Breaking news from Woj!
The Lakers managed to send Mo Wagner, Isaac Bonga, Jemerrio Jones, and a second-round draft pick to the Wizards who are able to absorb all of that salary with their Jason Smith trade exception from last season. In addition to all of this, Anthony Davis also notified the Lakers that he will waive his trade kicker which was valued at $4 million.
The Lakers now have the space they need to get a 3rd max free agent because they created $32 million in cape space which is exactly what they need to land the likes of Kyrie, Klay, Butler, or another star.
This move essentially saves the Lakers from striking out in free agency because they now have more money to offer stars or they have more flexibility to sign a variety of mid-tier free agents like Malcolm Brogdon, Khris Middleton, and D’Angelo Russell.
From the Wizards point of view, this is a good way for them to grab a couple young players and a draft pick– including Mo Wagner who they were interested in during the 2018 draft. Bonga also has some potential to be a good player in this league and Jemerrio Jones averaged almost 10 and 10 with the Lakers G-League team last season.
However, the most important aspect of the deal – and I cannot emphasize this enough, is that the Lakers now have a chance at a 3rd star and it’s all thanks to Space Jam 2! Without Anthony Davis waiving his trade kicker for $4 million, the Lakers would have been stuck at $27 million which means they would have still been out of the race for a third max star like Kemba Walker or Klay Thompson.
But because AD is in Space Jam 2, LeBron and his people were able to pay Davis $4 million to be in the movie in order to make up for this deficit. I have absolutely no basis for this theory, but I have a feeling that Anthony Davis’ check for his part will be roughly $4 million. Maybe they make it like $4.1 in order to now draw suspicion, but I think it’ll be in that range.
So in conclusion, Space Jam 2 saved LeBron James and the Lakers this offseason.
Without the movie, and without AD starring in it alongside LeBron, the Lakers couldn’t have created the cap space they needed to get a 3rd max player because AD wouldn't have waived his trade kicker since the Klutch couldn't use the movie to pay AD under the table! if the Lakers win a title in the next two years, this movie will be remembered as a transformative moment in Lakers' history! They were able to completely change their free agency chances and now are a threat many other teams need to worry about – thus Bugs Bunny saved the Lakers.