Los Angeles Lakers Rumors

LA Lakers Rumors

Dec 17: Rumors say the Lakers might be considering signing veteran guard Baron Davis who is a free agent after being amnestied by the Cavaliers last week. Davis is an excellent player but currently has back problems and the Lakers could only offer him the veteran's minimum of $1.4 million. With Dwight Howard out of the market (according to his team, the Orlando Magic) the Lakers will have to wait to try to make a deal for him. It could happen during the season and it should involve Andrew Bynum and maybe Pau Gasol

Dec 14: Lakers are again calling the Hornets about Chris Paul and still trying to get Dwight Howard.../ Dec 8: reports say the Lakers had conversations with the Hornets for Chris Paul and with the Magic for Dwight Howard. But none advanced much. The Lakers are ready to trade anybody not called Kobe Bryant and that includes Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol (yes, Pau Gasol) and his big contract. Both New Orleans and Orlando need to trade their stars, with the risk of losing them for nothing via free agency if they don't, but L.A. is not the only team ready to give everything to get them. Boston is offering Rajon Rondo in exchange for Chris Paul and other rumors talk about Clippers Blake Griffin being sent to Orlando...

June 22: The Lakers tried to trade Lamar Odom for Minnesota's No. 2 pick in the 2011 Draft but the conversations ended when the T-Wolves said they'd prefer Andrew Bynum or Pau Gasol. /

Rumors talk about the Lakers having intentions to get point guard Raymond Felton from the Nuggets. Felton is coming off his best NBA season after averaging 15.5 points, 8.3 assists and 1.7 steals in 2010-11 while playing for New York and Denver. Of course his numbers are a little bit unreal after playing most of the season for Mike D'Antoni in NY but he's a good defender and made 45.9 of his 3-pointers in Denver. /

The rumors about a trade that would include Dwight Howard from the Orlando Magic in exchange for Andrew Bynum and somebody else won't end any time soon so expect to hear about them all season long. But a big element to consider here is that Jerry Buss' son Jim is the one that is establishing who has the power in the organization and selecting Mike Brown without even mentioning it to Kobe Bryant was a big move in that direction. And Jim is also the one the picked Bynum and refused to get rid of him in the past when everybody was asking for a trade

May 26: rumors about the coach candidates (Shaw, Adelman, Dunleavy, Van Gundy) ended with the surprising hiring of Mike Brown. Soon the player movement will begin, and most rumors already point to a trade that would include Dwight Howard from the Orlando Magic in exchange for Andrew Bynum and somebody else. But a big element to consider here is that Jerry Buss' son Jim is the one that is establishing who has the power in the organization and selecting Mike Brown without even mentioning it to Kobe Bryant was a big move in that direction. And Jim is also the one the picked Bynum and refused to get rid of him in the past when everybody was asking for a trade

July 16: Derek Fisher will stay, Steve Blake is the new backup point guard and the Lakers wanted to bring Raja Bell to complete the backcourt but since Bell signed with Utah the Lakers are again trying to bring Shannon Brown back.

July 13: The Lakers most surely won't try to retain Shannon Brown and the names mentioned to fill out the backcourt spots are Raja Bell and Shaun Livingston.

Including Fisher the Lakers have 9 players under contract for a total payroll of $89.09 million, this is $18 million above the luxury-tax threshold and they still have to add at least four more players. Two of them could be draft picks small forward Devin Ebanks and power forward Derrick Caracter who would be very cheap with $473,604 rookie contracts and would replace free agents Mbenga, Powell and Morrison

July 1: The possible departure of free agents Jordan Farmar and Shannon Brown (not to mention Derek Fisher) could leave a big hole in the Lakers backcourt and rumors say the Lakers have a list of names that include point guards Steve Blake, Luke Ridnour and Earl Watson. They earned between $4 and $6.5 million last season, salaries that the Lakers wouldn't come close to matching so a low-cost alternative might be Javaris Crittenton the same that was was drafted by the Lakers in 2007. Uptade: Lakers signed Steve Blake

If Mbenga, Powell and Morrison leave the Lakers will not heavily go after frontcourt players in free agency since they are optimistic about their draft picks, small forward Devin Ebanks and power forward Derrick Caracter who are also very cheap.

July 31: The Lakers decided to bring Ron Artest, let Trevor Ariza go and after many comings and goings Odom agreed to stay, and basically all rumors are over. The only remaining issues are Kobe's contract extension and the team option on Sun Yue's final year of contract. Everybody believes that the Chinese player won't return and that now with Odom's situation resolved, Kobe will sign a three-year extension on top of his two remaining ye

July 23: The Los Angeles Lakers have restarted contract negotiations with free-agent forward Lamar Odom. According to sources the talks are productive but nothing is imminent. The Lakers are not believed to have improved the offers they retracted last week

July 15: Tired of waiting for an answer the Lakers decided to pull their offer to Lamar Odom. More than a week ago the team owner Jerry Buss offered him and his agent two deals of 4 years at $9 million a season for a total of $36 million or 3 years at $10 million for a total of $30 million, but they did not respond and his agent has been talking with the Dallas Mavericks and Miami Heat. Many believe that Odom wanted to accept Buss' offer but he has failed to convince his agent.

July 1: The Suns and Spurs are interested in trying to sign Odom. Detroit, Oklahoma City, Memphis, Atlanta, Toronto, Portland and Sacramento are the teams with sallary space to sign Odom or Ariza. If the Lakers are unable to sign both, they might go after Houston forward Ron Artest. /

It was though that after the 2009 playoffs the Lakers would have to decide between unrestricted free agents Trevor Ariza and Lamar Odom. But both players were key parts of the Championship roster and Phil Jackson said it wasn't "written in stone" that one of them would leave..

The Lakers have already committed $75.9 million to 10 players for the 2009-10 season (including 23 million for Kobe) and Odom, who will be 30 in November and was paid $14.1 million this season, would have to take a significant pay cut to stay ($10 million?). Ariza, who will be 25 years old next season, made $3.1 million but his stellar performance will secure him more than the double of that at L.A. or somewhere else. If they sign both, the Lakers could be paying salaries for about 90 million, not to mention another $20 million in luxury taxes.

LA Lakers Rumors Archive