Compared with the Nets, Warriors and Clippers, the Lakers don't need to worry too much about luxury taxes. The problem is that there are no suitable players in the market who deserve the Lakers to sign immediately.
Judging from the current situation, the Lakers are likely to sign several players before the start of training camp, so that they can compete in training camp. Only two players will be signed before the start of the season, and the remaining 1 players will be bought out in the middle of the season. For example, Rajon Rondo, Patrick Beverley, etc. They are all potential players and may be bought out.
Sunset Red Sky has 12 players suspended for two consecutive years, and the Lakers don't take the usual path. Most teams competing for the championship will try their best to keep the lineup stable, but the Lakers are "tossing".
In the offseason in 2020, the Lakers who just won the championship decided to make a big change, which surprised everyone. They gave up Rondo, Dwight Howard, Danny Green and other champions and replaced them with Dennis Schroeder, harel, Mark Gasol and wesley matthews. As a result, due to injuries and poor chemical reactions, the Lakers barely entered the playoffs by play-offs, and were eliminated by the Suns in the first round.
202 1 offseason, the Lakers faced a more difficult situation. Schroeder, caruso and Tarun Horton Tucker are all facing contract renewal. If the Lakers renew their contracts according to the psychological price of the players, their luxury tax will exceed $90 million. In the end, the Lakers took another road. They were not held by Schroeder, who seemed to take the initiative in the contract renewal negotiations, but exchanged chips such as Popper, Kuzma and Harrell for Russell Westbrook in a five-party transaction.
In exchange for the Shao Wei deal, this is equivalent to knocking down the first domino. After the Lakers have the Big Three, the situation is very clear. The total salary space of the three giants exceeds $65.438+$200 million. The Lakers can only find ways to keep free agents on the team, and then supplement them with a bunch of veteran base salaries and a luxury tax of 654.38+0 worth $5.9 million.
In the subsequent operation, the Lakers signed Howard, Cameron Anthony, wayne ellington, Malik Monk, Kent Bazemore and Trevor Ariza with a basic salary of 1. Subsequently, the Lakers gave kendrick Nunn a luxury tax exception of $5 million, and signed a two-year contract with Nunn worth10.25 million. The Lakers gave up the contract extension with caruso, but kept Tucker Jr. for three years, with $30.87 million.
In addition, the Lakers signed two players from this year's draft on a two-way contract, namely austin rivers and Joel Ay. Considering that these two people will play in the development league for most of the new season, they can be ignored.
So now only 12 people in the Lakers' books have formal guarantee contracts:
Point guard: Shao Wei, Nunn.
Shooting guards: Ellington, Monk
Small forwards: James, Bazemore, Tucker Jr.
Power forwards: anthony davis, Anthony, Ariza.
Center: Regardless of the compatibility between Gasol Jr. and Howard, the most dazzling problem of the Lakers lineup is the serious aging. Eight of 12 people are 32 years old, and the average age of 12 people is 3 1.2 years old. Last year, the average age of the Lakers was 28, making it the oldest team in the league. This year, their age is far more exaggerated than last year. No wonder the Lakers are called "Sunset Red Sky Team".
How to use the last three? According to the rules, each team can bring at most 15 players with formal contracts into the new season, and at least 14 players. In other words, the Lakers need to sign at least two more formal contracts before the start of the new season.
Not long ago, Yahoo Sports reported that insiders revealed that the Lakers' plan is to enter the regular season with 14 players, leaving the lineup of 1 to maintain the flexibility of signing. If a player is bought out in the middle of the season, the Lakers can use the reserved places to sign. Last season, the Lakers introduced Andre drummond in the middle of the season.
In this way, the Lakers will sign two more people before the season starts. According to insiders, the introduction of the third point guard is the Lakers' first choice, and they may also introduce another winger. The Lakers have tried out "Little Assassins isiah thomas, Dai Lun Kellison and mike james", all of whom are guards. But there is no news about which defender the Lakers prefer or which winger the Lakers want to sign.
The Lakers don't have much demand for centers. Pau Gasol stayed, Howard returned, and there were two players with different styles in the fifth position of the Lakers. As long as there are no major injuries, the fifth position of the Lakers is enough. More importantly, when recruiting Shao Wei to join us, Davis has promised to play more fifth place in the new season.
With the Lakers' championship prospects and the market factors in Los Angeles, it is reasonable for the Lakers not to worry about signing. The reason why the Lakers are in trouble now is only because guards and wingers are scarce, and all the good players in the market have been signed. No free agent can play a big role in the Lakers. Like Nirikina, Lei Dike and paul millsap, they all have certain fame, but each has its own defects. They are not the kind of players who can sign without thinking.
So next, the Lakers may choose some players to enter the training camp, let them compete for two seats, and then decide who to sign before the start of the season. The Lakers may also sign players with unsecured contracts, as Howard did before the 20 19-20 season, to keep the flexibility of adjusting the lineup after the season begins.
The Lakers are not afraid of luxury taxes. At present, the Lakers have 12 players on their books. Except for the Big Three Tucker and Nunn, the other seven players are all on basic salary contracts. Coupled with Lor Deng's $5 million dead money, the Lakers' total salary now reaches $654.38+52.96 million.
According to the rules, the threshold of luxury tax in the new season is $65,438+$366.06 million, and the Lakers have exceeded the luxury tax line of $65,438+$06.35 million. According to the current figures, the Lakers need to pay more than $33 million in luxury tax.
The specific algorithm is as follows: under the hierarchical luxury tax system, the Lakers' $654.38+$063,500 exceeding the luxury tax line should be calculated in four levels. The first tax rate is 1.5, and the tax amount is $7.5 million. The second tax rate is 1.75, and the tax amount is $8.75 million. The third tax rate is 2.5, and the tax amount is $654.38+0.25 million. The fourth tax rate is 32,500, and the tax amount is 4.38 million US dollars. Calculated, the total luxury tax of the Lakers is $3,365,438+3,000.
What is the ultimate luxury tax for the Lakers? It depends on what the Lakers do next. In general, the Lakers will sign two basic salary contracts before the start of the season, and then sign a buyout player with the basic salary in the middle of the season. The basic salary contract accounts for $654.38+$6700 of the salary cap, and the players who sign in the middle of the season account for about $550,000 of the salary cap. In this way, the number of Lakers who exceed the luxury tax line will increase to $265,438 +0.6 million. When calculating the luxury tax, the fourth-level tax will increase to $654.38+0.625 million, while the fifth-level tax rate will be 3.75 and the tax will be $6 million. Calculated, the total luxury tax of the Lakers will increase to $565,438+00,000.
It is clear that if the salary of the Lakers exceeds the luxury tax line of $20 million, it is very uneconomical for the Lakers to pay luxury tax. They triggered the fifth luxury goods tax, with a tax rate as high as 3.75. If it exceeds $654.38+600,000, they have to pay a luxury tax of $6 million. If the Lakers want to save money as much as possible, they have to adopt another way of thinking.
The Lakers stayed when they signed Nunn. They reserved $900,000 for the luxury tax exception of $5.9 million, which can be used to sign up for the draft. If the Lakers convert one of the two two-way contracts into a formal contract and sign him with this $900,000, the pressure on the Lakers to calculate luxury tax will be less. But then again, from the perspective of improving the strength of the lineup, the basic salary signing is a draft with strong combat effectiveness and extra luxury tax signing. The big probability is that the former is more helpful to the Lakers.
At the current pace, the Lakers' luxury tax in the new season can rank fourth, just behind the Warriors, Nets and Clippers with luxury tax exceeding 100 million. However, compared with the Warriors who have triggered the super luxury tax, the Lakers are already very happy. According to Forbes' latest revenue report, the Lakers' net profit last season was $65.438+55 billion, so it is not a problem for them to pay an extra 50 million luxury tax. As long as there are suitable basic salary players, the Lakers will definitely sign.