DocHoliday99

At least bring something credible to the table other than ' a person in the know' or 'unnamed sources' - geeez not asking much. :cookie:

LET'S GO RAPTORS!!!!!

Curious to see what LAL will do in FA next summer.

Shifty.py

Kobe will not take a paycut, its not much left after him eating half of their salary cap
What they should do is trade him (to Charlotte for expirings) this season and build a team for scratch

woodchuck

I think he definitely will. No one's paying a 35 year old coming off Achilles surgery 30 mil. He'll probably end up in the 10-15 mil range.

I'm curious to see what Pau gets. If they manage to get both of them combined for under 20 mil, that might leave them enough room for two max free agents in 2015.

tommysdu

Pay cut maybe, 10-15 range will not work for Kobe's ego. He has recently said in an interview that he's going to sign for the max and not a cent less. Given the right circumstance, i think he will take a little less but 10-15 mil is way too low

woodchuck

You are probably misremembering the interview. Or maybe I missed it. Link?

I remember a recent interview where he said he's not going to promise a paycut and it will all be up to negotiation. Which is fair enough. There's no rule that says NBA players should promise paycuts on TV.

d00little

I saw that interview and there was no mention of "max". What he said was they he was going to try and get every cent he could get. Unless there is another team in the league that is willing to pay him $20-30 million for a year or two, he probably signing back with the Lakers for $15-20 million. Only was I could see him taking less that that is to play with some superstars he is close with (I think Melo could be on of those guys).

woodchuck

I think he will take close to his market value. Which won't be anywhere close to 20 mil, most likely. He's an aging athlete coming off a MAJOR injury. More likely than not, he will be a Paul Pierce / Rudy Gay level player next year.

Also, does anyone honestly think that Kobe is going to go to Hawks or such for 5 extra mil at this point of his career? His agent might go and use it as a negotiations tactic but I don't buy it.

JoeyJoJo Shabbadu

I just heard a rumour that the Blazers were targeting Chris Paul and Tim
Duncan.