Lakers fans are doing high-intensity "sit-ups" these days.
The draft picked up Cornet + successfully took Bronny, happy.
Yesterday's biggest target, Dejounte Murray, was cut off by the Pelicans and lost.
And today two consecutive pieces of news made them stand up again:
(1) LeBron James jumped out of his final year of $51.4 million contract and became a free agent temporarily.
(2) According to NBA Athletic Chris Haynes, James is considering taking a pay cut to renew his contract with the Lakers to help the Lakers have a full middle class and continue to sign new players.
I talked about it in the Lakers' season summary before:
"If the Lakers want to continue to upgrade and remain competitive for the championship, James can't be the team's top two men, both in terms of status on the court and in terms of salary."
In recent years, the Lakers and James have been trying to reduce their "roles" on the court, whether it is to find Schroder, Wei Shao, Russell, or to cultivate Reaves for this reason.
But in terms of salary income, the Lakers have always guaranteed James' maximum salary on the team. It's both a tradition of respect for superstars and LeBron James' self-esteem as the active No. 1.
However, if the Lakers give a salary cap to an old man who is nearly 40 years old, can't output the full amount in the regular season, and can only invest selectively, then in this era of increasingly tightened collective bargaining agreements, restricting teams from throwing money at each team, and in the almost perverted competition in the West, they will fall into a natural disadvantage.
Pelinka has tried his best in the past few years, but due to the natural "hard injury" in the team's salary structure, the team's real competitiveness has always been limited, and he has repeatedly made bold statements before the season and is silent at the end of the season.
Therefore, if James wants the Lakers to still be competitive, he must take a salary cut.
This is not to give money to the Lakers owners who are "picking and picking", but to give the team management more room when it comes to building the roster.
The introduction of the 2023 version of the collective bargaining agreement last year, especially the emergence of the second local tyrant line, greatly limited the teams that tried to spend crazy money to stay competitive.
Not only has the coefficient of the super luxury tax been raised (the Warriors exceeded the luxury tax line by 35 million last year, and as a result, they paid 170 million in taxes), but the confiscation of various powers is even more extreme:
(1) If you exceed the first local tyrant line, you cannot sign a buyout player with an annual salary of more than the middle class, you cannot exchange less for more in the transaction (the amount sent is greater than or equal to the amount you get), you cannot use the special case of the transaction, and there is no full middle class.
(2) Exceeding the second local tyrant line, there is no mini middle class, cannot be packaged and traded for players (more for less), cannot be traded in cash, and cannot be traded for the seventh year first-round pick.
Once you get past the second local tyrant line (181 million in the '23-24 season), it will be almost impossible to complete most of the deals, and the conditions will be extremely demanding.
This is also the reason why the Warriors, Clippers and Celtics are now trying to keep their team's salary below the second local league line in the new season.
Once exceeded, the constraints on personnel changes will make them extremely passive.
So what's the Lakers doing right now?
With Russell, Hayes, Reddish and others exercising their respective player options yesterday. At present, the Lakers have 14 contract personnel on their books (excluding James).
If James signs a three-year, $162 million contract with a maximum salary ($49.9 million in the first year), and then adds salary space reserved for Christie, two rookies, Cornett and Bronny, who become restricted free agents, the total salary will reach $186 million, which is very close to the second tier of the new season ($189 million).
At the same time, it can no longer use its own mini-middle class exception (4.5 million, which was used to sign Prince last year), and this lineup is not only not low in total price, but also very limited competitiveness in the West.
If James doesn't take a pay cut, then the Lakers will have to use the existing framework to make trades for reinforcements. However, due to the fear of the league's teams, the Lakers are already more difficult to trade than most of their opponents (the Warriors are similar).
It is even more difficult to upgrade the roster, and Murray's cut is the best example.
And James's salary cut has opened up a new way for the Lakers to break the game.
The first thing to be clear is that James has now chosen to jump out of his contract, so he has no contact with the Lakers "temporarily" and is a complete free agent.
Therefore, the Lakers' current salary space is 136 million, which is already below the salary cap (141 million), and it is lower than the first (179 million) and second (189 million) local tyrant lines.
Not only will it no longer be subject to the above rules, but also because the league encourages everyone to "save" and enjoy various "benefits" for teams below the luxury tax line.
For example, they have a full middle class ($12 million), and not only can they trade more for less, but the salary difference is +$7.5 million.
That is, to trade a player worth 20 million, only 12.5 million chips are needed.
However, because the full middle class is used, then it will be restricted by the first local tyrant line, and the total salary cannot exceed 179 million at any time.
So as long as James waits until the Lakers complete these two transactions before renewing the contract, and at the same time ensures that the team's salary does not exceed 179 million, it is not like "only" 30 million as said on the Internet today.
And the Lakers can even eat Harden and Klay at the same time. (The following is an example idea, please do not go online)
Assuming James Harden signs a three-year, $75 million contract with a starting salary of $25 million with the Clippers, the Lakers only need to prepare a minimum of $17.5 million in chips.
Package Vincent + Schifino + Reddish + draft picks to meet the trade conditions
and then signed Klay Thompson with a complete middle class (2 years and 24 million).
At this time, there are already 12 players on the team's roster, and a player is signed with the mini middle class to strengthen (such as Tillman's 4.5 million), then the team's total salary is 158 million.
James only needs to get an annual salary of $21 million to get both Harden and Klay.
Of course, this is only an extreme case, after all, neither the Clippers nor the Warriors will easily go toe-to-toe, and Klay Thompson will not necessarily accept a mid-range offer to the Lakers.
But it provides an idea, after all, there are not only Harden and Klay in the trade market, but there are not many powerful players who are suitable for the Lakers, and they also have D'Angelo Russell in their hands to fill in the trade
There are also variations of this line of thinking:
(1) Russell + Christie for Harden, the complete middle class eats Tobias Harris, and the mini middle class signs Tillman
(2) Russell + Vincent for DeRozan, the middle class eats Klay, and the mini middle class signs Chris Paul (the Warriors give up the execution contract)
(2) Russell + Schifino for Klay, the middle class eats Paul, the mini middle class signs Harris, etc.
In this way, James doesn't even need to take too many salary cuts, and it is even possible to get a salary of 40 million+ in extreme circumstances.
Now it's up to Pelinka to do it.
All in all, James' willingness to take a pay cut after the failed pursuit of Dejounte Murray has rekindled hopes for the Lakers to truly upgrade their roster.
At this age of his career, he has accumulated billions of net worth, and James really doesn't need to worry about tens of thousands of dollars, if he can get stronger teammates in the new season and still maintain the impact on the championship, it may be the most beneficial for him.
Of course, the biggest possibility is to give the Lakers management a "return gift" for choosing his son.
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