RealGM

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2736107-westbrooks-extension-lower-salary-cap-bad-news-for-lakers-2018-offseason

Pelinka may reiterate that the team has the spending power to add two superstars, but the Lakers are currently projected to have about $47 million in room (with a $101 million cap) if they let Julius Randle leave as a restricted free agent.

That's not enough for two maximum contracts....

Even if Los Angeles traded Jordan Clarkson without any long-term salary in return, they're looking at about $58.5 million in space.

Now if Pelinka can get rid of Deng's final two years at $36.8 million before next July, he'll be in the running for Executive of the Year (which will certainly go to Presti in Oklahoma City for the coming season).

The Lakers can choose to stretch Deng's contract over five years at $7.4 million a season. That obligation would be a long burden, but it would give the franchise about $68 million to spend (without both Randle and Clarkson). Trading Deng outright gives the Lakers a lot more flexibility, but there isn't an obvious market for the veteran forward.

so i was reading this piece about the lakers cap situation, and it was clear reminder that Clarkson and Randle aren't really part of the future plan. it would take the front office failing to deliver on their promises for Clarkson and Randle to still be on the roster next season. With Clarkson, i would be shocked if he was still on the roster past the deadline, front office can't risk not having a taker for his contract if they wait til next off season.

with that in mind, i'm finding it really hard to care about their development as players. i've never been particularly high on Clarkson, and even though i had big doubts that Randle could overcome his weaknesses, i still held out hope he would. Ever since the 2018 cap space plan became the front office's stated goal, i've just stopped caring about these two. dont want to invest in players that according to the front office, will be replaced if all goes well. is anyone else feeling the same way about them? for those that are still invested, what reason is there to care about them aside from raising their potential trade value?

I was high on Clarkson when he was flashing a pg skill set in his rookie year before we drafted Russell. Since then a lot of Nick Young rubbed off on him that I could care less if he's gone.

I do like Randle and feel if he can buckle down on defense gives an interesting playmaker that can handle the ball and score if needed. I'm invested in him.

Having that much cap space is a bit of a double edge sword though. Who do you spend it on when you have to spend it? If the max guys don't come here, you're then in a position where you end up spending the money on players you'd rather not have to.

I'm indifferent towards Clarkson. i just don't care at all about his game. As for Randle he does provide a bit of need at rebounding for us. Something we're not going to be getting out of Lopez. Obviously, past this year, it's a different story without Lopez on the books. But until, I see Randle hit threes regularly it's hard to get invested.

I'd throw in Zubac as well, especially with Thomas Bryant around. When those three (mostly Clarkson and Randle) are gone the Lakers will have finally turned a page.

I agree that Clarkson and Randle aren't in the long term plans.
They will be used as bait to get rid of Deng's deal.
Whether that will be a successful bid or not may be a long shot, and I can totally see us throwing Zubac in there as a sweetner.

I don't think having too much cap room is a double-edged sword.
It's only a problem if you spend it in a stupid way.
And I think spending anything near the max on Randle would be stupid at this point seeing his lack of development.
I don't think he'll ever be a 3 point threat.

They can't be used as bait to get rid of Deng's contract. You'd have to throw in Ingram or Ball for that. Randle's contract is up this year, so whomever gets him has to value signing him to a long term and likely overpayed contract. On the other hand, Clarkson is nothing more than a bench player.

lakerRD wrote:I agree that Clarkson and Randle aren't in the long term plans.
They will be used as bait to get rid of Deng's deal.
Whether that will be a successful bid or not may be a long shot, and I can totally see us throwing Zubac in there as a sweetner.

I don't think having too much cap room is a double-edged sword.
It's only a problem if you spend it in a stupid way.
And I think spending anything near the max on Randle would be stupid at this point seeing his lack of development.
I don't think he'll ever be a 3 point threat.

True that Clarkson and Randle are not in the LT plan unless A.) Randle turns into a beast AND/OR B.) we are shutout during the summer of 2018. However, understand that we might not get much more than PG, if even that, during the summer of 2018 so of course having both Clarkson an Randle improve is ALWAYS a good thing for the Lakers.

As for Zubac, hello Lakers fans. Let me tell you a little secret... Zubac doesnt have much value. Keep it a top secret between us fans okay? Its not like teams will jump on Deng because we add Zubac. To correct this mistake by Mitch/Jimbo we will have to add a first round pick, no other options.

Now, if we wait until the trading deadline then the number of interested teams might tick up a bit since he will have a little more than 2 years remaining on that horrible contract. But right now, no team is adding high salary and we were lucky to unload Mozgov when we had that chance because unloading 2 ugly contracts would have been a nightmare.

lakerRD wrote:I agree that Clarkson and Randle aren't in the long term plans.
They will be used as bait to get rid of Deng's deal.
Whether that will be a successful bid or not may be a long shot, and I can totally see us throwing Zubac in there as a sweetner.

I don't think having too much cap room is a double-edged sword.
It's only a problem if you spend it in a stupid way.
And I think spending anything near the max on Randle would be stupid at this point seeing his lack of development.
I don't think he'll ever be a 3 point threat.

Zubac was never a sweetener in a trade and never will be. He sucks and his limited and unimpressive skill set doesn't fit in today's game. Deng's contract is so bad that it's essentially immovable without giving up a significant asset. Clarkson and Randle are not significant in that sense.

Michael Lucky wrote:They can't be used as bait to get rid of Deng's contract. You'd have to throw in Ingram or Ball for that. Randle's contract is up this year, so whomever gets him has to value signing him to a long term and likely overpayed contract. On the other hand, Clarkson is nothing more than a bench player.

Agreed. I've said this before and i'll say it again, teams will ask for Kuzma over Randle. At this point, it will take at least Kuzma to get rid of Deng. Kuzma should be the real untouchable on our team.

Neither Clarkson nor Randle have improved their game...especially Clarkson.
Atleast with Randle, you can tell he's trimmed down and definitely quicker on his feet than last year. He's also looking to make that extra pass a little bit....In the post, he seems to bully and score pretty much at will, even though its kind of awkward....however I still dont see him becoming anything special.
Add Larry Nance to the list. He's a high flyer who can't create his own shot. He just reminds me of a bigger version of Shannon Brown and Im not really down with that.
KCP will likely be gone next year unless the Lakers bring in some major allstar talent to compete.

All that said, Kyle Kuzma needs all the playing time he can get. Dude is better than Randle and Nance combined IMO. He doesnt have a real weakness in his game. Just a good all around player. The real downfall on him is that he's already 22 years old. He'll only get so much better. I think, he'll follow into Clarkson's foot steps. A great draft steal, who will peak quick and Laker fans will look to dump him by the time he turns 25 because his game, although nice, wont be that much improved from what he is now. Thats the problem with drafting 22 year olds out college. But for right now, Kuzma is the answer. Clarkson, Randle, Nance can go.

Id like to add that Lonzo Ball will have a difficult time scoring in this league for a while. I fell in love with DLo's post game and it sucks that I dont see that with Lonzo.
Lonzo is very quick, but not quick enough to blow by guards. Definitely quicker than DLo though. If he gets stuck in the post, he has no option to turn around and shoot like we see with someone like Kyrie or Dame because his release is way too low...he absolutely has to pass it up and that takes away from his game. His defense needs a lot of work too. He gets toasted way too often. Lonzo will be good, but he'll have holes as well.

Brandon Ingram is the only real guy I can look at and say THIS is the guy who will carry us.

Ball so hard wrote:

Michael Lucky wrote:They can't be used as bait to get rid of Deng's contract. You'd have to throw in Ingram or Ball for that. Randle's contract is up this year, so whomever gets him has to value signing him to a long term and likely overpayed contract. On the other hand, Clarkson is nothing more than a bench player.

Agreed. I've said this before and i'll say it again, teams will ask for Kuzma over Randle. At this point, it will take at least Kuzma to get rid of Deng. Kuzma should be the real untouchable on our team.

In short the Lakers are screwed.

I agree with Doc, having an idea of what the front office is trying to pull off this summer pretty much means their days are numbered. It's hard to get invested in players you know are going to be gone.

If Kuzma's play continues..

I don't think Randle's value is that high right now because of his impending extension. However, I would imagine Larry Nance has significant interest. If we could get a shooter for him (and Zubac?), we should jump on that. This roster needs significantly more shooting and another wing scorer.

TBH right now.

Randle > Ingram.

I was reading one of those hypothetical trade articles that was written as gospel lol but the idea was to trade Lopez to the Cavs for the BK 1st round pick and fillers. I thought not a bad idea, but what if the second piece was to flip deng along with that 1st for cap space?

Jack Bauer wrote:TBH right now.

Randle > Ingram.

lol

Jack Bauer wrote:TBH right now.

Randle > Ingram.

Agreed, but only one of them is still on a rookie deal for a few more years making them compatible with the cap space plan. In addition, only one of them has been endorsed as the future of the team while the other didn’t get an extension offer or any attempt to lock them up.

I think Randle will have to show growth this year. Real growth. So far, he looks same-old, same-old.

It's couple preseason games. I won't close the door. But it's very likely he gets moved. Especially with Kuzma hitting the scene like he has. He's gonna need to show more than a few games before the team makes a commitment though.

Ingram could be interesting. If he has a bad season....and we are looking to bring in 2 SF's in Lebron and PG......you might see the 'unthinkable' happen.

Should have gotten value out of Randle when he was still a somewhat valuable commodity. I've never liked Clarkson and wanted to ship him out the moment he gained any interest.

The only thing keeping me caring about these 2 is the hopes that they flash something and up their trade value.

I've been indifferent to Clarkson since last season but had hope for Randle but now i'm out on him as well especially with Ryan West/Front office's ace selection of Kuzma. We need to find ways to get some assets for these two guys and Zubac so we can at least attempt to attach those assets to Deng and try to move him. Stretching him, although not a total disaster, would still be a considerable dick punch to our future plans.

Whether its Lopez, Randle, Zubac, Clarkson, KCP aka Bread or Nance. We must try to get assets for these guys. Assets which we can use and also move on from Randle and Clarkson. Even if we can't move Deng at the trade deadline if we have picks we can try again next summer.

Once again though, a big thanks to Mitch and Jimmy from all of Laker Nation.