The Los Angeles Lakers came into this summer armed with around $23 million in salary cap space, but all numbers were estimates as the salary cap for upcoming season hasn’t been set. It was expected to be around $67 million, but it looks like it has risen even more than that.
— Have you seen the ‘Lakers Nation’ phone case? —
According to Yahoo! Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski, the salary cap is expected to rise to $70 million for the 2015-16 season:
The NBA salary cap has risen to $70M for the 2015-'16 season, league sources tell Yahoo Sports.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) July 9, 2015
This is great news for the Lakers as it gives the team a couple extra million dollars to work with as they look to finalize terms on the agreements that they have made.
The trade for Roy Hibbert and the agreement for Lou Williams took up the majority of the Lakers’ expected cap room. The Lakers also came to an agreement with forward Brandon Bass, however leading many to wonder exactly what the final terms of his contract would be.
Additionally, there have been a number of trade rumors surrounding current players Nick Young, Ryan Kelly, and Robert Sacre. Any of those players could still be moved with Young’s name coming up most as he is the most accomplished of the three. His contract is also worth the most, which would give the Lakers a little more room if they do trade him away.
If the Lakers do wind up trading away a couple of players, the higher than expected cap would leave the Lakers with some room to possibly add someone else in free agency. The small forward position in particular could use some strengthening as Kobe Bryant seems like the probable starter at this time with only rookie Anthony Brown, and possibly Julius Randle, who is more of a power forward, backing him up.
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