Report: Lakers Working To Create Max Salary Slot, Could Further Reshape Anthony Davis Trade
LOS ANGELES (CBS)- The Los Angeles Lakers have already made one splashy move this off-season and now they are reportedly looking to make that move even bigger in hopes of making another splash in free agency.
As reported on Saturday, the team has agreed in principle to a deal with the New Orleans Pelicans that would send Anthony Davis to L.A. while sending Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram, Josh Hart, the number four pick in Thursday's draft and several future first round picks to New Orleans.
Now, according to a report from ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski and Bobby Marks, the team is hoping to rework the parameters of the trade in order to create enough cap space to sign a max salary free agent.
As we covered earlier this week, if the Davis deal is officially announced on July 6, the team would have only $23.2 million in cap space for free agency, not enough to sign a max free agent. But, if the trade wasn't made official until July 30th, then the Lakers would have a little over $32 million in space. Reporting in recent days has made it clear that New Orleans general manager David Griffin isn't likely to move the trade date back.
So, in response to that, the Lakers are now looking to move three of the five remaining contracts they have on the roster outside of Kyle Kuzma and LeBron James. According to Wojnarowski's report, the team is "engaging additional teams" to try and find a landing spot for center Mo Wagner, and forwards Isaac Bonga and Jemerrio Jones. From the report:
"The Lakers probably would need to incentivize the trading of those salaries with cash or draft considerations. Wagner, the No. 25 pick in the 2018 NBA draft, probably has the most value of the three players."
Woj and Marks are also reporting that the Lakers are looking to buy second round picks ahead of Thursday's draft in order to help fill out the roster around Davis, James, Kuzma and a potential third max player. The full report goes into further detail on the cap limbo that the Lakers are currently trying to pull off. It certainly appears that the front office is not done dealing yet.
