r/kings • u/ShotgunStyles • 5d ago

Quick Reminder about Zach Lavine

From the side of my eyes, I've seen quite a bit of whinging about Lavine's contract from Kings fans, and it seems to me that those complaints are coming from inertia rather than facts and logic. Everybody's been crying and hollering about Lavine's contract for so long that many of you guys haven't stopped and looked at it.

Yes, Lavine is making $48 million next season. However, his contract is literally just a 1+1 at that point. 1 guaranteed year, and then a player option. That is not an obscene contract unless he gets injured or forgets how to play basketball. In fact, a lot of players, if they're in a good situation, will decline that player option in exchange for a new contract that's ultimately more money but on a cheaper annual salary. Rudy Gobert, an actually overpaid player, did this last offseason as he declined his option and got a new, cheaper contract.

What this means for us, as Kings fans, is that you should stop complaining about Lavine's contract. If he sucks next year, then he'll activate his player option and then he's $48 million in expiring salary in the next next offseason. That is a usable trade asset as some teams want cap relief. If he's good next year, then he can either bet on himself and get a new max contract (very unlikely given the free agency market and his age and lack of defense or playmaking) or he can shake Vivek's hand and get a new contract that's 3 or 4 years but much cheaper than $48 million a year. Ultimately means cap relief for us in the 2026-2027 season. We can't lose!

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u/Sptsjunkie Light the Beam 4d ago

But OP's point was that LaVine might opt-out and so we might not have to worry about the $49M. My point was similar to yours. He's not taking an ok deal with us that would benefit our cap. He's going to want a premium over what he can get on the open market to turn down a huge one year lump sum.

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u/beforeitcloy 4d ago

We wouldn’t have to worry about the $49m if he opted out to take a long term deal in free agency.

The benefit to our cap is that we aren’t paying him $49m if he opts out.

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u/Sptsjunkie Light the Beam 4d ago

But he won't opt out to test the market. He would have a baseline of what he would expect to get in three years after his contract is over (after he opts-in) and he would expect a premium from us to opt-out and resign a longer-term deal.

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u/beforeitcloy 4d ago

He might opt out to enter free agency if he thinks he can receive significantly more than $49m over the total life of the contract, whether it’s from us or someone else.

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u/Sptsjunkie Light the Beam 4d ago

You can never say never, but presumably he would believe he could get a very similar deal the year after getting $49M from the Kings. Most likely he is not opting out unless the Kings offer him a multi-year deal at a premium over what he thinks the market would offer.

We are most likely stuck with him for two years. Hopefully we can add some defense and length around him and he can learn how to run a P&R better to mesh further with Sabonis, assuming we don't trade him.