What jersey will Pau Gasol wear? Should he wear #1 to signify his 1st playoff victory this year? Or should it be #16 - meaning the guy next to Andrew Bynum. Doesn't matter.
Lets look at our payroll instead and think about the ramnifications of what the trade brings:
Kobe is committed 88m in 4 years. Safe to say he is no longer opting out. Book that on me.
Pau has 64m in 4 years as well. With their age gap only at 2 years, Kobe and Pau will be the face of the franchise 4 years down the road.
Andrew Bynum is set for a nice extension come summer. Something along the lines of 5yrs and 65m (Al Jefferson money) and the Lakers are set at 2-4-5 for a very long time.
Lamar Odom is a puzzle. For sure his job is threatened with the Lakers being able to pull off a magical trade. I think this lights a fire in his bu++ and urges him to play hard and bring it every night. He is owed 14.5m next year being the final year of his existing contract.
The PG situation for the Lakers went from secured long term to needing backup in 2. I guess Sasha helps out here a bit so for now, Fish and Farmar are more than adequate. With the loss of 2 draft picks in 08 and 10, the Lakers MIGHT bring in Sun Yue from China for an audition next year.
2008/09 season payroll:
Kobe Bryant - 21,262,500 SG/SF
Pau Gasol - 15,080,312 PF/C
Lamar Odom - 14,559,000 SF/PF
Vlade Radman - 6,049,400 SF/PF
Derek Fisher - 4,698,000 PG
Luke Walton - 4,420,000 SF
Trevor Ariza - 2,911,600 SF
Drew Bynum - 2,769,300 C
Chris Mihm - 2,500,000 C
Jordan Farmar - 1,080,000 PG
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Ronny Turiaf, Sasha Vujacic, Coby Karl, DJ Mbenga, Sun Yue
The Lakers have 2 second round picks for next year, Charlotte's and their own. We have the Mid-Level Exception to work with and the Bi-annual trade exception to improve our roster further.
