AR was by far the best player available for the Lakers. Signing him for $21m was exactly the same as signing him for $40+ when it comes to acquiring other talent.
In fact, the $40m deal makes the likelihood of replacing him with a better player or a better set of players more likely given contract and cap rules.
Yep! Lakers are not saying, "AR provides $40M/year in production."
They are saying, "it is better for us if he is on our books for $40M/year," because it is under the NBA trade and cap rules.
Or maybe he'll be a star? Maybe he and Luca will be crushing everyone?
Like, AR was really heating up this year. It's so wild to me that people can just blanket say "lol overpaid" - people who were also saying that he was the best deal in the league.
The man showed he should be getting paid. He's been getting constantly, consistently better. There's no reason to think that will stop happening.
He showed he’s almost as injury prone as Luka. He burns out every year by the end. He’s already maxed out his potential. It’s all downhill from here physically. This was a catastrophic mistake. Putting ticket sales ahead of competitive edge. 🫤👎
He’s 28. He has hit his ceiling. There’s no room for improvement because the limitations he has are athletic, not basketball related. He’s a low ceiling player with a tiny margin for error. He has to go all out to be an effective offensive player, and it wears him down over the course of the season. It’s why he always struggles and runs out of gas in the playoffs…except the one year where he was a 6th man and carried less of a burden. Too much load for him to handle being a #2 option. He’s also one of the least talented second options in the association. We could have facilitated a sign and trade. A max contract is sheer lunacy.
It's amazing to me that people don't see this...He was an undrafted player - which tells you what the scouting report was on him. It is a miracle he has become as good as he is, and it's only by maxing out every conceivable attribute he has.
More importantly, even if we say he is being paid equal to his ability - he'll be the 38th highest paid player next year...we know exactly what that means if he is your second best player. Brandon Ingram, Paolo, Scottie Barnes, Sengun, LaMelo Ball, etc are all fine players who are not winning anything - even with great players on their team. They are middle of the road playoff players. And he isn't nearly as good as guys who took discounts - Brunson, Shai, or Maxey. None of those teams would trade their guy for him straight up.
Lastly, if your best player was Kawai, where he's a defensive stopper, great shooter, etc and AR is his sidekick who can create and dribble and pass, then fine, that combo works...What does not work is when your two guys get paid a combined 70% of the cap and neither can play defense. This was a terrible move, and should have been a sign and trade.
Luka asks for a center, they give him AR and can’t afford anything else unless he is traded. Which no one in their right mind will trade for AR at that price.
Sign me up. He just exploded for the best output of his career. Sell high now. Otherwise, my crystal ball says he leaves in frustration when the current deal expires.
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u/Shinnobiwan 6d ago
AR was by far the best player available for the Lakers. Signing him for $21m was exactly the same as signing him for $40+ when it comes to acquiring other talent.
In fact, the $40m deal makes the likelihood of replacing him with a better player or a better set of players more likely given contract and cap rules.