RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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See the full story · 1 sourcesThe Memphis Grizzlies created a $28.9 million traded player exception in February, when they sent Jaren Jackson Jr. to Utah. It has gone unused. It expires in February.
Since free agency opened, the Los Angeles Lakers have re-signed Austin Reaves, acquired Walker Kessler on a $130 million contract, signed Collin Sexton with the room mid-level exception, and added Matisse Thybulle. The Kessler deal was structured as a sign-and-trade. That leaves the Lakers hard-capped at the first apron of $209,015,000 for the coming season. Outside of the minimum, they have no exceptions left. LeBron James signed with the Philadelphia 76ers after announcing he'd be leaving the Lakers weeks prior.
Jonathan Kuminga is the piece Los Angeles has chased since. The Lakers hope to package their lone remaining tradeable first-round swap, in 2032, along with Jarred Vanderbilt in a sign-and-trade proposal for the Atlanta Hawks forward, Jake Fischer of The Stein Line reported. That 2032 swap is the last first-round asset the Lakers can trade.
Moving Vanderbilt's $12,428,571 salary would let Los Angeles use an expanded trade exception to take back roughly 200% of what it sends out plus $250,000. That puts a Kuminga starting salary near $21.5 million. A three-year deal under that structure could reach $67.8 million. A four-year deal under that structure could reach $92.5 million.
Vanderbilt is owed potentially two guaranteed seasons. He holds a player option worth roughly $13.29 million for 2027-28. He turned 27 in April, was the 41st overall pick in the 2018 draft, and is represented by Rich Paul of Klutch Sports Group. It's reasonable to expect Vanderbilt to accept that player option.
Brooklyn took Michael Porter Jr. from Denver in the Cameron Johnson trade and received Denver's unprotected 2032 first-round pick. Porter was owed about $40.8 million for this season. Houston paid three second-round picks to move Dorian Finney-Smith, whose contract carried one guaranteed year at $13.3 million.
Vanderbilt's salary would use under half of the Jackson exception. Trade exceptions can be leveraged across multiple transactions inside the one-year window. Memphis would carry roughly $16.5 million of it into the February trade deadline.
On July 7, the Grizzlies sent Santi Aldama and the draft rights to Tarik Biberović to Dallas in a six-team deal and acquired Isaiah Stewart, AJ Johnson, and D'Angelo Russell, whose $6 million salary Washington was moving as a salary dump . Memphis came away with the Warriors' 2030 first-round pick, top-20 protected, along with second-round picks from Houston in 2029, Los Angeles in 2029, and Washington in 2033. Stewart is owed $15 million this season and carries a $15 million team option for 2027-28. Aldama's outgoing salary covered the matching requirement.
Waiving and stretching Vanderbilt has been the other route discussed in Los Angeles this month. Stretching the contract across five seasons would leave roughly $2.5 million against the 2026-27 cap and dead money on the books into the 2030s.
Memphis has completely rebuilt its team after moving on from Desmond Bane, Jaren Jackson Jr., and Ja Morant. The Morant deal returned Jerami Grant, who is owed $34,206,898 this season and holds a $36.4 million player option for 2027-28, along with Kris Murray. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope reached a buyout and signed with Philadelphia. Cameron Boozer arrived as the third overall pick in June.
All six teams in the Stewart trade came out hard-capped at the first apron, per Keith Smith of Spotrac. The Jackson exception was created February 5 and runs one year from that date.
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