If he is amnestied we would bid on how much of of his last year we want to pay. The Lakers are then obligated to cover the rest, similar to what we are currently doing with Scola. He would still be a 1 year contract.
IF the Lakers sign Howard they will need amensty Gasol. Rockets should wait to see what happens in LA.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>After talking to several specialists, I'm going to proceed to regenerate both of my patellar tendons and working hard to get back to my 100%</p>— Pau Gasol (@paugasol) <a href="https://twitter.com/paugasol/status/332201058535362560">May 8, 2013</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
So does that mean he's getting surgery or no? And does this decision help the short-term or the long-term?
Gasol would be a great rental to see just how big of an impact a scoring post player could make on this team, he's an expiring contract that would give us a ton of cap room for free agency next year ( really strong group), and he could even be a key asset to a Love/LMA trade down the road.
One note about Gasol: I wouldn't pay any attention to the new "reports" that the Lakers are planning to keep him. Sure, Kobe may want that, but I don't buy that the Buss family is willing to pay $100 million or more in luxury tax for an aging team that barely made the playoffs (and that with a healthy Kobe). The bottom line is that the perception that they're desperate to move Gasol would lead to teams lowballing LA and/or some teams waiting for a possible amnesty. Kupchak knows that, so he has to put the perception out there that they're fine with keeping him. I don't buy it for one second, though: if Dwight re-signs, no way Gasol stays. I think a package centered around Robinson makes a ton of sense for both sides. That said, this is obviously a fallback, and one I'm guessing we won't have to worry about.
I'd take him too. Gasol would be a rental, providing a solid frontcourt player without handicapping us in future years. I just don't see how we can trade for him (salary wise), simply because none of our players make a lot of money. If we pick him up in an amnesty, then we'd have to trade some of our younger guys.
I'm no cap and trade rules expert and I could be off here, but seeing as how we will probably have cleared enough cap room to offer Dwight a max deal in the first place, wouldn't we be able to trade for Pau for nothing more than a conditional 2nd rounder since he wouldn't put us over the cap? We would probably have to do a separate deal to give them more trade chips, but I think we would be able to make a trade work without having to match contracts.
Salaries don't need to match. We have the cap space, and the Lakers would like nothing more than to dump Gasol and receive very little salary in return. That's one of the biggest selling points to them.
It's no secret DM the GM likeD Pau. Does he still? At, what, 19mil? PG would be a great fit - - if amnestied, that is. And if amnestied Gasol will get bid higher than any other amnestied player to date. So, is there room to give Marc's aging brother $8mil+ after other moves?
You do realize that if he was amnestied then we would have ZERO chance of getting him. He's really undervalued with the Lakers and i'm pretty sure the Bobcats wouldn't think twice about claiming him of the waivers.
Not necessarily. Most likely he's headed to Germany to get the "Kobe treatment" that has significantly helped quite a few athletes regain a step or two that they have lost with age. Just to be clear, this is strickly tendonitis. Its very common especially with athletes. I have it myself from years of playing basketball and soccer. Hakeem started having tendonitis around the same age as Pau himself. The only thing this means to me is that whether it be the Rockets or another team that acquires Pau here in the near future, they are going to need to give him to Tim Duncan minutes limitation that has kept him going for years beyond his prime. Im not his doctor by any means, but youd have to think that he has 4 to 6 good solid years left in him if managed properly.
If we don't get CP3 or DH12, this is our perfect fit. If he gets amnestied, there's no reason we shouldn't put in a bid to pay his whole contract for next year. We get him for 1 year. It allows our guys to continue to grow and then we can make a real run at Bosh in 2014.
He can't be amnestied. If he was amnestied, I suspect someone else would pay more than Houston for him. I absolutely would be in favor of acquiring him if CP3 and Howard fell through. Frankly I'd prefer Pau to Smith. Quick analysis makes his contract / age combo look unattractive but he is one of the most offensively skilled big-men in the league and his defensive shortcomings can be handled by Asik. Would LOVE to have Gasol for his contract next year and a 2/3 year deal thereafter. 33, 34, 35 isn't as old as it used to be in the NBA.
Is there another team that would take the full waiver claim on Pau? Why take on the full $19.285M salary if all you have to do is outbid other teams on a partial waiver claim?
Assuming that the Lakers re-sign Dwight Howard and do not amnesty Kobe, even if they pretty much make every other conceivable move to mitigate team salary (i.e., amnestying Metta World Peace, waiving Chris Duhon, and not re-signing any free agents), even with only 7 players on the roster (with rookie minimum salary amount "roster charges" taking up the remaining 5 spots), the marginal cost to the Lakers for having Pau Gasol on the roster for the 2013-14 season will be between $65 million and $75 million* next season. That's not a typo. And that's actually on the low end of projections. Not that this would necessarily be a trade to which the Lakers would agree, but a simple trade of Pau Gasol for Thomas Robinson would save the Lakers between $55 million and $65 million* dollars next year. I know the Lakers are "the Lakers," but if you're Jim Buss (who has shown an inclination for cutting costs at the expense of the on-court product), a package of Thomas Robinson and $55-65 million added to his bottom line would be pretty hard to turn down. Also, if the Pau Gasol Experience does not go well, the Rockets can either attempt to trade his expiring contract or simply cut ties with him in 2014 and once again have max cap room. If the Pau Gasol Experience goes well? They could re-sign him to a Tim Duncan/Kevin Garnett level deal and STILL have max cap room in 2015 (when Jeremy Lin and Omer Asik come off the books). Just saying, is all. * Actual figures won't be known until the new luxury tax threshold is determined in early July. Until then, I used this year's threshold but rounded the figures down to account for the likely increase in the threshold amount.
