Yes I show around 33M near June 29th/30th when the 18/19 team salaries adjust or go off the books and 19/20 team salaries enter. Lakers could be: LeBron/AD/Kuzma/.....Butler or Kemba + add scrubs to Bonga and Moritz Wagner.
Lack of cap room and having few trade assets hurts us too. Not everyone will end up with the Lakers. There is however no doubt that the league continues to pander to the big markets.
Is there a better player in history that was picked later in the draft? There may be I haven’t thought it through entirely especially if you go way back... but off the top of my head can’t think of anyone. Nash has two MVPs and went 15th but wouldn’t rank him above Kawhi. Stockton went 16th but again those two Finals MVPs. But indeed you can find HOF talent throughout the draft. But obviously much harder and rarer.
Lakers will have a better system than our stand around and watch Harden go 1 on 5 hero ball offense. Even if the Lakers don’t get a 3rd star they’ll beat us in the playoffs. I can’t see James Harden beating Lebron James in the playoffs. Not even a 35 year old Bron that may have lost a step. I just can’t.
Les never tanked, and we ended up with #2 pick and league MVP James Harden anyway. We would have been lucky to do that well even if we had been in the lottery every year. Look at perennial lottery teams like the Kings, Suns, and Knicks. What have they gotten out of it that’s so great?
To Harden’s defense the Lakers don’t currently have a perimeter defender that can make him break a sweat. We’d still lose though.
The original Barkley deal to Houston was blocked by the NBA for tampering. I don't remember the details, Houston had to give up more assets to get it done. Nothing of the sort would ever happen to the Lakers or the Knicks.
Lulz but Les wasn't responsible for that 2012 Harden trade..... it was mostly OKC not wanting to pay him big money.
Harden regularly did well against Lebron head to head.......we'll see what role players and 3rd star the Lakers manage to sign. If they can't find 3 top shooters it is really on them. It's like they have the cake foundation but can't find the frosting or a decent cherry on top.
It would be easily Kyrie if he can forget about his agenda with Lebron, or was it just a fabrication of the media? And I guess Lebron likes Kemba....
What the hell!? I never heard of this. Who/what did they have to include? That could've made the difference in the 1997 WCF. Son of a b****.
Lakers want walker, but if fails, they land Irving. After they sign walker, they are not going to take Paul contract because luxury tax for 3year Paul contract is around 1150 million. 4 max + keep 4 players last year + mle
I find this kind of stuff fascinating, so here's a selection of guys from this list of best players drafted in draft spots after 15. It's fun that Lowry, Danny Green, Marc Gasol are all on this list. The Raptors remind me of the early 00's Pistons, a fun team of nice role players that gave us a fresh story for minute, before we went back to the usual NBA dynasty runs. 15: Steve Nash, Brent Barry, Al Jefferson 16: John Stockton 17: Shawn Kemp 18: Mark Jackson, Joe Dumars, Calvin Murphy 19: Rod Strickland, Tiny Archibald, Zach Randolph 20: Larry Nance Sr 21: Michael Finley 23: Alex English 24: Terry Porter, Sam Cassell, Kyle Lowry 26: Vlade Divac, Kevin Martin, George Hill 27: Dennis Rodman, Rudy Gobert 28: Tony Parker 29: PJ Brown, Dennis Johnson, Toni Kukoc 31: Danny Ainge, Doc Rivers, Gilbert Arenas 32: Rashard Lewis 35: Carlos Boozer, Deandre Jordan, Draymond Green 36: Maurice Cheeks, Cliff Robinson 37: Archie Clark, Nick Van Exel 40: George Gervin 41: Cuttino Mobley 42: Stephen Jackson 43: Michael Redd, Trevor Ariza 46: Jeff Hornacek, Danny Green 47: Paul Millsap, Mo Williams, Vernon Maxwell 48: Marc Gasol 51: Kyle Korver 53: Anthony Mason 56: Luis Scola 57: Manu Ginobili, Marcin Gortat 58: Kurt Rambis 59: Isaiah Thomas
