In the aftermath of the D’Angelo Russell/Nick Young Snapchat scandal, one thing is clear: those two cannot be teammates next season. And Russell, at age 20 with franchise-level talent, is too valuable to trade, which means Swaggy P will be the one the Lakers try to unload, according to Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times:
The problem is that Young has two years and $11 million left on his contract, including a player option for the 2017-18 season. Even with the rising salary cap, that much money for a player whose performance has fallen off consistently over the last several years is going to be a tough sell unless the Lakers include another asset, of which they don’t have a lot they can really afford to part with.
More likely, the Lakers will end up waiving Swaggy under the stretch provision.