Lakers trade rumors: Why the Kawhi Leonard trade must happen
By Jason Reed
3. Trading for Kawhi Leonard leaves enough room for one or two other superstars
By trading Brandon Ingram the Los Angeles Lakers give themselves another luxury; they can get rid of the contract of Luol Deng.
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Ingram is likely going to be the best trade chip that the Spurs will see from any team. No contending team (unless the 76ers did something insane like trade Joel Embiid) can offer the same promise as Ingram. When you have the best offer on the table, you also can throw in other things.
This trade would likely include Luol Deng; in fact, this deal has to happen with Luol Deng in order for the Lakers to take on the salary of Leonard. According to ESPN’s NBA Trade Machine, the deal failed with just a straight swap of Ingram and Leonard; the Lakers would be taking on $9 million too much.
Adding in Deng not only makes the deal possible but actually opens up just under $4 million in cap space for the offseason. This would move the Lakers’ practical cap space number to that of $65 million. That is with Leonard already on the team.
That is more than enough salary cap space to bring in at least one superstar Offering Kawhi Leonard the super max deal would still leave $30 or so million unused. With Bird Rights on Leonard and also Julius Randle, the Lakers could afford to offer Leonard, someone like Paul George or Klay Thompson next offseason and Randle contracts.
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The same cannot be said if the Lakers want to go with the free agent route. Luol Deng’s contract is still a massive hurdle and the Lakers would need the stars to take a pay cut.