The Lakers have a tradition to 'excite' the league with monster acquisitions like Wilt, Kareem and Shaq. It will not surprise me if they move to get a young Dwight. But adding Chris Paul too? Wow!
Chris Paul and Dwight Howard? Bringing that dream to life a challenge for Lakers
Pau Gasol (from left), Andrew Bynum and Lamar Odom would be the likely trade chips if the Lakers pursue deals for Chris Paul and/or Dwight Howard. (Reuters)
Mark Heisler of Sheridan Hoops raised the possibility last week, and ESPN.com’s Chris Broussard reported it Monday night: The Lakers don’t want just Chris Paul or Dwight Howard; they want both.
And wouldn’t that be the ultimate test of talent versus chemistry and internal development: The Lakers, in blockbuster trades, potentially would unload their entire front line, the engine behind two consecutive titles, just as they enter a compressed season with a new coach running a new system on both ends of the floor.
But New Orleans’ Paul and Orlando’s Howard represent the kind of talent for whom you take such a risk. Of course the league’s glamour team wants the best point guard and the best center in the game. Who wouldn’t? The only question is whether it has the assets to obtain the two potential 2012 free agents. As Brian Kamenetzky argues at ESPN Los Angeles, this is where the dream dies without some help from a third team (a potential league-wide pariah) or ultimatums from Paul and Howard so strong that their current teams would have little choice but to trade them to Los Angeles.
And remember: The Lakers, unlike the Knicks, will not even have token salary-cap space next summer if they stand pat between now and then, robbing Paul and Howard of some leverage. Los Angeles could work extend-and-trade deals, but that route now comes with a financial hit that the stars may not be willing to take. The Lakers also lack any appealing first-round picks to offer.
So what do they have?
• Andrew Bynum, Lamar Odom and Pau Gasol, three players who make a lot of money (still important for any big trade, even with the new collective bargaining agreement’s more liberal salary-matching rules) and are neither young unknowns nor old. Bynum is easily the most appealing option for a rebuilding team, despite having played 54 or fewer games in four of his six seasons. He just turned 24, and he has the potential to be a 20-and-10 center who can protect the rim at an elite level. He has not shown the defensive mobility or cleverness of Tyson Chandler, Andrew Bogut or Howard, but he is still a very valuable commodity to a team building from the bottom up.
• The financial strength to take on unsavory contracts — especially those linked to Hornets center Emeka Okafor and Magic forward Hedo Turkoglu, both of which extend into 2013-14, when the new luxury-tax rates kick in. If the Lakers manage to acquire Paul and Howard, and take on Okafor and Turkoglu as penalties, they will have about $89 million committed to five players in 2013-14, when Kobe Bryant will make a preposterous $30.4 million. If the tax line jumps to $75 million by then, that $89 million alone would carry a tax bill of $26 million or so under the new rates — and we haven’t even filled half a roster, or counted $11.7 million guaranteed to amnesty candidates Ron Artest and Steve Blake in that season. The Lakers are flush with a local TV deal that will pay them up to $200 million per year, but are they really this flush, given the new tax and (undisclosed, of course) revenue-sharing system that the NBA will use?
Let’s pretend they are, and that a package centered on Bynum and Odom is enough to acquire one of the stars and a high-priced teammate — someone the Lakers could use to fill the suddenly gaping hole at power forward that would emerge if they trade Gasol and Odom. Height still rules in the NBA, and the Hornets or Magic may well look at Bynum as the most appealing return if other potential suitors aren’t willing to surrender prime pieces — the Clippers with Eric Gordon, the Warriors with Stephen Curry, the Hawks with Al Horford — without an extension in the bag for Paul or Howard. Odom is a third banana, at best, but after this season he will have just one year left on his contract at $8.2 million, with only about $2.4 million guaranteed, according to ShamSports. He would bring cap relief or a useful salary slot to put in another trade.
But what then? You’re left with Gasol, a 31-year-old set to make $57 million over the next three seasons, including $19.3 million in 2013-14, the first year of the new tax regime. That is max money for an aging big man with a lot of NBA and international wear on his legs. Gasol looked weary at the end of last season after playing heavy minutes early as Bynum’s injury replacement at center.
Gasol is a wonderful player, a probable Hall of Famer, but he’s not much use to a rebuilding team. Sure, he might be an appealing trade target in a year or two, but you don’t deal your franchise player for an aging trade chip who might turn your 25-win team into a 30-win team in the meantime. Teams willing to gamble on Paul and Howard without an extension can beat a package of Gasol and nothing. A theoretical haul from the Rockets of Kyle Lowry, Patrick Patterson, a first-round pick and salary filler is more intriguing to a rebuilding club, even if it’s a disappointing return for a superstar. The Clippers could put together non-Gordon packages, built on DeAndre Jordan, Eric Bledsoe and Minnesota’s unprotected 2012 first-round pick, that trump Gasol and flotsam.
The Lakers are right to chase this dream, and they might be the only team that could realistically afford it. But until they find a third team or some form of leverage that doesn’t exist yet, it’s just a dream.
Chris Paul and Dwight Howard? Bringing that dream to life a challenge for Lakers
Pau Gasol (from left), Andrew Bynum and Lamar Odom would be the likely trade chips if the Lakers pursue deals for Chris Paul and/or Dwight Howard. (Reuters)
Mark Heisler of Sheridan Hoops raised the possibility last week, and ESPN.com’s Chris Broussard reported it Monday night: The Lakers don’t want just Chris Paul or Dwight Howard; they want both.
And wouldn’t that be the ultimate test of talent versus chemistry and internal development: The Lakers, in blockbuster trades, potentially would unload their entire front line, the engine behind two consecutive titles, just as they enter a compressed season with a new coach running a new system on both ends of the floor.
But New Orleans’ Paul and Orlando’s Howard represent the kind of talent for whom you take such a risk. Of course the league’s glamour team wants the best point guard and the best center in the game. Who wouldn’t? The only question is whether it has the assets to obtain the two potential 2012 free agents. As Brian Kamenetzky argues at ESPN Los Angeles, this is where the dream dies without some help from a third team (a potential league-wide pariah) or ultimatums from Paul and Howard so strong that their current teams would have little choice but to trade them to Los Angeles.
And remember: The Lakers, unlike the Knicks, will not even have token salary-cap space next summer if they stand pat between now and then, robbing Paul and Howard of some leverage. Los Angeles could work extend-and-trade deals, but that route now comes with a financial hit that the stars may not be willing to take. The Lakers also lack any appealing first-round picks to offer.
So what do they have?
• Andrew Bynum, Lamar Odom and Pau Gasol, three players who make a lot of money (still important for any big trade, even with the new collective bargaining agreement’s more liberal salary-matching rules) and are neither young unknowns nor old. Bynum is easily the most appealing option for a rebuilding team, despite having played 54 or fewer games in four of his six seasons. He just turned 24, and he has the potential to be a 20-and-10 center who can protect the rim at an elite level. He has not shown the defensive mobility or cleverness of Tyson Chandler, Andrew Bogut or Howard, but he is still a very valuable commodity to a team building from the bottom up.
• The financial strength to take on unsavory contracts — especially those linked to Hornets center Emeka Okafor and Magic forward Hedo Turkoglu, both of which extend into 2013-14, when the new luxury-tax rates kick in. If the Lakers manage to acquire Paul and Howard, and take on Okafor and Turkoglu as penalties, they will have about $89 million committed to five players in 2013-14, when Kobe Bryant will make a preposterous $30.4 million. If the tax line jumps to $75 million by then, that $89 million alone would carry a tax bill of $26 million or so under the new rates — and we haven’t even filled half a roster, or counted $11.7 million guaranteed to amnesty candidates Ron Artest and Steve Blake in that season. The Lakers are flush with a local TV deal that will pay them up to $200 million per year, but are they really this flush, given the new tax and (undisclosed, of course) revenue-sharing system that the NBA will use?
Let’s pretend they are, and that a package centered on Bynum and Odom is enough to acquire one of the stars and a high-priced teammate — someone the Lakers could use to fill the suddenly gaping hole at power forward that would emerge if they trade Gasol and Odom. Height still rules in the NBA, and the Hornets or Magic may well look at Bynum as the most appealing return if other potential suitors aren’t willing to surrender prime pieces — the Clippers with Eric Gordon, the Warriors with Stephen Curry, the Hawks with Al Horford — without an extension in the bag for Paul or Howard. Odom is a third banana, at best, but after this season he will have just one year left on his contract at $8.2 million, with only about $2.4 million guaranteed, according to ShamSports. He would bring cap relief or a useful salary slot to put in another trade.
But what then? You’re left with Gasol, a 31-year-old set to make $57 million over the next three seasons, including $19.3 million in 2013-14, the first year of the new tax regime. That is max money for an aging big man with a lot of NBA and international wear on his legs. Gasol looked weary at the end of last season after playing heavy minutes early as Bynum’s injury replacement at center.
Gasol is a wonderful player, a probable Hall of Famer, but he’s not much use to a rebuilding team. Sure, he might be an appealing trade target in a year or two, but you don’t deal your franchise player for an aging trade chip who might turn your 25-win team into a 30-win team in the meantime. Teams willing to gamble on Paul and Howard without an extension can beat a package of Gasol and nothing. A theoretical haul from the Rockets of Kyle Lowry, Patrick Patterson, a first-round pick and salary filler is more intriguing to a rebuilding club, even if it’s a disappointing return for a superstar. The Clippers could put together non-Gordon packages, built on DeAndre Jordan, Eric Bledsoe and Minnesota’s unprotected 2012 first-round pick, that trump Gasol and flotsam.
The Lakers are right to chase this dream, and they might be the only team that could realistically afford it. But until they find a third team or some form of leverage that doesn’t exist yet, it’s just a dream.
