Nobody knows who is running the Lakers for sure. After Magic Johnson skipped town, it appears that Rob Pelinka is the man in charge. The thing about that is Pelinka really doesn’t have any qualifications to run the show. He is a former agent and really only got his job because of Kobe Bryant. Anyway, I regress.
We thought that maybe Pelinka knew what he was doing after landing Anthony Davis. Evidently, Pelinka predictably messed up the Anthony Davis trade and made a serious accounting error.
Ramona Shelbourne of ESPN explained how Pelinka screwed up:
“According to ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne, the Lakers did not realize an accounting error that left them without max cap space until after they agreed to their trade with the New Orleans Pelicans, and then called back in an attempt to rectify the mistake.”
“As it stands now, the Pelicans have not relented. And why would they when doing so would hinder their own ability to build a competitive roster over the next month?”
“You see, the Lakers could have created $32.5 million in cap space — enough to sign a player with 7-9 years of NBA service to a max deal (i.e., Kemba Walker, Kyrie Irving, Kawhi Leonard, Jimmy Butler, Klay Thompson, etc.) — if they negotiated July 30 as the trade completion date. That way, they could draft the No. 4 pick for New Orleans, sign him to a first-year salary of $8.2 million, wait the requisite 30 days to trade him, and then use his contract to match salaries in an even swap for Davis.”
“Waiting until July 30 complicates matters for the Pelicans, who would have less cap space of their own with which to pursue free agents. It also impacts their ability to add the No. 4 pick to their summer league roster or shop the pick to a third team.”
“Instead, the deal is scheduled to be completed when the moratorium is lifted on July 6, reportedly at the Lakers’ behest. In that scenario, they will absorb Davis’ contract into cap space and be left with $23.7 million to pursue free agents — less than the maximum salary for players of any experience (i.e., D’Angelo Russell).”
“What’s worse: The Lakers could have still created $27.8 million in cap space — enough to pursue a max-level player with up to six years of experience — if they insisted Davis decline a trade kicker that will increase his salary by $4.1 million. Except, according to Bleacher Report’s Howard Beck, they never bothered to ask.”
This is EMBARRASSING. Even Laker fans would acknowledge that this is a shit show front office. This is why when the Rat face, Rich Paul called the Lakers Jennifer Lopez, that’s when we knew he was either stupid or delusional. I don’t understand how the Lakers could be so poorly run. Let’s be honest. Every team has a salary cap expert on the payroll. To not double check with however that is… there’s no excuse for it. It’s just ignorance.
There’s also zero reason why Davis should waive the trade kicker. Let’s be honest. If Rich Paul advises him to do so, he’s a bad agent that cost his client money. Davis has to take that money. There’s zero reason not to.
Here’s the other thing. Why are they even trying to create another max slot? Kawhi isn’t coming. Why not go sign guys like Pat Beverley, Danny Green, and Seth Curry? Those are the guys that LeBron works with anyway. Guys who can shoot. That’s how it’s always been. Then again, this front office is the same one that signed the jerk offs like JaVale McGee and Lance Stephenson and thought they were winners.
