Lamar Odom's contract extension

[wfiles]

Has there been any talks between Mitch and Odom on a new contract? Do you think he will accept a 5 year, $50 million deal similar to what Corey Maggette got?

[Jajwanda]

I would hope that we don't offer something that ridiculous.

[That Nicka]

10 mil a year is not bd for Lamar... But I personally think he is traded or we let him walk after the season

[daddyfivestar]

Lakers will be at 63 mill next year after Mihm, Odom, and Ariza are off the books - prior to any extension of Bynum (so over 70 mil w Bynum) and that is only 8 players.

It all adds up to Odom and Ariza bye bye unless Buss is seriously interested in paying tax for the next several years.

This does not even deal with Kobe's potential option.

[laduane1]

I would think many teams are going thru what the Lakers are going thru. Young players getting to the point where they are becoming stars. So they must get paid what they are worth. To stock pile a great team. These players will be around for a few years and then new players are added and more money will be needed to be spent. You can not just cut off the team and say lets start over again.

Clippers and others like the T'wolves are trying to rebuild again and again. It all comes down to when will you take that final step and hope to win the west or east and show your fans that your team is the team that will win it all.

[CX44]

The Lakers will have to pay the luxury tax if they resign Odom and Ariza but Vlad would have 2yrs left and may be tradeable. Not to mention a new CBA will be in place in either 2010 or 2011 (if both sides agree). My guess is the players push hard for a change in the dollar for dollar tax for teams over the salary cap. I think the owners may agree with if we continue to see RFA's play in Europe.

[Mamba Venom]

Lamar for 11 mil is a bargain...

The Lakers salary mess stems from Luke, Vlad and now Sasha...

The starters deserve the paycheck. Odom and Kobe play the most minutes. I know the Lakers need a good bench but I dont think Sasha, Luke, and Vlad are 5 mil players.

I'd trade all three for Baron Davis and his 13 mil and the Lakers would be in a better position to win. REMEMBER vets will play for the Lakers now for the minimum now that the Lakers are a contender. The Lakers arent being as savy as they were when we got Gasol and Ariza.

[Mamba Venom]

One more thing...

If the Lakers want to unload these 3 for a bloated contract of yet another star they could easily.

Vlad, Luke, Sasha for Marbury and a 1st would be a no brainer for the Knicks... maybe there are some bloated contracts that will expire soon worth looking at????

The salary mess would go away in the summer of 09; and that way the Lakers could keep the fantastic 4 in tact for the next 5 years. This team has a 7 year life. (Thats about as long as the Shaq / Kobe team) This one could get more championships!

If LO or any other member of the fab 4 leaves they NEED to be replaced by a star talent. Only 5 guys can be on the floor at a time. I'm all for a good bench... I just think that you bring a 5th star and the vets will flock over and the Lakers will have a bench.

Finley
Cassell
Payton
Malone
Hill
The Celtics Bench
Zo

???

There are a lot of players that are 34 or 35 that have a lot of fight in them.

Shaq could be had by mid season IF the Lakers wanted to dump Vlad, Luke, and Sasha. That would be cool to see Shaq come full circle.

[microfib4thewin]

Why do people always blame contracts on mediocre players as cap killers? The Lakers are getting into a steep situation because they trade for Gasol's 50 mil contract, people should have expected the team to be paying a hefty amount of tax even under the assumption that Ariza and Odom doesn't get resigned. The only way the Lakers can maintain a reasonable payroll is if Bynum played so bad we wouldn't even want him on the team. Barring that, Kobe will need to sign less if we want to retain the service of Odom and whoever we trade for, and I don't expect him to pull a Duncan.

[mnkinga23]

Here's to hoping that the Buss family is willing to go into the Knicks level of luxury tax to keep the team together, but if we could somehow pass on Vlad to some unsuspecting team that would be great.

[Chubby Chaser]

Why do people always blame contracts on mediocre players as cap killers? The Lakers are getting into a steep situation because they trade for Gasol's 50 mil contract, people should have expected the team to be paying a hefty amount of tax even under the assumption that Ariza and Odom doesn't get resigned. The only way the Lakers can maintain a reasonable payroll is if Bynum played so bad we wouldn't even want him on the team. Barring that, Kobe will need to sign less if we want to retain the service of Odom and whoever we trade for, and I don't expect him to pull a Duncan.

Exactly. You can't have a team that has Kobe, Pau Gasol, Lamar Odom and Andrew Bynum and not expect to be in the Luxury Tax. It's just not possible. I'm pretty sure Buss and his "inteligencia" are well aware of what they were getting themselves into when they made that trade. They'll raise ticket prices by a few dollars and Buss will pick up the difference like he normally does when we have young players on the cusp of a Championship.

[DubaLakers]

It all comes back to the rediculous salaries for terrible players: Luke and Vlade they are killing us slowly!

[wfiles]

Why are people blaming this on Walton and Radmanovic? They're only making $5-6M/year each. I would say they're at least $3M/year players so we're only overpaying $2-3M/year for each of them. It's Kobe's $20M+ contract that's handcuffing the Lakers. He needs to opt out next year and sign a smaller contract to keep this team together.

[milesfides]

They're blaming Radamnovic and Walton because their current levels of play aren't living up to their contracts. The fact that they both play the same position and yet neither can be depended on adds to the frustration, since many fans want a better player to replace them. In a sense, many fans seem to regard them as dead weight, which is certainly unfair. But they do both add up to around 10+ million for that small forward position, and one has to consider 10m could buy a pretty good player.

Also, once you start hitting the luxury tax, you start looking down the roster to see who's not pulling their weight. And it's just very convenient to single out Radamnovic or Walton.

Re: Kobe - while Kobe's contract is indeed hefty, it's certainly not unusual for a franchise player. Many players get 20m a year. Guys like Lebron and Wade and Melo will eventually get theirs once they're eligible for a new contract.

If Kobe does accept less money, it's nice and great but one can't expect him to do that. He's worth more than that, both financially and basketball-wise.

Same with Gasol and Bynum. These guys would be franchise players anywhere else. That's why although some people balk at the idea of giving Bynum the max, he'd likely command that amount if he were a free agent.

You guys have to understand, we have three franchise players on our team. Teams like Boston and San Antonio have similar situations. San Antonio lucked out because RC Buford and the rest of the organization somehow got Manu and Parker at extremely affordable deals. They got them early, they got them committed to long, reasonable deals.

Still, both teams have to struggle with the luxury tax, as we are.

Anyways, this is the reason why I've been arguing since Feb. that we should have traded Odom before the deadline. Because I couldn't see the Lakers giving him a major contract. Now, he's become mostly an expiring contract. If we traded him back in Feb., we would have gotten some assets back because many eastern conference teams could have used them in the playoffs this year. Now, fewer teams would want him on a one-year loan, and his principal draw may be that he's an expiring contract.

I like Odom, but I couldn't see a realistic scenario in which he'd stay on the team. If he gets paid anywhere close to what he's worth, that would seriously rob our team of depth, as the luxury tax would be prohibitive in adding (or keeping) role players.

Once you start projecting Odom's stats at small forward: 12-13 points, 6-7 rebounds, you start to think, well, is that worth 10+ million? Can Ariza, Walton, and Radamnovic, all of whom would otherwise get no playing time if Odom stayed, offset his loss?

It's just very convenient for the Lakers' payroll if Odom expires.

Personally, like everybody else, I hope Odom is able to perform his role, and secretly, I hope he signs a reduced contract, because I don't think it's possible to replace his level of talent with the MLE. Once he's gone, a major talent is gone from our team.

But that's unfair to expect him to accept a paycut. He should get what he's worth, he should pursue his own path that realizes his full potential as a player, and get every chance to fulfill his goals as a person.

Some of you aren't too fair in expecting players to take paycuts to accommodate the organization. Why shouldn't the owner pay the luxury tax? Either would be remarkable, so let's stop demanding the unreasonable.

[AceFresh]

Amen^

We'll see how LO will fit tho.