LeBron may be willing to take a pay cut to give the Lakers access to the mid-level exception. I have 10 possible targets they could use it on:
– Four possible trades.
– Three 3-and-Ds.
– Two aging stars.
– And a Jonas in a pear tree.https://t.co/XlKL6ieVcb— Sam Quinn (@SamQuinnCBS) June 29, 2024
1. Jonas Valanciunas
2. DeMar DeRozan
3. Klay Thompson
4. De’Anthony Melton
5. Gary Harris
6. Caleb Martin
Trades
The new CBA tweaked the rules regarding the mid-level exception slightly. In the past, it could only be used to sign free agents. Now, however, it can be used to absorb salaries in trades. It cannot be aggregated, so it’s not as though the Lakers could combine it with another salary to get an expensive player, but they can use it to bring in a player making anything up to that projected $12.859 million figure. Many of these players would require the Lakers to send draft picks back, but here is a list of players below that salary line who would make sense for them:
Wendell Carter Jr.
Robert Williams III
Larry Nance Jr.
Gary Payton II
Walker Kessler
It will be interesting to see if LeBron is willing to take as much as $16M per year less than max so Lakers can add a player via the NT MLE. It would be a first but could give the Lakers another key rotation player.
https://x.com/LakerTom/status/1807098549957779492
The unrealistic guys would probably get more. The others deserve less.