Why the Lakers Should Let Gasol Walk

Why the Lakers should let Pau walk next summer and what they should do with the money?

The major question hanging over the heads of the Los Angeles Lakers is what they should do in 2014 free agency. With Kobe locked up on a massive 2 year $48.5 million deal, the Lakers now know for sure how much room they will have in the impending free agency season. As of today only Kobe, Steve Nash, and Robert Sacre are on the books for next year, while Nick Young has a player option. The salaries are as follows:

Kobe Bryant – $23,500,000
Steve Nash – $9,701,000
Robert Sacre – $915,243
Nick Young (assuming he accepts his player option) – $1,225,995
Total – $35,344,228

The 2014-2015 NBA salary cap is projected to be about $62.1 million so this would leave LA with around $25 – $27 million to spend in the summer. We have been witness to this year’s Laker team which is made up of a bunch of role players and former draft busts such as Wesley Johnson and Xavier Henry. So far the team has been a surprise to say the least as they were able to go 10-9 without the services of star Kobe Bryant. The transition to work Kobe into the rotation has been a little rocky but it was expected as this is basically Bryant’s preseason. To go along with that, Los Angeles has lost all three of their PGs to injury.

Steve Nash is still suffering from nerve damage from the broken leg last season, Jordan Farmar tore a hamstring, and just recently Steve Blake tore a ligament in his elbow. So now not only is Kobe going to have to try and work himself into the rotation but he is going to have to do it running the point. He will most likely be backed up by Xavier Henry and Jodie Meeks at times.

But anyway let’s get back to the point I’m trying to make. LA has the best scoring bench in the league. This is something that they have desperately missed the last couple years. The problem is almost every reserve they have is going to be a free agent. The Lakers cannot afford to lose all of these guys to free agency as they need depth going forward to compete for a championship.

Courtesy: LA Times

The bigger problem is, how will they sign a top free agent and keep all of their role players that have emerged this year. The answer to that question is to let Pau Gasol walk and use the stretch provision on Steve Nash. For those of you that are unfamiliar with the stretch provision, it is basically the amnesty clause but the salary counts against the cap but is spread across, in Nash’s case, the next three seasons. This would free up approximately $6 million more of cap space for the 2014 free agency season. This would boost LA’s cap space to just over $30 million.

Now the reason that I say to let Pau walk is because if I had to guess he is going to be looking somewhere in the $8 million range for next year, possibly even $10 million. Re-signing him for that much money would pretty much kill LA’s chances at bringing back the depth and signing a marquee free agent. Don’t get me wrong, I love Pau and he is one of my favorite Lakers of all time but competing for a championship would be heavily threatened if they were to give Pau that kind of money. However, if he is willing to take a pay cut to around $5 million I would do that in a second even it meant losing a bench player. Also it’s worth noting that the Lakers big man recently said that returning to Memphis to play alongside his brother Marc would be intriguing so they are definitely a possibility to steal Pau away.

Assuming Pau walks and Nash gets the stretch provision, moving forward the Lakers could and should bring back every bench guy that they currently have except Chris Kaman. That would mean re-signing:

Jodie Meeks
Xavier Henry
Shawne Williams
Jordan Hill
Wesley Johnson
Jordan Farmar
Steve Blake

Courtesy: Zimbio

This would allow LA to only need to sign one big name and it gives them the flexibility necessary to do so. The two players that I believe they should throw the kitchen sink at are Luol Deng and Greg Monroe. Deng will be an unrestricted free agent and a reasonable price for him could be an Andre Iguodala type contract at around 4 years $40 million. Deng is still young enough and versatile enough to live up to that kind of contract. Deng provides the defense that the Lakers are desperately missing and he doesn’t need the ball in his hands all of the time so he would fit in perfectly. He can also hit a shot when needed though. Second, Greg Monroe who is a restricted free agent from the Detroit Pistons. I would guess that Detroit does not want to lose Monroe but if the Lakers offered him a big contract, with whatever cap space they had left over from signing the bench guys, may be enough for Detroit to pass up on matching the offer. Monroe is a big body who is still developing and can be a valuable asset moving forward. He is not the best defensive player but he still has a tremendous upside. Monroe is also an unbelievable post player and also a way above average passer for his position. The only issue with signing Monroe would be the question if he would fit into Mike D’Antoni’s system. As we have been witness to thus far, Pau is very disgruntled playing for D’Antoni and no one wants the same problem with a new signee.

Finally, should the Lakers trade Pau or let him walk? If I were the Lakers I would let him walk after the season so he can choose his next destination and be happy. He deserves that as he has helped the Lakers improve from a previous .500 team, on the verge of losing Kobe Bryant to making three straight NBA Finals appearances and winning two. Second, another reason to let Pau walk is that you don’t want to take back any more contracts if you’re LA. If Jimmy Buss is dead set on trading Pau though, he should only trade him if a gets back an expiring contract and/or a draft pick.

Whatever happens, I wish Pau the best. He has had an amazing career so far and should be a Hall of Famer when he retires.

~All salaries credited to Hoopsworld.com~