Lakers Are Favorites To Sign $120 Million 12-Time All-Star

The Los Angeles Lakers will probably make more changes early in the season and experts believe they have a chance to sign a 12-time All-Star. Head coach Darvin Ham could really use another superstar.

Sportsbetting.ag suggests that the Lakers have the best chance to get Chris Paul when compared to other teams. Imagine him in LA! Paul inked a four-year deal worth $120 million in August 2021. The Phoenix Suns guard has a partially guaranteed deal for the 2023-24 season.

Donnie Druin from Sports Illustrated believes that the Suns will cut ties with Paul this offseason. This would make him an unrestricted free agent and the Lakers could get him without pulling awkward trade moves.

“The Suns would only be on the hook for about half of Paul’s $30.8 million hit should they cut him before the beginning of the 2023-24 season, as his deal would become fully guaranteed on 6/28/2023,” Druin wrote. “The last year of Paul’s deal would see no guaranteed money attributed to Phoenix’s cap if he’s waived by 6/28/2024. After that date, the deal becomes fully guaranteed.”

Let’s not forget that the Lakers got Paul from the New Orleans Hornets in December 2011. However, Former NBA commissioner David Stern blocked the trade and Paul joined the Los Angeles Clippers.

Lakers have a big chance to sign the All-Star

Tim Mac MacMahon from ESPN said that the Suns will probably try to find a trade partner for Paul this summer. They missed the chance to make the NBA Finals which puts Paul in a rather uncomfortable position.

“There is also wondering around the NBA, according to league sources, about whether Chris Paul and Deandre Ayton — two players who were driving forces in Phoenix’s run to the 2021 NBA Finals but were sidelined for Thursday’s elimination game — will wear a Suns uniform again, “MacMahon wrote. “Paul, 38, who missed the final four games of the series against the Nuggets because of a strained left groin and showed signs of decline throughout the season, is guaranteed a little more than half of his $30.8 million salary for next season. The salary would become fully guaranteed on June 28, and the Suns are expected to explore what they might get if they traded Paul before making a decision on his contract.”