The Lakers need to dump Gasol

[saltlover]

Since it's Bash the Lakers Day here on Celtics blog, I thought I'd hop in: the Lakers need to get rid of Gasol for whatever they can, even if it's just 100% salary removal.

Kobe is out most of the year.  I've heard people say December, but he ruptured his Achilles.  No way can he get back to running and jumping so quickly.  February would be great.  Accordingly, the Lakers are pretty much destined to miss the playoffs.

Meanwhile, they're over the luxury tax, despite having only 7 players signed.  Their options are

1) Keep their current roster, sign one player at the taxpayer mid-level and others at the minimum, almost certainly miss the playoffs, pay $10-$20 million in luxury tax fees depending where the tax line ends up, and be subject to the repeaters tax next year if they exceed the luxury tax next year.

2) Do pretty much the same thing as above, except sign only players for the minimum, so they're an even worse team.  They'd still owe the luxury tax, but at a little bit less.

3) Get rid of Gasol.  Ideally they find someone willing to give them a draft pick.  Otherwise, they should just amnesty him.  Now they're under the luxury tax, and can really truly stink and so get a better draft pick.  They're bad enough where they could get a lot of ping pong balls.

Obviously option 2 is inferior to option 1.  If they're going to stay in the luxury tax, they should at least try and hope that Kobe is healthy enough to get to the playoffs, and that his health grows once the playoffs arrive.  But I think they should go with option 3.  They're not making it, and all Gasol does is cost them a lot of money and make them a team with a worse lottery chance.  There's got to be some team that would take Gasol for free, and I'd bet they could even get a pick for it.  Detroit still wants to be relevant, and Dallas must like Gasol's expiring contract combined with his usefulness.  Atlanta might also be intrigued enough, even if they did just sign two forwards.

[Who]

Kobe said recently that is aiming for training camp. Already off his crutches. Walking freely.

Seems like a mistake to rush back from such a serious injury.

[Casperian]

Happy Bash the Lakers Day to you, too, saltlover.

[Who]

I read on one of those LA Times articles that the writer there expected the Lakers to amnesty Ron Artest this summer after Dwight Howard leaving in order to avoid those repeater luxury tax penalties further down the road.

I think that move would put LA just below the luxury tax threshold.

[rondoallaturca]

They have no competent big men behind Gasol. He has a massive $19M expiring contract which will free up a ton of cap space next year, which is what they want. Why would they want to trade him?

You can point towards the luxury tax (and repeater fees), but honestly, that money is like tipping a waiter for the Lakers. Furthermore, there are other, smarter ways to trim salary for them, like using the amnesty provision on Artest.

[saltlover]

They have no competent big men behind Gasol. He has a massive $19M expiring contract which will free up a ton of cap space next year, which is what they want. Why would they want to trade him?

You can point towards the luxury tax (and repeater fees), but honestly, that money is like tipping a waiter for the Lakers. Furthermore, there are other, smarter ways to trim salary for them, like using the amnesty provision on Artest.

Nonsense.  Artest helps them lose, and amnestying him still makes them over the cap.  Gasol is a good enough player to make them lose fewer games, but still without Kobe and Dwight, this team has no shot.  And what does the fact that Gasol's contract is expiring matter in terms of clearing off cap space?  If they send him to a team with cap space, or amnesty him, they don't lose cap space next year.  They have the same amount, or more, technically, since they won't have his cap hold, even if that's just existential space.  The only argument for keeping Gasol's expiring contract beyond competing this year is if they hope to resign him with his Bird rights, but even so if they clear his cap space this year they can always bring him back next summer at the same price, since they'll still have that cap space to sign free agents, including Gasol. 

No offense, but unless you say the Lakers are guaranteed to make the playoffs this year with Gasol, your argument doesn't make much sense.  From next year's cap purposes, it's a wash.  From luxury tax purposes, it's better if he goes.  From better draft position, it's better if he goes.

[rutzan]

could we have traded for Gasol if Danny doesn't trade Pierce and KG?

[rondoallaturca]

Now that Utah just picked up Biedrins and Jefferson, I don't think there's a team out there that can eat that big of a contract outside of Dallas. I'm not sure how eager Cuban is in doing LA a favor.

Again, the Lakers could care less about the luxury tax. They'd rather use it on Artest ahead of Gasol anyway.

The belief that Gasol will single-handedly ruin their draft position is silly. It's like how people believe Rondo is going to ruin the C's chances in the 2014 draft. Even after getting Deron, the Nets were the fifth worst team in the league.

No offense, but considering the Lakers themselves have expressed interesting in keeping Gasol (at the very least, they're absolutely not using the amnesty on him), your argument isn't as strong as you think.

[saltlover]

could we have traded for Gasol if Danny doesn't trade Pierce and KG?

Probably not without paying a ton for it.  We'd have needed to find teams willing to take on the long-term deals of at least 2 of Bass, Lee, and Terry, and paid them future draft picks and/or Avery Bradley to do so.

[SCeltic34]

Well, he supposedly isn't getting amnesty'd and will likely remain on the team, according to a "source".

http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/nba/story/_/id/9454140/los-angeles-lakers-not-use-amnesty-clause-pau-gasol-source

They should trade him while they can.

[Who]

I think Pau Gasol could have a lot of value to LAL next summer if they can convince him to comeback at a lower salary figure. Say around $10 million. Having him skilled big man around like Pau Gasol would make it easier to rebuild the rest of the roster.

[saltlover]

Now that Utah just picked up Biedrins and Jefferson, I don't think there's a team out there that can eat that big of a contract outside of Dallas. I'm not sure how eager Cuban is in doing LA a favor.

Again, the Lakers could care less about the luxury tax. They'd rather use it on Artest ahead of Gasol anyway.

The belief that Gasol will single-handedly ruin their draft position is silly. It's like how people believe Rondo is going to ruin the C's chances in the 2014 draft. Even after getting Deron, the Nets were the fifth worst team in the league.

No offense, but considering the Lakers themselves have expressed interesting in keeping Gasol (at the very least, they're absolutely not using the amnesty on him), your argument isn't as strong as you think.

Detroit could.  Milwaukee probably could.  Atlanta could (although it makes a little less sense post Milsap, but they could).  Cleveland could, unless they already sold their cap space to someone else.  Dallas could.  A lot of teams have room still, some where Gasol even makes some amount of sense.

[rondoallaturca]

I thought about Detroit, Milwaukee, and Atlanta, but I counted them all out. Gasol would not make sense on any of those teams. Cleveland I guess so, but point is, them and Dallas make for 2 teams out of 30. And again, what are the chances Cuban helps out the Lakers?

[saltlover]

I think Pau Gasol could have a lot of value to LAL next summer if they can convince him to comeback at a lower salary figure. Say around $10 million. Having him skilled big man around like Pau Gasol would make it easier to rebuild the rest of the roster.

I think so too, but he can come back at $10M even if he's traded, especially to somewhere he won't resign.  I don't think Dallas would be in a rush to bring him back, since they'll want to play free agent lottery again.  It's Cuban's favorite game.  Assuming he and Kobe are actually close, they'll have about as good of a chance whether or not he's traded, so they might as well set their team in a better position for when they bring him back.

Gasol to Dallas for Marion and Larkin gives the Lakers some payroll flexibility, a young PG, Marion, and a trade exception of approximately $10M in case they feel like adding payroll at the deadline should they be better than anticipated.  Dallas gets Gasol for essentially $9 million, the net of the contract differences between Gasol and players they're looking to trade.  Then next summer the Lakers can offer Gasol $10 million to come back, and have Larkin as a second-year point guard to spell Steve Nash.  If they can convince Kobe to take a pay cut (which I think is the real hurdle in all the Lakers 2014 cap space dreams) they could have room to potentially add another max free agent.

[saltlover]

I thought about Detroit, Milwaukee, and Atlanta, but I counted them all out. Gasol would not make sense on any of those teams. Cleveland I guess so, but point is, them and Dallas make for 2 teams out of 30. And again, what are the chances Cuban helps out the Lakers?

Since when has anything Detroit has done made sense?  If they're going after Josh Smith and miss out on him, a year of Gasol frankly seems like a solid consolation prize, and maybe even a better result than 4 years of Josh Smith.  They haven't made the playoffs in a while, and see teams all around them tanking.  Might as well try to get in during everyone's down year.  It helps you keep your job.

Also, teams have to meet minimum payroll, which is less than $6 mil underneath the cap, so they have to fill payroll somehow.  Utah did a good job at it, but there are other teams that need to do the same.  A team like Cleveland, who's trying to sell their star that they're competing, or Detroit, who's trying to sell their fans (and bosses, frankly) that they're competing, both make sense.  Milwaukee is similar.  Atlanta less so, but they've got an eager marketing staff at least.