The trade deadline has come and passed, and like in the previous two years, it was relatively quiet. The biggest name to have been traded is the Indiana Pacer’s ex-franchise player Danny Granger, who was sent to the Philadelphia 76ers for Evan Turner and LaVoy Allen. We’re not going to provided in-depth analysis on that trade because, well, this is LAKERS Nation, not Pacers Nation. But I will tell you this: it’s a good gamble for the Pacers. Evans was a good player for a bad Sixers team. If he keeps up his play for Indiana, then yay! If he turns out to be a bust, the Pacers could just let him walk away in free agency come July.
As for our beloved purple and gold, they were one of the noisy ones in the rumor mill leading to the trade. Pau Gasol, Jordan Hill, Steve Blake and Chris Kaman were all involved in trade rumors. Out of the four, only Blake was traded for real – having been sent to Golden State Warriors in exchange for Kent Bazemore and MarShonBrooks — and the other three stay with the Lakers for at least the remainder of the season.
The Blake for Bazemore and Brooks Trade
This trade is more complicated than you’d think. First of all, Blake’s salary and the two Warriors’ salaries don’t match, making this trade illegal on normal circumstances. Secondly, Brooks was traded to the Warriors from the Boston Celtics on January 15. He can’t be packaged with another player in a trade for two months per CBA rules. That would be way beyond the February 20 trade deadline. We know the trade happened. But how?
It’s a very complex matter but I’ll simplify it the best I can (but if you want to further complicate your life and read the full explanation, read this SB Nation article) With regards to the salary differential, the Warriors used a Traded Player Exception (which was worth $4million – exactly what Blake’s contract was worth) it acquired in a trade with the Utah Jazz for Brandon Rush last summer, thus making the trade legal.(To fully understand what a TPE is, read Larry Coon’s Salary Cap FAQ here.)
As for the Brooks issue, he can be packaged with Bazemore as long his salary is NOT aggregated with that of Bazemore’s in the structuring of the trade. (To understand what salary aggregation means and what it has to do with a trade, read it here)
Despite the Lakers saying the contrary, many analysts see this deal as a salary dump. The Lakers are over the luxury tax threshold for the third straight year, which means they’re in danger of paying the Repeater Tax if that stays the same come the end of the season. And as I’ve stated in my previous article, paying an insane amount of money in a losing season is a no-no! With that said, they need to shed some salary to get below the threshold. One way to accomplish that is through trading.
I see this swap as a win-win for both the Lakers and Warriors. Golden State needed a reliable backup for Future Laker (loljk) Stephen Curry and that’s what Steve Blake brings to the table – reliability. The Lakers got a much needed salary dump – shredding about $2million worth of salary in the trade, which translates to about $3.5 million in tax savings – and got two young players with potential.
KENT BAZEMORE
MARSHON BROOKS
Bazemore and Brooks’ stats aren’t exactly great but that’s mostly because they’re buried deep in the bench of their former teams. However, as fellow Lakers Nation PH writer Kat Padilla points out in her article, Coach Mike D’Antoni has a habit of reviving/giving a spark to the careers of neglected players and I believe he’ll be able to resurrect the careers of these two promising players – especially Brooks. He was a top 10 candidate for Rookie of the Year in 2011-2012 and he might be able show why he was in the R.O.Y conversations if he flourishes in MDA’s system. (So far, so good! Bazemore and Brooks combined for 29 points to help the Lakers beat the Celtics 101-92 to snap an 8-game home losing streak)
Gasol, Hill and Kaman all get to stay!
While the fan in me is ecstatic that the three big guys got to stay and keep playing for the Lakers until the end of the season, another part of me is disappointed that the team stood pat as the deadline expired. First of all, as I’ve stated earlier, the Lakers are still over the luxury tax threshold. The Blake traded decreased the amount of tax to be paid, but it wasn’t enough. The team is still in danger of paying the Repeater Tax. However, GM Mitch Kupchak has said before that the Lakers find the idea of salary dumping to be “unacceptable”, so there’s that.
I’m just not comfortable with the Lakers paying a huge amount of cash in tax when they’re not even going to make the playoffs. But the thing is, Mitch is the GM, not me, not you, so we just have to put our trust in him.
Gasol, Hill, and Kaman are going to become free agents in the summer. Gasol can still be utilized in the summer if the Lakers choose to retain his Bird Rights (meaning to not renounce them) via a sign-and-trade deal that could bring a player the Lakers can use in the long run. Hill and Kaman are unlikely to re-sign with the Lakers (they’re not exactly BFF’s with D’Antoni, who will still be the coach next year). The team could’ve gotten rid of them at the trade deadline and got some sort of asset – second round draft picks, maybe. Now they’re just walking away for peanuts in the summer, similar to what happened last summer.
Disappointing trade deadline aside, we still have reasons to cheer. Kupchak has a habit of pulling off deals that seem impossible to the normal human being. I don’t why it won’t happen in the next two years. Remember, in Mitch we trust!
And oh, Lakers fans still have Andrew Wiggins, Jabari Parker, Joel Embiid, Dante Exum and company to forward to in June! And maybe Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving, too.
patrickkennan.com 