glitch late by issuing new guidelines making clear that any business applying for a PPP loan had to attest “In good faith that their PPP loan request is necessary”.

But if the Los Angeles Clippers got to the NBA Finals and win, the 16 rings argument will be watered down just a little bit.

But listen to Mark Cuban how this incident wasn’t on the Lakers but the Treasury.

In other news, it is rumored that Mark Cuban may run for President in 2024. Stay tuned.

Think about how crazy things were in the Lakers franchise for about a week. Let’s go Cuban’s neck of the woods in Texas. Could these two teams be the ones Shaquille O’Neal is talking about?