I agree. You're right. Also CP3's knees are a real issue, he'll want the extra year guaranteed money. Chances of him staying in Clipperland are very strong. ESP. If they get Byron Scott.
It's not just about the $80M to $90M in taxes. Even the most optimistic Lakers fan doesn't think that the Lakers are contenders next season. The thing that the Laker fans are relying on is potential cap space in 2014. There's really no reason not to move Gasol this season. Regardless of how much your TV deal is worth, why throw away that kind of money if it doesn't give you a chance to win a title? The Lakers will take their lumps this season so there's really no reason not to trade Gasol and save yourself $80M or so. But if they do trade Gasol, they're not going to want to take back any salary because they are trying to maximize cap space for 2014. Every contract they take back in a Gasol trade is less cap space they have available in 2014. If you believe that they can lure Bron-Bron in '14 then you want to dump Gasol for as little in salaries as possible.
The Lakers goal is to avoid paying luxury taxes amounting to $90 - $100mil. Main reason why they would either amnesty Gasol and his $19m contract or try to trade him for little to no salaries back in return. There are only a few teams who have the cap room to take back Pau's contract so being too picky is not even an option for LA.
Not taking back salary means draft picks and players on cheap and expiring contracts, right? Parsons and Beverley (maybe Delfino) fit the bills. Not sure Morey would part with Parsons for a year of a rental Gasol.
I also stand by my prior idea that Morey makes a trade for Granger. It's an under the radar, potential pennies on the dollar investment if he comes back from injury, and he's a large expiring contract. Very Moreyesque
After watching Dragic this season in PHX I'm glad he didn't. That 4th year play option would have hurt us.
He offered him a contract that he thought dragic was worth but dragic thought he was worth more. It was dragics choice to leave.
Morey didn't have getting Harden as a backup move. The opportunity was dropped in his lap after Presti called him. In fact Presti contacted two other teams (Wash & GS) before he called Morey. Obviously he was able to put together a package that Presti was good with, but saying that this was plan B for Morey wasn't the case at all.
Not sure if serious with this comment... As someone who watched a lot of Lakers last year, what I saw was Pau bricking elbow jumpers all over the place and demanding more low post action from the coach.
Would the Lakers either use their amnesty clause on Gasol or take back say Thomas Robinson or Terrence Jones or Donatas Motiejunas + a future 2nd round pick and save using their amnesty clause in return? Here's one article regarding amnestying Pau. Just to have an idea where the Lakers stand regarding the luxury tax.. http://larrybrownsports.com/basketball/lakers-amnesty-pau-gasol/184764
While I understand why this is risky, keep in mind that for example a popular guy like Pau also was injured quite a bit last year and is having surgery this off-season. Andrew Bynum is another player whose knees are like toilet paper and both players will count heavily against the cap next year in the area of max deals. Non of the players mentioned including Oden are ideal especially in comparison to Howard, Oden presents the least cost. He can even back up Asik and we do not have to lose any players to have him. Better yet instead of making any desperate trades to create cap space we can make a move to add a star at the weaker power forward spot.
"Waiving Gasol via the “amnesty” provision in July could potentially save them more than $60 million in luxury taxes. They would still have to pay his $19.3-million salary, though he could be snapped up by a bidding team that would owe the Lakers millions to help with that cost. The Lakers also could try to trade Gasol, but his hefty salary next season could be difficult to move and they would likely have to take back salaries totaling at least $15 million, which wouldn’t really help a goal to avoid ridiculous luxury taxes." http://larrybrownsports.com/basketball/lakers-amnesty-pau-gasol/184764 Trading Gasol to a team like the Rockets who has the cap space to absorb such a contract means the Lakers will be able to take back little to no salaries in return. Lakers want to cut cost. Rockets can do them a huge favor by sending some kind of assets in return and help them save a $$$. So stop with the "Lakers would want Parsons in return" or "they would want Asik" comments. We are doing them a favor. If they ask for too much, then teams would just wait for them to use their amnesty provision on Pau instead.
