Now What, Lakers?

After pulling the deals offered to Lamar Odom, who is now in talks with the Miami Heat, the Lakers aren’t left with too many options. Among the free-agents left, the best choices are probably too expensive for the Lakers and many are saying they won’t be able to find a player as versatile as Odom. The Lakers are only able use the veteran’s minimum annual salary because after using the mid-level exception of $5.8 million on Ron Artest and the “bi-annual exception” of $1.99 million on Shannon Brown they are over salary cap. The veteran’s minimum starts at $457,588 for a rookie and goes up to $1.306 million for a veteran with 10 or more years of experience in the NBA.

The question on everyone’s minds now is whether an unrestricted free-agent will sign with the Lakers for less money because they may repeat their NBA Championship win again this season. According to the L.A. Times, “The Lakers could do a sign-and-trade for Odom, or trade another player to get a quality palyer.” Among the players suggested were Chris Wilcox, Drew Gooden and Joe Smith but other possibilities are Stromile Swift, Jarron Collins, Sean May, Sheldon Williams, Mikki Moore, Tim Thomas, Ike Diogu, Juwan Howard and former Laker Chris Mihm.

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Permalink - Posted in General on July 16, 2009 - Post a comment