Lakers Sell Two Draft Picks

In yesterday’s NBA draft the Lakers sold two of their picks for a combined $4.5 million, saving a total of $6.2 million for selling two selections, which Lakers’ General Manager Mitch Kupchak hopes will help them re-sign free agents Trevor Ariza and Lamar Odom. For a second consecutive season, the Lakers sat out the first round and sold the 29th overall pick to the New York Knicks for $3 million. The Lakers sent the 42nd overall pick to the Miami Heat for $1.5 and received a 2011 second-round pick in both deals. When asked if the Lakers savings of $1.7 million will help their chances of re-signing Ariza and Odom, Kupchak said, “It certainly won’t hurt.”

“I don’t know what the free-agent market’s going to hold for us. If a competing team makes an offer that we don’t think is a good basketball business decision, then it doesn’t matter how much money you have, we won’t match that or try to match that offer,” said Kupchak to the L.A. Times. If their payroll hits $90 million (which may happen if they re-sign Ariza and Odom when they become unrestricted free agents Wednesday) the Lakers could face up to $20 million in taxes and they are trying to decrease the luxury-tax hit. When asked about selling two picks Kupchak said, “We think we did the right thing. There’s a chance if we can keep our team together that we really wouldn’t have roster space for draft picks. This year’s draft, we felt, was not as strong down in the ‘29′ range.”

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