IF the Lakers trade for Bynum, he will not see one minute in a Laker Uniform. Here's the deal. Bynum needs to be traded by January 7th or the remainder of his contract is guaranteed.
This is why all of this talk is going on now, and not closer to the trade deadline. If the Lakers trade Gasol, and don''t get any other assets that are not expiring at the end of the year, they will have saved themselves 20 million dollars in a combination of cap space and luxury tax dollars. They are going to release Bynum immediately after the trade, since he has no guaranteed money up until January 7th.
This is simply a financial move. They know full well that they have little to no shot of making the playoffs, so why not get luxury tax dollars off of the books. No point in paying that much of a penalty for a team going nowhere.
@Badass Vidal
The Lakers have their 2014 1st round draft pick, and if there was a year to keep it, this is the year. Deepest draft in 15 years, where they are prediciting that the Top 10 players in the draft could all be future stars in the NBA. This year's pick was traded, but it is Top 20 protected. Since the Lakers will not be one of the top 10 teams in the league, the pick stays with them this year. A future draft 1st round draft pick is transferrable provided it is not in the top 20, up until 2018, when it is unprotected.
They don't have a 2015 or 2017 1st round draft pick as of right now.
Look for them to trade off Jordan Hill and Chris Kaman by the trade deadline to pick up additional assets. Nick Young could go as well, since the three aforementioned players are free agents at the end of the year.
Blow it all up, I say.
I've said that since the beginning of the season, but Jim Buss obviously didn't agree with me
They could also waive Steve Nash under the stretch provision clause next year, and have his 9.2 million dollar cap hit stretched out over 3 seasons.