Los Angeles Lakers Cap Situation
About $44M over the salary cap this season and close to $20M over the tax line, the Lakers have no cap space and it is virtually impossible for them to add talent to their roster ahead of the trade deadline.
Both Talen Horton-Tucker ($9.5M) and Kendrick Nunn ($5M) could be moved this season in order to try and add a somewhat impactful player next to this team’s All-Stars, but what can the Lakers really get for either of these guys?
Nunn has not played since last season with the Miami Heat due to injuries and while Horton-Tucker has shown flashes of his full potential, he has struggled mightily to find his shooting stroke this season.
No team in the league is going to want to give up a high-level talent for either of these guys right now, which is why the Lakers are stuck unless they move one of their large contracts.
LATEST NBA NEWS & TRADE RUMORS: Russell Westbrook Optimistic Current Adversity Will Pay Off For Lakers
LeBron James is not going anywhere regardless of radio talk shows suggesting he go back to Cleveland and the Lakers will sell their souls before trading away Anthony Davis, which brings us back to the one guy who is at the root of all the Lakers’ troubles – Russell Westbrook.
Trading Westbrook is a very easy thing to say, but it is virtually impossible to do. He is making $44M this season and then $47M next season, assuming he opts into his player option for the 2022-23 season.
There is no team in the league that can absorb this kind of contract midseason and the only way he can be traded is if there is another team out there looking to trade someone on that large of a contract. Ben Simmons in Philadelphia comes to mind, but all roads for the Lakers lead to John Wall in any trade scenario this season.
He has proven that he can still play at a high level, he has the same contract as Westbrook and is an extremely unselfish player that could really change the mood and dynamic of this Lakers’ franchise.
LATEST NBA NEWS & TRADE RUMORS: Russell Westbrook Optimistic Current Adversity Will Pay Off For Lakers
Cap space is a problem for the Lakers right now and while throwing out names like Ben Simmons, Jerami Grant, De’Aaron Fox, Domantas Sabonis, and others makes sense, they are just not feasible.
The only trade that is feasible for the Lakers is going after John Wall and this trade would not only help them expand their offense but find ways to get back to being a lethal defensive team as well, similar to how they were when they won the NBA Finals in 2020.
