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The Los Angeles Lakers and New Orleans Pelicans agreed to a deal to send Anthony Davis to the Lakers on Saturday. Unfortunately, the timing of the deal has some major ramifications on the Lakers' free-agency plans this July.
According to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, Los Angeles is set to only have $23.7 million in cap space because the trade is currently set to be processed on July 6 and Davis doesn't plan to waive his trade bonus worth just over $4 million:
For now, expectation is Anthony Davis trade will be completed on July 6, league sources tell @BobbyMarks42 and me. Assuming Davis declines to void $4M trade bonus, this leaves Lakers with $23.7M in space. There is chance that could be amended to July 30, but it’s still 6th now.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 16, 2019
If the two teams wind up waiting until July 30 to consummate the deal, the Lakers would have over $32 million in cap space because they'd be acting as a team over the cap and would be allowed to use the No. 4 pick as salary. But for now, this isn't the plan:
If Pelicans and Lakers waited until July 30 to complete trade, Lakers could’ve had $32.5M in cap space — enough to pursue a max level free agent. By waiting 30 days, Lakers would be acting like a team over the cap and thus allowed to use 4th overall pick in draft as salary. https://t.co/BdKtxFtvai
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 16, 2019
This is significant news as this likely means the Lakers are out of the running when it comes to signing a desirable third star like Kyrie Irving, Kemba Walker or Jimmy Butler to add to their LeBron-AD tandem. There have already been rumors about Walker being the top priority in free agency, and Irving reportedly still likes the idea of playing with Davis. Los Angeles also reportedly has interest in Butler.
But if they don't have the max cap space to sign those others stars, the Lakers will have to start designing a Plan B now that Plan A might no longer come into fruition.
