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Los Angeles Lakers give up fifth-year goalie Quinn Cook, say Athlete’s Shams Charania. Cook, a longtime Lakers fan who won a championship with the team last season, struggled to find minutes in a revamped rotation. The decision serves several purposes from a file creation perspective.
The decision to forgo Cook will not cost the Lakers money from a cap perspective. His contract was not guaranteed, and the deadline for renouncing these agreements before guaranteeing them is Saturday, February 27. The Lakers have apparently decided they prefer Cook’s freedom over his retention. They can exercise this freedom in various ways.
The easiest way would be to just sign another player. The Lakers are reportedly interested in bringing back DeMarcus Cousins, who is released by the Houston Rockets, for The Athletic’s Shams Charania. However, they couldn’t have signed it immediately, as they are pressed against the hard cap. Using the mid-level exception for non-taxpayers (on Montrezl Harrell) and the biannual exception (on Wes Matthews) this offseason, the Lakers have pledged to stay below the cap of $ 138.9 million for all season.
They cannot legally exceed it for no reason. With just over $ 138 million in salary on their books, they had less than $ 1 million to operate. They wouldn’t even have been able to legally sign another player until February 24, when the prorated share of the veteran’s minimum drops low enough to fit in their space. Now they can sign another player a little earlier. With Cook leaving, they now have two empty list slots to use in the buyout market. As long as they have 14 players when the dust settles, they are free to consider a variety of options.
One possible under-the-radar explanation for the move is that the Lakers wanted to free up money to use in a trade. With so little space under the hard ceiling before giving up on Cook, they would have struggled to make an unbalanced trade from a ceiling perspective. Every penny counts, and now the Lakers could potentially absorb a player who earns a little more than anyone they send.
The Lakers have now lost three straight games without Anthony Davis and Dennis Schroder, and it is becoming clear that their offense has flaws that need outside help. It remains to be seen how Rob Pelinka tackles these flaws, but giving up Cook gives him the flexibility to do it however he sees fit.
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