The LA Lakers has finally signed Brandon Ingram and now their roster is set, but there is a good reason why they're still involved in NBA Trade Rumors.
The signing of Yi Jianlian was a real head-scratcher for Lakers observers especially since they now have a logjam at both the center and power forward positions.
The Lakers have two young power forwards at their core: Julius Randle and Larry Nance. Both are young and currently healthy and the four position seems set with playing time for the two of them. It is even projected that Luol Deng could play the four in small ball lineups. Thus, acquiring Yi Jianlian, a seven footer who plays power forward, not center, was seen as unnecessary.
According to Lake Show Life writer Ed Schrenzel, the signing could be "a step in the wrong direction." Yi could take away minutes from young center Ivika Zubac and hamper his development.
However, salary cap expert Eric Pincus from Basketball Insiders believes that the unique features of Yi's contract can help the Lakers in future trades. Pincus explained the intricacies of the contract.
"In the case of Yi, his base salary pays just the minimum for a player with five years of experience ($1.1 million). In fact, his full $8 million salary is only guaranteed for $250,000.
The bulk of Yi's contract is incentive-based. The most a team can pay a player in an unlikely incentive is 15 percent of the base salary. In Yi's case, his entire salary, including the $6 million in bonuses, is considered likely by the NBA, opening the door for his uniquely-structured deal," Pincus explained.
"Additionally, teams cannot sign a player with date-based incentives, but the Lakers worked around that limitation by giving Yi bonuses based on number of games played.
If he plays in 20 games, he'll receive a $2.3 million bonus. Then at 40 games, he'll get another $2.3 million, and then again at 59."
Pincus explains that teams over the salary cap could trade for Yi in order to clear some room. The earliest Yi could be traded is December 15. If he does not play 20 games at that time (hereby disqualifying him from the incentives), the Lakers could trade him to a team over the cap and take back as much as 12.1 million in salary. The team that trades for Yi could waive him for just $341,737 (guaranteed salary without any incentives) and that gives them cap savings of $11.8 million.
The 11.8 million savings could mean a lot to over-the-cap contenders who need the space for mid-season trades.
Pincus clarifies that he is not insinuating that the Lakers signed Yi specifically for this purpose. They'd probably want him to be a real contributor. But this is a possibility that they created for themselves and if the right situation presents itself, the signing could be a stroke of genius.