Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports
The Los Angeles Lakers payroll will be extensive next season when the luxury tax begins to take its toll. Three of the top ten earning players in the NBA, Kobe Bryant, Dwight Howard and Pau Gasol play for the Lakers. The payroll is currently $100,131,988. Next year, it will be $78,186,630 without Howard and Earl Clark. And the $30 million in luxury taxes they paid this year becomes $85 million next.
There is a chance the team will have to take cost cutting measures. Coming off a disappointing season, the Lakers will need to make roster changes in order to become better. They have the option to amnesty one active player but Gasol would be a poor choice to cut.
Kobe Bryant will be out for at least the first half of the season with his achilles injury. If Dwight Howard resigns with this team, it will be a max deal. Gasol, Howard and Steve Blake have become the Lakers big three in Bryant’s absence and the most successful roster blend the Lakers were able to find.
If Howard resigns with the Lakers, he needs a veteran player who won’t infringe on him. Howard has been a new player since Bryant’s injury. Gasol and Howard play well together. If this season has taught anyone anything, it’s that Howard and Bryant aren’t the easiest teammates. If the Lakers were to amnesty Gasol, there is no telling how another player would blend with them both, especially the premier player type that the Lakers would undoubtedly bring in.
The Lakers would save luxury tax if they amnesty Gasol but they would still have to pay his salary. However, the type of player they would need to replace him would come with a big salary as well and there is no guarantee that he would work out as well as Gasol has.
