[Woj says](https://x.com/wojespn/status/1808483960168616410):
>There’s still a conversation with agent Rich Paul and Lakers on James taking $1 million or so below max to keep team below second-apron and able to keep a little more roster-building flexibility, source tells ESPN.
Maybe the mythical pay cut will indeed happen!
Why would he do this? It's not going to make a difference contending wise. Best to just squeeze and extract as much value as possible from this franchise that Klutch amd him have in a chokehold
Why WOULD he? TF does he care about the largest NBA franchise saving a million bucks?
Oh, they’re over the apron? Get rid of some end of the bench bum.
It’s sad that you as a Knicks fan don’t know where that quote came from. https://www.basketballnetwork.net/off-the-court/patrick-ewings-stupid-statement-during-the-1998-lockout
Thats the big joke in the NBA, about how cheap he is.
As of two years ago LeBron swore he wouldnt pay for Spotify. He is probably lying but still stupid.
Numbers are hard!
But, seriously, I would not be surprised if this is set up to show just how magnanimous LeBron is when he agrees to take a 1% haircut in a day or two, while keeping him and the Lakers on the top of the ESPN agenda.
Thats what I’m saying. A GM should know how the cap works.
I wouldn’t be shocked if they care more about the media attention that would be on the lakers during a Lebron farewell tour than putting together a winning basketball team
The GM doesn't need to do the math himself, but it's would be unbelievable if there isn't someone on staff whose job it is to understand the cap ramifications of every move.
What’s the conversation? The lakers should just offer LeBron the salary they can afford to stay under the apron. Does anybody think he’s gonna turn down playing with his son for a few hundred thousand dollars??
Organizations can't treat their top performers like that without risking poisoning the well. Orgs - in almost every industry- want to collaborate with their star performers more than get stuck in adversarial negotiations. Frankly, most good negotiators are friendly af and would rather extract a willing concession than achieve victory by brute force as you suggest.
Orgs treat top people like shit all the time. The difference is lebron is a public facing figure so they have to offer the max and then let lebron "take a pay cut"
Whenever I see this guy's profile picture, I think of [this fucking dog making this stupid fucking face](https://i.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/original/000/006/622/tumblr_lzjrsoo61q1r50h4io1_400.png)
Even when these contracts are official, under the new CBA, contracts signed with the second-round-exception don't count against the cap until July 31st. So for the time being, the Lakers are about $1.5m under the apron for the purpose of making moves.
They aren't in a great position and likely do need to make other moves, but they aren't suddenly handcuffed.
Its not true yet, but if the Lakers either aggregate salaries or take back more money than they send (both things mentioned in the tweet), they can’t go over the 2nd apron, so Lebron would have to take a slight paycut to stay.
Yeah this could be as simple as trading Christian Wood for and signing a minimum guy instead because newly signed minimum deals only count as \~$2 million in cap space.
Or just dump Gabe Vincent lol, that'll make the math way simpler. Even not signing or paying for a 15th standard contract and leaving it at 14 works too.
True, but I was holding out hope for something major. I’m resigned to being mediocre now. I’m still going to watch but just not have high expectations and enjoy LeBron’s final years as well as him playing with Bronny.
So are the Lakers the first team to go over the second apron? Is it because we signed Bronny to a multi year deal when we didn’t need to?
I’m gonna go huff some paint thinner and listen to angry 🎵
Pretty sure we past it for the 23-24 season, and definitely past it going forward lol, since Jaylen's max kicks in this upcoming year. It just a matter of how much over we are at this point. Thank god our roster is pretty much set.
Those Player Options on Reddish, Hayes, have come back to haunt the Los Angeles Lakers. And were totally unnecessary. Understood on Wood but not those two. Player Options have become a powerful tool for players and it has the Lakers in a bind.
This is not super true if they dump enough salary in some trades and then fill out the rest of the roster with minimums.
Rui+Gabe Vincent+Jarred Vanderbilt+an unprotected 2029 pick for Jerami Grant for example would work if the Lakers then filled out their two roster spots with minimum guys (and if the Blazers found a team with an exception or cap space to take Vanderbilt or Vincent)
Gabe Vincent's 2/22.5 is bad, but not so bad that it would dissuade like Detroit or Utah.
Like, you give up three seconds to have them take Vincent into their cap space and then you can make that Jerami Grant trade.
[Woj says](https://x.com/wojespn/status/1808483960168616410): >There’s still a conversation with agent Rich Paul and Lakers on James taking $1 million or so below max to keep team below second-apron and able to keep a little more roster-building flexibility, source tells ESPN. Maybe the mythical pay cut will indeed happen!
He should take a pay cut for the exact amount of Bronny’s salary, since the Lakers are effectively donating it to him anyway.
Employment benefits package with 401k matching.
Bingo. LeBron has two options… accept this insignificant discount or no bitching the entire season about a lack of help.
If my boss came to me and said they would hire me a personal assistant of my choosing if I took a 1% pay cut I know what my answer would be.
"Sasha Grey is perfect for the job"
Bronny James is perfect for the job
You know the passive aggressive tweets will continue. They are a staple of the Lebron experience now.
Exactly. He pretended like Westbrook wasn't his idea
He wanted the lakers to give up their FRPs to get rid of WB Good thing Pelinka waited. Else LBJ would be in a worse situation now.
It wasn’t. Demar was and Pelinka didn’t like the deal and went with Westbrook last minute.
“Hiring a first-time anything is always gonna be a mistake 🤦🏻♂️”
Lebron is an entitled rich asshole at this point. I wouldn't be surprised if he isn't simping for trump type people once he retires,
First time?
>Lakers are effectively donating it to him anyway. What?!?!? Blasphemy! LeNepo earned it! Being the fastesr sperm aint easy man!
Bronny James was interested in basketball from a young age
I know Bronny got a rookie deal (but if you wanted to make the argument), how much in luxury tax dollars does Bronny's deal come out to be if any?
why wouldn’t he do this?
Gotta feed his fam
Gotta feed Latrell Sprewell's family
Tacos ain’t free
Not even on WEDNESDAY!! 👍🏽
He's a struggling single father living paycheck to paycheck
His kid even quit college just to work and help. Prayers up for the James family.
Living like 1000 years every paycheck something something robot alien time warp.
Lebron - "I will give you the money if you can show me how you'll use it to make the team better." Lakers management - "..."
Why would he do this? It's not going to make a difference contending wise. Best to just squeeze and extract as much value as possible from this franchise that Klutch amd him have in a chokehold
Literally why should he do this? This paycheck is for a farewell tour.
Needs that extra $1m to buy a team (Las Vegas?) after he retires
No crime taking money from dumb billionaires
Why WOULD he? TF does he care about the largest NBA franchise saving a million bucks? Oh, they’re over the apron? Get rid of some end of the bench bum.
He needs the money to buy the matching suits he's going to force his team-mates to wear
Greed, pride, etc
He makes a lot of money but he spends a lot too.
Still not a Spotify subscriber though
You his accountant, you know that for a fact?
It’s sad that you as a Knicks fan don’t know where that quote came from. https://www.basketballnetwork.net/off-the-court/patrick-ewings-stupid-statement-during-the-1998-lockout
Thats the big joke in the NBA, about how cheap he is. As of two years ago LeBron swore he wouldnt pay for Spotify. He is probably lying but still stupid.
LeBron is still pirating NBA streams
I think people totally missed the reference on this. Shame
Wait, does that mean the lakers negotiated the deal, saw people talking about it on twitter then realize they need to backtrack?
Numbers are hard! But, seriously, I would not be surprised if this is set up to show just how magnanimous LeBron is when he agrees to take a 1% haircut in a day or two, while keeping him and the Lakers on the top of the ESPN agenda.
They probably didn’t realize it would put them into the double apron.
If not then Rob sucks at cap management
This has been said before, more than likely the numbers reported suck at cap management but I’ll be willing to be wrong.
they absolutely did, you would have to be a real hater to pretend otherwise
Thats what I’m saying. A GM should know how the cap works. I wouldn’t be shocked if they care more about the media attention that would be on the lakers during a Lebron farewell tour than putting together a winning basketball team
The GM doesn't need to do the math himself, but it's would be unbelievable if there isn't someone on staff whose job it is to understand the cap ramifications of every move.
nah they want to say that LBJ is taking the max deal, but also a good guy to taking a discount after.
What’s the conversation? The lakers should just offer LeBron the salary they can afford to stay under the apron. Does anybody think he’s gonna turn down playing with his son for a few hundred thousand dollars??
Organizations can't treat their top performers like that without risking poisoning the well. Orgs - in almost every industry- want to collaborate with their star performers more than get stuck in adversarial negotiations. Frankly, most good negotiators are friendly af and would rather extract a willing concession than achieve victory by brute force as you suggest.
Orgs treat top people like shit all the time. The difference is lebron is a public facing figure so they have to offer the max and then let lebron "take a pay cut"
$515,001 discount, no more.
[Ron Howard voice:] It didn't.
Whenever I see this guy's profile picture, I think of [this fucking dog making this stupid fucking face](https://i.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/original/000/006/622/tumblr_lzjrsoo61q1r50h4io1_400.png)
This picture with the text used to make me die laughing lol Edit: the [original](https://i.imgur.com/ggvaWtm.png)
Every fucking day
I remember this meme. These days the censorship would have been on the other F word.
That’s a Yorkie that’s growling. He’s about to bite if you try to pet him. I have seen my Yorkie do this many times.
When I was a kid, my yorkie used to do this kind of face when it had to take a shit
LMFAO What a throwback
These guys ain’t NBA reporters for their looks that’s for sure
And now so do I
If he hasn’t actually signed yet isn’t this not applicable yet
Lebron is reportedly taking about a million less than his max to just duck the 2nd apron
Legendary apron ducker lebrob james
No player has signed any deal yet. First day is July 6th
Especially when they’re reportedly “only” $515K over the second tax apron. No way they don’t at least find away to avoid that
Even when these contracts are official, under the new CBA, contracts signed with the second-round-exception don't count against the cap until July 31st. So for the time being, the Lakers are about $1.5m under the apron for the purpose of making moves. They aren't in a great position and likely do need to make other moves, but they aren't suddenly handcuffed.
Its not true yet, but if the Lakers either aggregate salaries or take back more money than they send (both things mentioned in the tweet), they can’t go over the 2nd apron, so Lebron would have to take a slight paycut to stay.
As always, with signings before the moratorium, they're not final.
That's easy as fuck to get under
Yeah this could be as simple as trading Christian Wood for and signing a minimum guy instead because newly signed minimum deals only count as \~$2 million in cap space. Or just dump Gabe Vincent lol, that'll make the math way simpler. Even not signing or paying for a 15th standard contract and leaving it at 14 works too.
Probably have to trade a 2nd to a team with cap space for a contract dump
Technically none of this is true until the actual deal is signed.
With 2 Brons they are a contender. 😉
We are cooked
Y'all weren't doing shit anyway
True, but I was holding out hope for something major. I’m resigned to being mediocre now. I’m still going to watch but just not have high expectations and enjoy LeBron’s final years as well as him playing with Bronny.
you could always root for Giddey and the Bulls?
\* Kiddey
[удалено]
Lakers are one of the closest franchises to aus.
Ah yes makes sense to pick the team 8,000 miles away from you instead of 9,000
Just going full mask-off racism are ya? Fucking tapeworm.
L comment. Racist fuckwit
I want to invite you to the club. Your team is officially a part of it now
I guess that makes 2 of us. So much for that Denver dynasty lmao
This has nothing to do with Australia unless they pick up Simmons
Well what if the existing players just play a lot better and win more. I mean Edit: this is a good suggestion shut up
That's such a small amount though really. They can, should, and likely will salary dump someone to get under the second apron again.
Mark Phillips LeBron voice: "D'LOOO! HEY YO WHEERE THE FUCK IS D'LO???"
Need that 1 for 1 with DLo STAT
We’ll give you Jerami Grant for DLo and two future 1sts
Pat riley is that you? An expiring and 2 first for grant lmao
I think that’s what the Lakers FO said too. But Portland won’t move him for a single 1st in the near-term (this season).
They look like peasants compared to the suns
Atleast they have a championship
I was talking amount the difference between the two teams luxury tax… Not performance
What is a team friendly deal?
So are the Lakers the first team to go over the second apron? Is it because we signed Bronny to a multi year deal when we didn’t need to? I’m gonna go huff some paint thinner and listen to angry 🎵
I'm pretty sure the Celtics blew right past it.
Not until Tatums contract and Derricks kick in
Pretty sure we past it for the 23-24 season, and definitely past it going forward lol, since Jaylen's max kicks in this upcoming year. It just a matter of how much over we are at this point. Thank god our roster is pretty much set.
funeral food be so good
We got 3 seconds for THJ so I assume it would be the same here got to be an expiring though
just my hunch.... 2 of those were for Grimes, 1 for taking on THJ
There's no way they aren't ducking the second apron lol
Lol, yet they signed Bronny to 4 years instead of the minimum
D'Lo you're not a Laker any longer.
The Lakers threw in the towel early if they're going straight into the second apron.
Translation: they fuked
So? Isn’t Phoenix half a bill?
So I guess they gave up trying to get Demar and just let LeBron get the max? Cause this is like right at the border of the apron lol
Damn lebron not taking a 500K pay cut to keep team under second apron seems wild.
Deserved result
Over the 2nd apron for a non-playoff squad?
Lol. Good job LeBron.
Weird move for a team that isn't a realistic contender
Chat, are we fucked?
Those Player Options on Reddish, Hayes, have come back to haunt the Los Angeles Lakers. And were totally unnecessary. Understood on Wood but not those two. Player Options have become a powerful tool for players and it has the Lakers in a bind.
The genius lakers FOnis the only one giving out players options to guys basically out of the league
They just gave Christie and Bronny player options too
How come this shit team is on the 2nd apron already? Idk if im dumb but this CBA seems to be extra crippling past the no-fun line
Great management 👏🏻👏🏻 they could have just low balled him having his son as hostage. No chance to contend now
lotta money for a play-in team.
Maybe they could cut Bronny
Congrats Hawks fans
lol this dorks preview image looking like a 9 year olds school photo
IST Champs
all this for the lakers to finish 8th in the west.
That LeGM shit is such a scapegoat for Pelinkas failure as a GM on this sub, it’s really disgusting
This is not super true if they dump enough salary in some trades and then fill out the rest of the roster with minimums. Rui+Gabe Vincent+Jarred Vanderbilt+an unprotected 2029 pick for Jerami Grant for example would work if the Lakers then filled out their two roster spots with minimum guys (and if the Blazers found a team with an exception or cap space to take Vanderbilt or Vincent)
How are they going to dump salaries without sending picks too? Lakers have very limited assets now
Gabe Vincent's 2/22.5 is bad, but not so bad that it would dissuade like Detroit or Utah. Like, you give up three seconds to have them take Vincent into their cap space and then you can make that Jerami Grant trade.
Insanely mid 2nd apron team.
Going over not only the first apron, but SECOND apron from Bronny is wild
The air up there is a tad bit different #justabitovertheapron 👑
Lakers gonna be in the lottery this year
Rob Pelinka and the Salary Cap, a tale as old as time.
May be the biggest failure of an offseason in NBA history.
Guy who's only seen 3 offseasons Getting a lot of 'worst offseason in NBA history' vibes from this