Los Angeles Lakers: Laker fans debate the Russell Westbrook trade

You thought the Lakers gave up a lot for Anthony Davis? Check out the bill for Russell Westbrook!

This deal had to start with Montrezl Harrell’s decision to opt in to his contract which he did at $9.7 million. This made things a lot easier for the Lakers front office to match Westbrook’s huge contract. Let’s break down what the Lakers are looking at on their salary cap.

• According to Sportrac, the salary cap the Lakers have to work with is $112,414,000. 
• Before the trade, the Los Angeles Lakers were paying LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Kyle Kuzma and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope a combined $102.6 million in salary. LeBron and AD command $76.2 million alone!
• Now if the Lakers add the $44.2 million owed to Russ this season, the “Big 3”  earns a combined $121 million next season. To put this in perspective…19 NBA teams will earn less heading into free agency according to ESPN.
• Then there’s Marc Gasol’s $2,692,991 in salary. Alfonzo McKinnie’s team option at $1.9 million will be a memory real soon.
• Anybody forgot about that Dennis Schroder situation yet? He still thinks he’s worth $100 million!
• Luol Deng is STILL getting paid $5 million by the Lakers!

We could add Talen Horton-Tucker and Alex Caruso to the list but the point has been made. Now let’s take a look at the breakdown of the salaries going out compared to Russell Westbrook.

Kyle Kuzma starts his contract extension he signed last year in the upcoming season.

• Salary in 2021-22: $13 million
• Salary in 2022-23: $13 million
• Salary in 2023-24: $13 million

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope is in the second year of his contract extension signed last year.

• Salary in 2021-22: $13 million
• Salary in 2022-23: $14 million but only $4.9 million of it is guaranteed.

Montrezl Harrell has an expiring contract that probably will be trade bait around the trade deadline. Now let’s look at Russell Westbrook’s salary the next two years.

• Salary in 2021-22: $44.2 million
• Salary in 2022-23: $47.1 million which is Westbrook’s player option.
• This means next year, Russ can opt out and look for an extension. The Lakers then have to figure out if they want to extend him. If you think he won’t opt out, remember Chris Paul just opted out of his contract paying him a possible $44 million. 

So while this deal opens up north of $25 million in cap room for Washington in 2022-23, the Los Angeles Lakers are going into the similar salary cap catastrophe of 2016.

In short, Rob Pelinka is pushing all the chips, the blue slip to the company car, the mortgage to the Staples Center and all of the statues in front of the arena on this gamble.

Now that the financial data has been looked at, let’s look at the fit of Russell Westbrook with the help of McKinley Webb and Ricky Welch.