After two full seasons, the 2020 championship winning team has been split into pieces by the Lakers management, although the two core James and Davis are still there, but the clear-eyed people are clear that because James's age is increasing year by year + Davis can not guarantee attendance, the Lakers want to make a comeback next season and return to the championship ranks, the team management must find a way to rebuild a "normal" lineup in this offseason, do not indulge in hoarding backcourt players, and do not blindly believe in veterans. Considering that this season's NBA playoffs have only just begun, and the management of 16 teams has not yet focused on the trading market, the Lakers management can only try to contact the other 13 teams recently if they want to lay out in advance.
Clear the payroll space first! In order to retain Munch, the Lakers began to seriously consider a 2-for-3 trading plan. Sources come from Mike Scott, and in addition to the two cores mentioned at the beginning of the article, Munch, 24, is one of the few non-selling items in the eyes of Lakers management, and Pelinka has recently been in frequent contact with Schwartz, who is Munch's agent. It is reported that Munch's psychological expectation for his next contract is an annual salary of $10 million, and the term cannot be less than 3 years. It should be mentioned that the Lakers 360 combination will consume nearly $130 million in salary space next season, and it is understood from the relevant rules of the NBA that Pelinka, as the decision-maker of the Lakers' management, wants to meet Munch's requirements, first of all, to clear out enough salary space, because only in this way can Munch stay in the Lakers.
So the question is, how does Pelinka operate? With James and Davis unable to move, Pelinka could only figure out how to do it on Westbrook. After the inquiry, it was learned that the NBA's active triple-double king will earn as much as $47.06 million next season, and for those playoff or quasi-playoff teams, even if they are willing to regard Wei Shao as a championship puzzle, the salary space is difficult to let the transaction go forward, and those teams that want to exchange large contracts can provide trading chips, which really makes the Lakers management uninterested.
For example, T-Harris, Hayward, Porzingis, no matter from which point of view, Pelinka has no reason to try to trade, for good reason, he does not want the Lakers to go further and further down the wrong path. Sources come from Andrew Winwari, Pelinka has maintained a consistent style on the issue of trading Westbrook, first listening to the player's own ideas, and then going to find the right team, according to a Lakers insider, the Thunder are the team that Westbrook wants to go to the most, Pelinka has previously received a 2-for-3 deal plan, roughly saying that the Lakers provide Westbrook + 2027/2029 first-round picks, from the Thunder to get Favors, Kenridge Williams, Jerome.
In the relevant follow-up reports, it was learned that Pelinka's initial response to the other party was that the Thunder wanted the Lakers' future first-round picks and must put Alexander/Gidey on the shelves, but the Thunder's attitude was tougher and only willing to provide these players with blue-collar attributes, so the two sides had no subsequent transaction negotiations. With the discovery of "hardware" problems (tight salary space) in the process of renewing Munch's contract, the Lakers had to seriously consider the feasibility of the deal. In fact, as early as the middle of the season, there are sources flowing out, the Lakers do not accept to send away Wei Shao by taking the first round of signing, this time, the reason why the Thunder dare to show a strong side, the main reason is that at this stage of Wei Shao is more difficult to shoot.
Moreover, the most critical thing is that once the 2-for-3 deal is reached, the Thunder can help the Lakers create a middle-class exception worth about $10 million, a transaction exception worth about $35 million, so that Pelinka can not only renew Munch, but also use the transaction exception to continue to improve the Lakers lineup. In the eyes of some NBA industry insiders, if the Thunder can give in appropriately and allow the Lakers to exchange the first-round picks for 1-2 second-round picks, then Westbrook is indeed likely to return to his old club in the offseason this year. Do you think the Lakers will renew Munch's contract in order to free up salary space, and finally trade less? Welcome to leave a comment in the comments section below to discuss, thank you for reading and following. Clear the payroll space first! In order to retain Munch, the Lakers began to seriously consider a 2-for-3 trading plan