Andrew Bynum 4year/58million done deal!

[lakersfanatic]

Andrew is locked down. Now we watch and pray for that day.

man.. can't these games come faster hahaha.. i already want to watch the next game already..

[TonyMontana]

Congrats. I didn't think there was much chance of an extention this year. But, you guys are lucky to retain him. Obviously your front office is one of the best in the league. Maybe the best.

Thank you

[dockingsched]

great news.

[Kreuk]

great news. we are going to remain competitive for another decade +

this also creates other roster possibilities. will kobe opt out after this season and sign a smaller contract. will odom be re-signed. will he be traded. what will happen with pau.

it's miraculous how we went from a team full of roster trash to a team crazy-stacked with talent in about three years.

[Sedale Threatt]

That would be a nice gesture from Kobe. Tim Duncan did something similar. Another five million a year is chump change for him. But it could be the difference between losing or retaining a key contributor like Odom, Ariza or Farmar.

[Anklebreaker702]

That's the business. Drew will earn his money, he's very determined & is working hard. Not worried about him at all

[milesfides]

I'm very surprised.

If I were the Lakers, I'd rather see if Bynum could play a full season without any knee problems before committing major cash on a multi-year deal. Minimizing that risk is worth far more than the marginal amount of money between the current deal and the max.

If Bynum could prove that he's fully healthy, the max is a foregone conclusion, since that's what the Lakers would have to match anyways. But if he's not fully healthy, then the Lakers might have to eat much more than a few million.

They should have paid the blind to see the flop, so to speak.

[dockingsched]

there's something to be said for the benefit of having their young stud center not worried about playing for a new contract all year.

[milesfides]

^point taken, but I believe players tend to play better in contract years anyways.

[Slava]

May be they did not want Bynum trying to hog the ball and prove a point every now and then.. anyways it was just a matter of time and we could have given him that deal sooner just to avoid all the unnecessary speculation and the strained relationship of having to talk a deal. He was going to get the max unless he was chronically injured and as things stand as of now, his health is at no risk so its better to keep your prized asset happy.

After all the time we've invested in him and openly proclaiming him to be more valuable the league's MVP himself, it wouldn't have been logical to wait much longer than we have. We took a gamble and we have to walk with it now.

IMO its still good business for not giving what his agent was demanding though. The current core stays till 2011 and Bynum's deal runs till then.

[Verbal]

Sometimes players catch a royal flush on the river.

[Dexmor]

That would be nice if Kobe signs for less but he was talking about leaving the country so I think he takes the max or at least I hope and doesn't leave.
It would be nice if Kobe came out and said I am not leaving the nba.

[Sedale Threatt]

It's probably all a matter of compromise.

If Mark Heisler is correct, the savings for signing now as opposed to risking the possibility of a fully maxed out deal next year is about $10 million.

Adjust for the luxury tax, and that's $20 million -- a substantial sum for a team that already has a massive payroll and several valuable free agents about to hit the market. If we're going to have any hope of signing even some of them, every penny is going to count.

Plus, Mitch and Co. obviously wanted a smaller deal to protect themselves in case Andrew levels off or gets hurt again. If I'm not mistaken, he could have signed a five-year deal (I could be way off) as opposed to the three-plus-team option we gave him.

In return for Andrew taking a shorter contract, the Lakers were exceedingly generous to a player who has yet to complete a full season as a major contributor, or even impact a single playoff series. Andrew hasn't proven he deserves the kind of money he'll be making, but give him credit -- he had leverage as a potential franchise center, and he knew it. Hence, the Lakers had to pay up.

All in all, it looks to me like both parties gave to get.

The Lakers avoided the risk of letting Andrew land a bigger, longer deal in the open market, while accepting the risk that they could be vastly overpaying for talented yet unproven player. Andrew got paid well beyond what his current production dictates, while sacrificing an opportunity to get even more.

Now all we have to do is cross our fingers that Andrew can stay healthy.

[TruSkool]

true, kobe did get his wife a 2 million dollar ring....a freakin ring.....

kobe taking 5 million less per year is like not buying 2 damn rings....
besides, he might win a ring or 2 if he takes a paycut and we can retain odom....

it all works out =)

[Dexmor]

That would be really nice if Kobe did that and he really should.
Seriously if he does this team can be a dynasty that can be argued best team ever in a couple of years.
It's not like Kobe needs the money or this is his only source of money with his ednorsments.

[milesfides]

Sometimes players catch a royal flush on the river.

True, but to catch that royal flush, would you go all in at the turn? Once you see get a royal flush, then go all in. What do the marginal chips matter in comparison to the entire pile of chips?

Actually, the Lakers didn't go all in, they just left a small pile of chips, as if that mattered. 10 million over 4 years is exactly that. 2.5 mil a year? That's nothing compared to what the Lakers invested in Bynum and the Lakers. 2.5m a year is simply paying the small blind in a no-limit game.

Sure, one could add luxury tax to present a larger savings. 20 million including luxury tax over 4 years sounds a little more substantial, but if we're including the luxury tax, how does paying nearly 120 million to a guy who's coming off knee surgery sound?

Here's the dilemma: 115 million, to a guy coming off knee surgery who hasn't proven he's reliable, or 136 million, to a guy who's shown his knee troubles are behind him?

It's marginal scratch, well-worth paying to see if Bynum will be healthy enough to play in the playoffs every year. Let me ask you, what's 2.5 mil a year (or 5m if you prefer) if Bynum is in street clothes and we face Boston in the Finals again? Chump change, that's what it would be.

Seriously, what kind of businessman would take the 115 million? That would be a terrible financial decision, particularly because the Lakers had the advantage of waiting for the bond's maturity before making a decision.

Two problems I have with this is time and money. Time was on the Lakers side. Why pay Bynum now? Money? They tried to save a little money in the wrong way. Want to save money? Think about other players on our roster. Try shaving off some money when we're talking about Radmanovic, Luke Walton, Vujacic, hell Odom. Not our potential future franchise player.

What's the chance that Bynum is fully recovered and will have no major problems for the life of that contract? As of today, I personally feel that it might not be high enough to warrant giving him a contract right now. Especially when I heard he had some swelling still in that knee. The concern is just enough so that I would wait to see if Bynum is an injury-prone player or not.

Plus one for Bynum's "douche bag" agent. Lakers had all the chips, but Buss, the poker player, just got taken. The agent bluffed, bullied Buss, he was pushing too hard to close a deal before the season began (which should have raised a red flag). But Buss inexplicably lost his nerve.

Buss's right move would have been to assess the risk, evaluate his advantageous position, sit Bynum down, and tell him this:

"Bynum, you are our franchise's future. We'll pay you whatever you deserve. We've always taken care of our players. We just need to know that we'll be paying for a player who'll be on the floor when we need him."

And let him prove it, like everybody else.

[eatyourchildren]

May be they did not want Bynum trying to hog the ball and prove a point every now and then.. anyways it was just a matter of time and we could have given him that deal sooner just to avoid all the unnecessary speculation and the strained relationship of having to talk a deal. He was going to get the max unless he was chronically injured and as things stand as of now, his health is at no risk so its better to keep your prized asset happy.

After all the time we've invested in him and openly proclaiming him to be more valuable the league's MVP himself, it wouldn't have been logical to wait much longer than we have. We took a gamble and we have to walk with it now.

IMO its still good business for not giving what his agent was demanding though. The current core stays till 2011 and Bynum's deal runs till then.

Bingo. I think this was done for chemistry reasons and I don't doubt that Phil Jackson pushed for it. Last thing we want is Bynum trying to go 1on1 in games just to make his offensive presence felt.

[Erik Eleven]

Well, if he did that ^, Bynum's douche agent would definitely push Bynum to go after the max in the free market next year, and we'd A) lose him to a team with too much cash to spend, just like we once lost Fisher and Turiaf. Or, B) we'd pay an additional $15-20M for him over the same period. Buh-bye Odom, buh-bye Ariza. I think this was a first step in the process of keeping this exact unit together for many years. To me, it screams, "Bynum is locked up. Next; let's extend Odom and Ariza and keep this roster together, then we can put a lid on the big spending for a few years and concentrate on drafting and winning".

This is a gamble, but a gamble I'd take in a heartbeat. You have to gamble big to win big. Buss has been here before and he has a history of picking the right side of the coin. I think the trend continues with this signing. Being the aggressor is key, and it starts with a winning culture within ownership and management. This was a good aggressive move, in my opinion. It's now up to Bynum to honor the deal he's getting. I expect greatness and I don't feel the least bit bad doing it. I feel it's an expectation he now must live up to. Bynum has so far been a man of his word. This is a win, win, win situation.

His ceiling is so high, it's not even funny. Think about it, he's already a top 5 center, after only a very limited amount of NBA games. Also, his basketball mileage is extremely low compared to his learning curve. There is still so much room for growth, and there is still chances of great longevity due to that low mileage. Some big men go down with long term injuries throughout their career, but Bynum just isn't destined for that type of career, in my mind. I've always had a strong gut feeling that Bynum is destined for great success — in a team-player kind of way, in a championship rings kind of way. He has all the right physical and mental tools, and he now also has the right team.

If he's healthy for the next four years and lives up to his potential, it'll prove to be a brilliant move. Especially if this gave them the room they wanted in order to pay for extending Odom and Ariza (and lux tax). I think that's exactly what they will do. Buss won't hold back on the payroll once he smells Leprechaun blood.

Until Bynum goes down with another injury, I think it's just detrimental to worry about it.

[Sedale Threatt]

That's how I feel. The only way this turns out to be a bad deal for us is if Bynum gets hurt. Which is a very, very real risk. But even then, unless he suffers some sort of catastrophic career-ender, what were the chances we were going to abandon him if he did go down again? Probably close to zero. It might have knocked down his asking price, sure. But then, if he makes it through the year unscathed we're almost certainly locked into a max contract -- not just in terms of dollars, but length as well. All that matters very much to a team that's going to be scraping together every single penny they can find to keep this team together.

[dockingsched]

and its not even about bynum simply getting hurt again, its about the specific knee acting up again. i mean, if he goes out and breaks his wrist on some bad fall is the contract all of a sudden a bad move? u can't predict injuries.