The Los Angeles Lakers made another massive offseason splash on Thursday when they traded Mo Wagner, Isaac Bonga and Jemerrio Jones to the Washington Wizards as part of the deal with the New Orleans Pelicans for All-Star big man Anthony Davis.
Along with that stunning news, it was also reported that Davis will in fact be waiving his $4 million trade kicker. These two revelations will now give the Lakers the cap space necessary to sign another player to a max contract.
The Lakers are trading Mo Wagner, Isaac Bonga and Jemerrio Jones to Wizards as part of the Anthony Davis deal with New Orleans, league sources tell @ZachLowe_NBA and me. Deal clears contracts and creates more cap space for free agency.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 27, 2019
Anthony Davis is waiving his $4M trade kicker, league sources tell ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 27, 2019
The Lakers will start free agency with $32M in salary cap space. The Lakers have the ability to sign a max player now.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 27, 2019
Lakers GM Rob Pelinka has found a way to complete the Anthony Davis trade on July 6 with max space to spend on a single free agent — or divide the money among multiple players.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 27, 2019
This is incredible news if you are a Lakers fan. It indicates that the Lakers are indeed serious about pairing LeBron James and Davis with another star to create the next true superteam in the NBA.
Now, the Lakers will have the ability to either pick among stars such as Kyrie Irving, D’Angelo Russell, Kawhi Leonard, and more.
With this trade seemingly complete, there is no doubt that it is an incredibly exciting time to be a fan of the Lakers.
