Lakers Rumors: What Andre Drummond can realistically offer the Lakers

Andre Drummond has to choose between wanting to play with LeBron James or getting more money!

The Lake Show Life staff laughs every time the comment section is filled with the tired old line “Players value championships over money!”. Please stop. There are pawn shops all over America with championship rings in it from former players. This is a capitalistic society. Money is always front and center in these discussions.

Let’s do our own potential negotiations from both teams. Let’s start with the Boston Celtics.

Boston Celtics: Much more money and a guaranteed starting spot.

It is no secret that Andre Drummond wants to start on his new team. It’s really hard to blame him considering he got banished from the rotation for Jarrett Allen and JaVale McGee (Since traded to the Denver Nuggets on Thursday).

The Celtics might be the only “NBA contender” that needs Drummond more than the Lakers. For all of the issues surrounding the roster including the center spot, the Lakers still are sitting pretty as the 4th seed in the Western Conference. The Boston Celtics are bottoming out in the Eastern Conference in the 7th seed losing six of their last nine games.

It’s clear that Boston is setting the table to try and sign Drummond. Sending starting center Daniel Theis to Chicago does help their luxury tax situation, but if they want to make a postseason run, former Lakers draft pick Moe Wagner is not going to get them there.

Plus Celtics GM, Danny Ainge caused quite a few eyerolls with his deal for Evan Fournier. He explained his thinking to ESPN.

"“But with Evan in particular, I thought that this opportunity was unique. And to add a player of his caliber, we’ve talked often about shooting with size, here’s a 6-7 kid that is a good shooter, can playmake, can handle the ball. Just another creator for us. And a very consistent player. And we’re excited to add him. I think it is a good use of our trade exception.”"

The trade exception is where the Celtics have a chance. Boston was holding a $28.5 million trade exception going into trade season.  They still have exceptions of $4.8 million and $2.6 million in their possession along with part of the Gordon Hayward exception.

The question is will Danny Ainge start moving money around to sign Drummond or will he do what he is known to do by kicking the can down the road keeping the assets to save money by staying under the hard cap.

The point? If Andre Drummond wants to make up some money he gave back in the buyout and start for a playoff team with young talent, Boston will land him.

Los Angeles Lakers: Andre Drummond is on record (Okay it was in 2011!) that he wants to play with LeBron James and start.

Let’s get the starting thing out of the way. ANDRE DRUMMOND IS THE STARTING CENTER for the Los Angeles Lakers. Let’s move on. The LeBron James effect is the biggest trump card the Lakers have. If he doesn’t get injured a week ago, this discussion would be moot and a possible waste of time. But with LeBron out at least 4-6 weeks along with Anthony Davis being evaluated for a return in two weeks, things look a whole lot different.

But let’s talk money.

If reports are correct, Andre Drummond can sign with the Lakers after he clears waivers at 5:00 PM EST.

• When that happens, the Lakers would be at $959k below the hard cap.
• After this move, the Lake Show can have enough space to sign two MORE players outright from the buy-out market on April 4 providing they waive someone first. There’s a comment section below, vote either Alfonzo McKinnie (Last two years of his deal unguaranteed!) or Jared Dudley (MCL tear).  
• With the pro-rated veteran minimum, the longer a team waits, the easier it is to sign anyone when pressed against the hard cap, especially towards the end of the season (Think J.R. Smith and Dion Waiters as examples from last year).

If you believe in ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and “Woj Bombs”, this is a done deal and the Lakers will land Andre Drummond.

If not, maybe this passionate plea from the Spectrum SportsNet pushed Drummond in the Purple and Gold direction…

https://twitter.com/SpectrumSN/status/1375690505858686980

Lake Show Life will keep you informed on developments with Andre Drummond and any future signees through April 9th. Then we will give you full analysis on what the players bring to the team. Keep it locked to the most in-depth Los Angeles Lakers site on the internet.