Kobe agrees to contact extension with Lakers

[youngthegiant]

Why the hell didn't he take a pay cut? Both Duncan and Garnett took substantial paycuts to help their team contend. I better not hear Kobe complaining next year about how they need better players.

[Von Oswald]

Congratulations Kobe! You've just made Lakers irrelevant for the next two years.

League sends sincere thanks.

Also made them relevant the past 20 years so whatevs I ain't mad

I didn't know the the Lakers were bobcats-level before Kobe.

[Flash4thewin]

But they still can sign productive free agents. Even if they re-sign Pau, they'll have around 13 million left over in cap room.

Some of you guys don't have a clue how salary cap works.

First you'll have cap holds on your free agents....

Some Laker cap holds next year:

Gasol: 20,000,000
Blake: 7,600,000
Hill: 6,650,000
Kaman: 3,819, 600
Etc....

Then, if you renounce all of those free agents, you will have roster charges for players you don't have signed yet.

So, yeah, your 'cap space' isn't what you think it is.

The salary cap next summer is projected to be $62.9 million. The Lakers will also have their own first round draft pick. Based on their current record, this pick would fall around #15, and would therefore count around $1.5 million against their cap.This would give them a total of about $37.66 million for six players. We need to add another six cap holds totaling $3,04 million, which brings the total to about $40,70 million.

With this team salary, the Lakers would have about $22.2 million in cap room next summer. This will be enough for one maximum-salary player — for example, Carmelo Anthony is eligible to receive up to $22,458,401. While this is slightly above the Lakers’ maximum, there are other things the team can do to create more cap room if Anthony doesn’t want to take slightly less than the amount for which he ls eligible.

The team can save a small amount if it waives Elias Harris’ non-guaranteed salary. A larger savings will come if they waive Steve Nash and utilize the Stretch provision on him. If this happens, only $3.23 million of Nash’s full $9.7 million salary will remain on their books.

If they remove both Harris and Nash, their team salary will drop to about $34.44 million, which would give them about $28.46 million in cap room. This would give them the opportunity to sign one maximum-salary player, and a second player at around the mid-level amount.They would also be eligible to utilize the Room Mid-Level exception for around $2.7 million.

However, this assumes they let all of their free agents walk, including Pau Gasol, Steve Blake, Jordan Farmar, Xavier Henry, Jordan Hill, Chris Kaman, and Jodie Meeks. If the wish to retain any of these players, they will remain on the team’s cap — in fact, Gasol’s cap hold alone will eat up most of the team’s cap room. To free up the potential cap room, these players will have to either:

a) Re-sign with the Lakers, in which case their new salary will count against the team’s cap, which will reduce their cap room for signing free agents.

b) Sign elsewhere, in which case they will be lost.

c) Be renounced by the Lakers, in which case the team loses the ability to sign them using Bird rights.

Let’s say the Lakers really wanted to keep Gasol.While he’s an unrenounced free agent he would count about $20.25 million against the team’s cap, reducing their cap room to about $8.75 million. If he re-signs and takes a one-third discount (similar to what Kobe took) he’d receive about $13 million, which would drop the team’s cap room to about $16 million. If they renounce him they can reclaim the entire $28+ million, but then he’d have to be willing to sign for whatever cap space remains after the team signs other free agents.

So if the Lakers are going to follow-through with their 2014 plan, keeping Gasol would likely require him to take a steep discount.
http://cbafaq.com/blog/?p=286

I have a hard time seeing Pau take a 1/3 discount. He is younger thank Kobe and is playing well and putting up double doubles. This can easily become a Ray Allen situation where he feels disrespected and takes less money to go to a contender.

[Frank Dux]

A slap in the face to Laker fans. I'm disgusted right now.

[USA]

Why the hell didn't he take a pay cut? Both Duncan and Garnett took substantial paycuts to help their team contend. I better not hear Kobe complaining next year about how they need better players.

He did. He left 19 million on the table.

[heatwillbeback]

lol at people hating Kobe for taking so much

The owner who cuts Kobe's check is a billionaire, so no one should really be crying about anything. NBA players should never take a pay cut. How about having the owners put their money where their mouths are? Blame the billionaire owners who absolutely refuse to go into the luxury tax.

Makes sense for a team like the Yankees in a sport with no salary cap.

In the nba, players need to take team friendly deals in order for said teams to contend. Kobe deserves his money, but he is getting it at a likely cost of keeping his team out of contention.

[heatwillbeback]

And buss will go into the luxury tax, without a doubt. But with the new sign and trade rules, it's tough to build a team like that.

Lakers used to rely on sign and trades to get new players. Can't do that anymore.

[Shot Clock]

Only ones shocked by this are the ones that bought into what Kobe says and haven't been watching his actions over the years. He's never been about winning titles above everything else. He had to be the one viewed as the key to them. That was more important then winning. Now that it's looking less likely to win he's gonna cash in and chase records.

[Record Machine]

lol

[fast-break]

Can't blame the man for wanting to get PAID...but ENOUGH of this "competitive spirit" garbage. Kobe doesn't give a rats ass about winning. LAL playing for scoring titles the next few years.

[whocurrz]

Good move for Kobe. Bad move for the Lakers. Don't think they needed to pay 24 million a year but they should do whatever they can to make sure Kobe retires a laker and I think the chance of Lebron going there was minuscule and maybe Melo but I don't think this hurts their chances of getting him.

They need to get a top 12 or so pick though this year because it's such a great draft and one of their only chances of landing cheap, young talent since they gave away all their picks. This draft is so deep I'd trade Jordab hill for a pick in the 18-25 range if a team would make the trade. I know he's good but he's hurt a lot and gonna get paid so the lakers should let another team foot that bill. Or they can trade him and just re-sign him in the offseason if they really want him back

[Masigond]

He did. He left 19 million on the table.

No, he did not. There's no way that anyone would have paid him those extra 19 million.

[Flash4thewin]

Seeing the Lakers pay this much to a hurt Kobe who hasnt even seen one game of action must make Pau a very happy person. Pau must be thinking what pay cut lol im healthy and dishing out a double double time to pay up

[An Unbiased Fan]

I have a hard time seeing Pau take a 1/3 discount. He is younger thank Kobe and is playing well and putting up double doubles. This can easily become a Ray Allen situation where he feels disrespected and takes less money to go to a contender.

Pau is on his last legs. Hopefully he holds up throughout the season, but longterm his time is short. There is no way LA was ever going to give him a big contract, and he knows that too. They've been more than fair giving him 20 mil for his last few seasons.

So once people Pau was never in the picture for 2014 at 20 mil, things become clearer. Its kinda funny. Everyone has been saying LA is done, and Kobe's window is close, and that they should tank. But now....they act like Kobe prevent LA from winning titles. Strange

LA can still give a max contract(though I don't see anyone i would spend it on outside of Bron in 2014). If the get Pau at a reduced contract, they can still pick up 2 key starters. That's MUCH better than blowing max money on contracts for the hell of it. Kobe's is over in 2016 where the FA list is much better.

[NyCeEvO]

Obviously Kobe has the biggest grin out of them all.

He better go back to Germany and get that procedure for the rest of his body. He's an all-time great, but there's a reason why he's slowly going down the list of the best players in the game and he should be paid accordingly with that in mind.

[Br0ken_Sp0ke]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/ZachLowe_NBA/status/405080808018288640[/tweet]

The deal also kills the Lakers' dreamy goals of bringing two max-level stars to team with Bryant this summer. The Lakers could have, at most, about $21.5 million in cap space this summer if they retain Steve Nash's full salary. And even that figure assumes the following:

• L.A. renounces its rights to Pau Gasol, and does not re-sign him;

• The Lakers pick around no. 14 or no. 15 in the draft;

• The Lakers sign zero other players before luring Star Player X in free agency, so that the empty remaining roster spots carry minimum charges of only about $500,000 each.

And even in this scenario, the Lakers could not fit the maximum salary of, say, Carmelo Anthony. Using the stretch provision on Nash could open up about $6 million of cap space, allowing the Lakers to sign that max-level player — and little else. Los Angeles floundered in 2012-13 with Bryant, Gasol, Nash, Dwight Howard, and a bench of minimum-salaried retreads. How do you think they would fare in the ultra-competitive Western Conference in 2014-15 with Bryant, Anthony, Nash (or not), and a bench of minimal-level retreads? They may be better off bringing back Gasol at $10 million or so over two seasons (if he'd take such a deal), finding a couple of other solid mid-priced guys on short-term deals, and seeing how things go from there.

[Laazard]

So now Kobe will be number one in career earnings. Of course I assume that KG will retire after this season.

[An Unbiased Fan]

The deal also kills the Lakers' dreamy goals of bringing two max-level stars to team with Bryant this summer.

Does Zach Love know who the two Max players are that LA was gonna sign.

[Slava]

The deal also kills the Lakers' dreamy goals of bringing two max-level stars to team with Bryant this summer.

Does Zach Love know who the two Max players are that LA was gonna sign.

That's called making an assumption and attacking your own assumption in a brutal way, which is the ESPN school of journalism.

[Flash4thewin]

The deal also kills the Lakers' dreamy goals of bringing two max-level stars to team with Bryant this summer.

Does Zach Love know who the two Max players are that LA was gonna sign.

Who knows, the thing is the ability to recruit two max players. Say Melo and Bosh as an example. Ideally it was going to be Kobe Howard and max player that didnt go as planned