After acquiring Steve Nash, Dwight Howard, and Antawn Jamison throughout the off-season, the Los Angeles Lakers have a $97,740,731 payroll. This is an absolutely outrageous number. The only team that is even close to this sum is the Miami Heat, and they still spend $15,000,000 less.
Kobe Bryant is the highest paid player in the NBA and is set to make $27,849,000 this year. After this season, Bryant will be going into his last year remaining on his contract in which he is getting paid over $30,000,000!
After finalizing the four team trade today, the Lakers will pay Dwight Howard $19,261,200 for just one season. After that, Dwight will be free to test the market if he chooses to. However, Los Angeles seems confident that Howard will re-sign with the team after being in a championship environment. So between Bryant and Howard, the Lakers are spending just about $47,000,000.
After several trade rumors surfacing these past few years, Pau Gasol has somehow managed to remain in Los Angeles. He is going into his second to last year on his contract and is slated to make exactly $19,000,000. This means that the Lakers pay $66,000,000 for their top three players! That is more than many entire teams including the Charlotte Bobcats and Toronto Raptors. And that is more money than the big three in Miami will make this year.
In a surprise move, the Lakers were able to acquire Steve Nash in a sign and trade deal with the Phoenix Suns. The Lakers will pay him $8,900,000. Nash is a key component to a championship roster and arguably one of the greatest point guards of all time. He may be aging, but this guy can still ball and is definitely worth the cash.
Rounding out the starting five is most likely going to be Metta World Peace (formerly Ron Artest) who will make $7,258,960. This means that Los Angeles is spending about $82,000,000 on their starting five. That is just about the entire pay roll for the Miami Heat! But the Lakers need a bench, don’t they?
Back-up point guard Steve Blake will make $4,000,000 this upcoming year and fellow point guard Chris Duhon who was just acquired in the blockbuster deal will get paid $3,680,000. They also owe Jordan Hill 3.5 million dollars. And the Lakers managed to sign Antawn Jamison for just the veteran’s minimum, which is a great deal for Los Angeles. They needed a good 6th man and luckily Jamison was willing to sign for the minimum to play with a contender.
With a couple other reserves on the team, this brings the Lakers payroll to over 97 million dollars. With the talent that the Lakers have, and the amount of money they are spending, they will be a serious contender for a championship.
I believe that the Lakers have emerged as the best team in the entire NBA. The Thunder and Heat may have something to say about that, but the Lakers are poised to win another ring. For the Lakers, it is championship or bust and with an aging roster, they are built to win NOW!
But if the Lakers come up short, they will PAY the consequences…
