The Los Angeles Lakers are trying to shed salary to free enough room to sign LaMarcus Aldridge and DeAndre Jordan to max contracts, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports.
Lakers trying to clear salary to sign LaMarcus Aldridge and DeAndre Jordan
Even if it dumps salary, Los Angeles can’t sign both players to max contracts.
Los Angeles has meetings with both players this week when free agency begins Wednesday at 12:01 a.m. ET and could conceivably convince both players to join the Lakers next season. However, the biggest problem is they have little salary to shed.
The three core players for Los Angeles are Kobe Bryant ($25 million), Julius Randle ($3.13 million) and this year's No. 2 pick, D'Angelo Russell ($4.25 million). Those three will be with the Lakers next season barring a blockbuster trade. Other Lakers under contract include Nick Young ($5.22 million), Ryan Kelly ($1.72 million), Robert Sacre, Tarik Black, Jordan Clarkson and Jabari Brown. The final four are all on non-guaranteed deals worth the veteran's minimum.
The Lakers are trying to trade away Young and Kelly without taking back money, per Wojnarowski. Bryant, Randle, Russell and seven roster holds for minimum salary players is a little more than $36 million. With a likely $67.1 million salary cap this season, that leaves about $31 million to sign Aldridge and Jordan.
That’s not enough to sign both of them to max deals, even if everyone but Bryant, Randle and Russell are moved. For the Lakers to make that work, one or both players would have to agree to discounts. And before they can even consider all that, the Lakers have to find places to send Young and Kelly. That’s not a guarantee, either.
It’s a steep, unlikely road for those two free agents to end up in Los Angeles, but that won’t stop the Lakers from trying.
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