With Pau Gasol, Jordan Hill, and Chris Kaman all unrestricted free agents this summer, and questionable at best to return, the Lakers have a huge hole in the front court looking ahead to next season.
With a lottery pick in hand, and a lot of cap room available, the Lakers are well-suited to address the issue. And one such solution could be Chicago Bulls forward Carlos Boozer.
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Boozer does have one more season left on his contract, but the Bulls could amnesty Boozer this off-season. If that were to happen, Boozer’s agent could play a role in the Lakers pursuit of the big man, according to Hoops Rumors’ Chuck Myron:
If the Bulls do amnesty Boozer, Stein suggests there’s a chance that agent Rob Pelinka, the rep for Boozer as well as Kobe Bryant, will encourage the Lakers to submit an amnesty waiver claim. That would almost certainly be a partial waiver claim if it were to happen, meaning the Lakers would pay a portion of Boozer’s salary while Reinsdorf would be on the hook for the rest.
There are a lot of ‘ifs’ surrounding the possibility of this pickup. The Bulls apparently would prefer to trade Boozer as opposed to amnestying him. The Lakers may also not want Boozer’s salary on the books, especially if it hinders them from signing someone else they consider a target.
Boozer does only have one more season on his contract, and as was said by Myron, the Lakers could make it a partial waiver claim so it wouldn’t put the entirety of Boozer’s $16.8 million salary on the Lakers cap.
The move could make sense for the Lakers as a one-year stopgap, and the agent ties between Boozer and Bryant do make it a possibility. But there are far too many things that would have to happen first to consider this anything more than speculation.
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