Los Angeles Lakers Players Info.
Kobe Bryant has five years left on one of the richest contracts in the league. The Lakers still owe Kobe more than $100 million dollars over that span. It's a good thing that he is one of the top three players in the league. Bryant had an incredible year scoring the ball as he averaged 35.4 points per game. He hits big shots, is unstoppable from anywhere on the court, and he can get to the free throw line whenever he wants (with a little help from the referees). On any given night, he might even do something legendary (81 points ring a bell?). If any player in this league is worth that kind of money, it's Kobe.
On the other end of the spectrum is the player with the great first name, Smush Parker. The young journeyman was amazingly the third leading scorer on the team at 11.5 ppg while contributing 3.7 assists and 1.7 steals each night. Parker will be paid a mere $798,112 dollars next season, exactly 4.5% of what Kobe will make. Despite his struggles in the Suns playoff series, Smush is quite a bargain.
Lamar Odom is the other highly paid Laker with three years and over $40 million left on his contract. He still needs to score more to improve his 14.8 average, but with Kobe taking all those shots, his difficulty is understandable. Odom was still able to average 9.2 rebounds and 5.5 assists, which was the second highest total of his career. The versatile forward is a key piece of the puzzle and will need to continue his stellar play.
The Lakers will save $10 million dollars in cap space this summer when the contracts of Devean George, Slava Medvedenko, and Vlade Divac come off the books. That's right, Vlade Divac was on their payroll this season.
The Bad: The news is good and bad for the Lakers concerning Brian Grant's contract. The bad news is that his deal will still count $15.5 million against next season's salary cap. The good news is that it is the final year of the deal and after being waived under the Allan Houston rule, his salary will not count against the luxury tax. Grant's contract will finally be a memory next summer.
Kwame Brown is still young, still developing his skills, and still shows some promise. However, at $8.2 and $9 million the next two seasons, he is an expensive project. Brown contributed just 7.4 points and 6.6 rebounds per game this season. He will need to average nearly a double-double to earn that kind of money.
It's hard to believe that L.A. will pay Aaron McKie $2.7 million dollars next year. McKie played just a few minutes in 14 games this season. The veteran guard is contributing nothing to this team.
The Future: It was a surprise when Phil Jackson returned to coach the Lakers, especially after his public rifts with Kobe Bryant. They have been able to make it work and the team is playing better under the experienced Jackson. Young players like Luke Walton, Brian Cook, and Sasha Vujacic have been able to find roles on this team and can perform them well. Still, is this a team that can climb its way into the top four of the Western Conference? No. The Lakers are one quality post player from being considered a contender. Lamar Odom is an inside/outside player and Kwame Brown may not get much better, which means L.A. will need to find an inside presence at some point.
Could they find that presence in… Minnesota? If the Wolves start struggling again next season, the already frustrated Kevin Garnett could demand a trade and the Lakers would certainly come calling. KG and Kobe would be a match made in heaven and would instantly make the Lakers a contender. However it's questionable if the Lakers have enough pieces to make such a deal happen.
Bonus Points… for convincing Phil Jackson to return. This is by far Phil's toughest coaching test to date. If he can improve the Lakers to a 50-win team next season, he will show that he can win games without Jordan and Shaq. Jackson's experience is tough to beat and after patching things up with Kobe, anything is possibl
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