Jordan Clarkson said he wanted to return to the Lakers (not that he had much choice as a restricted free agent).
Clarkson is getting his wish.
Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports:
Jordan Clarkson has reached agreement on a four-year, $50M deal to return to the Los Angeles Lakers, league sources tell The Vertical.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) July 1, 2016
This is less than the max offer sheet Clarkson could’ve signed as an Arenas Rule free agent -- about $63 million over four years. I think he could have gotten that amount, so I’m a little surprised he agreed to so much less.
I’m also a little surprised the Lakers didn’t have him sign an offer sheet then match it.
The Arenas Rule limits other teams to offering Clarkson the value of the non-taxpayer mid-level exception in the first two years of an offer sheet. Then, the third and fourth years could’ve been worth Clarkson’s max without the Arenas limitation. So, a matched four-year max offer sheet would’ve meant the Lakers were paying over the next four years:
- $5,628,000
- $5,881,260
- $24,955,000
- $26,582,500
The most backloaded possible structuring of the reported deal is:
- $11,235,955
- $12,078,652
- $12,921,348
- $13,764,045
So, the Lakers lose cap flexibility this summer and next -- times they’ll be heavily involved in free agency -- by going this route. The also avoid massive payments in 2018-19 and 2019-20 and save overall.
That makes some sense, considering more cap room now doesn’t mean much when it’s just going toward the players like Timofey Mozgov.
