Lakers Start off aggresive going after Gary Payton.

One scenario has the Lakers offering Payton something like a four-year deal for about $22 to $23 million.

Payton, who'll be 35 this month, has said he'd like to play for the Lakers but wants more money. He has suggested that the Lakers try to work out a sign-and-trade with the Milwaukee Bucks in order for him to get a bigger payday, something in the range of $7 to $8 million per year.

Source: http://www.pe.com/sports/lakers/stories ... a1077.html

GP needs to give a lil'.... A sign and trade is too much for the Lakers. If GP wants a championship, like he's been sayin, then money shouldn't be an issue, as long as he's gettin paid something. Sure he's worth a lot, but he doesn't need to get greedy.

as much as it pains me to say this I think it looks pretty bleak for the lakers right now. I don't see us getting much of anything this offseason. For some reason I get the feeling management will find a way to completly screw this up. Call me crazy, call me stupid, call me pesimistic, but check our GM's track record before you do so. It's looking grim

with that said I would rather get Arenas than Payton simply because I like to keep an eye toward the future. Kobe and Gilbert to quote Mr. Burns would be "excellent".

I though by not picking up the option on Horry this year we got relieved off his 5.3 million contract. Which means more money to spend on free agents. But if Payton wants to go after the 7 to 8 mil. salary range, then I would rather get two productive free agents that we can fit with that amount, instead of settling for just one.

LakersGyrl2003 wrote:GP needs to give a lil'.... A sign and trade is too much for the Lakers. If GP wants a championship, like he's been sayin, then money shouldn't be an issue, as long as he's gettin paid something. Sure he's worth a lot, but he doesn't need to get greedy.

That's the way it goes though, and I wouldn't necessarily call it being greedy. You and I would do the same thing to ensure we make the most amount of money while we still can. How many serious superstars have forgone big money to try and play for a ring, more often than not it's a negotiation tactic. Actually I can't even think of one, I'd be interested to hear a few examples.

Kobe_One_Kenobi_8 wrote:I though by not picking up the option on Horry this year we got relieved off his 5.3 million contract. Which means more money to spend on free agents. But if Payton wants to go after the 7 to 8 mil. salary range, then I would rather get two productive free agents that we can fit with that amount, instead of settling for just one.

From what I understand of the Salary cap...even without Rob's 5.3Mil we are still over the cap. Meaning, whatever number we are under the cap is what we can offer to Free Agents. Since we are still over, we can only offer the MLE, LLE, and I think the veteran's minimum to a FA.

sorry guy's go too nba.com for this-------------They also are making pitches to Gary Payton, Juwan Howard, P.J. Brown, Brad Miller and Derrick Coleman. But after two days of talks, it has become clear most of them are out of the Lakers' price range.

Payton is demanding considerably more than the $4.7 million the Lakers can pay, and will only come to the Lakers in a more lucrative sign-and-trade deal. The Lakers do not have the assets to swing a deal with the Milwaukee Bucks and therefore have little chance of landing Payton. are there any other good points out there?

Well then that's his lost... We only wanted him to play for us so he can actually finally get to experience a championship, and be a part of a winning season.. I guess the greed do get greedier. He shouldn't even demand that much, he's been playin for over 10 years, and he should have tons of money saved up by now..

Go with it. Hell not only will we get our guards some help they need. We will get a permanent 3rd scorer, and one hell of a player.

BayAreaLakerFan wrote:

Kobe_One_Kenobi_8 wrote:I though by not picking up the option on Horry this year we got relieved off his 5.3 million contract. Which means more money to spend on free agents. But if Payton wants to go after the 7 to 8 mil. salary range, then I would rather get two productive free agents that we can fit with that amount, instead of settling for just one.

From what I understand of the Salary cap...even without Rob's 5.3Mil we are still over the cap. Meaning, whatever number we are under the cap is what we can offer to Free Agents. Since we are still over, we can only offer the MLE, LLE, and I think the veteran's minimum to a FA.

If we're already paying the tax on Rob's 5.3M, then what's to stop Mitch from using that freed money on another player? His main focus is to deepen our roster, not to reduce our salaries below the cap.

How and why are we still over the cap???

Can someone please give me the site that shows the Lakers' CAP figure.

K1K...

http://www.hoopshype.com/salaries/la_lakers.htm

If Karl accepts the LLE, this puts pressure on GP. I think if Malone signs for the LLE, payton will want to be a part of this special season.

Thanks for the site Coppertop.

We are over the top. I was checking the cap figure for the Kings and the Mavs for next year, and they are similar to ours. Man, Shaq makes a lot. He better reverts back to his MVP form, because with his 29-32 million a year contract, we can get two superstars with that money.

This is a great site.