Post by Walt Frazier on Jan 1, 2021 4:15:36 GMT
FRED VANVLEET
LOS ANGELES LAKERS
Year 1: $26,000,000
Year 2: $26,000,000
Year 3: $26,000,000
Year 4: $26,000,000 (PO)
Total: $104,000,000
LOS ANGELES LAKERS
Year 1: $26,000,000
Year 2: $26,000,000
Year 3: $26,000,000
Year 4: $26,000,000 (PO)
Total: $104,000,000
Fred received very strong interest from both the Indiana Pacers and the Los Angeles Lakers. While Indiana was the first to offer, pretty much right out of the gate (a full month ago!), the Lakers came in strong and continued to push up the price-tag. About a week and a half ago, both teams had similar total-money offered (about $88-89MM), obvious starting roles, and not terribly-different contending-outlooks for this season, and arguably similar-enough windows going forward. While the Pacers have way more picks currently in their possession in the coming years, the Lakers arguably have a little more higher-upside young players on the roster already. Both have a sort of aging star in DeRozan / CP3, and some supporting cast. While there was discussion about whether CP3 & FVV would fit together, ultimately the committee was open to it being reasonably possible since FVV plays with Lowry IRL. And CP3 proved he could work with SGA last year, too.
Anyway, we asked both teams if they were willing to increase their offers; to make one final offer. The Lakers pushed in all their chips, increasing the total money by about $15MM. The Pacers were then given the chance to match. The committee agreed, if the money was equal, he would return to Indiana, where he spent last season. However, the Pacers declined to match the offer.
At the end of the day, that was just too much money to pass up and made all of the other factors semi-irrelevant. Fred believes in himself and thinks he is a fantastic player in this league. He can not wait to play with Hall-of-Famer Chris Paul! He's excited about the rest of the core, featuring Bojan Bogdanovic, RJ Barrett, Precious Achiuwa, Dillon Brooks, and Kevin Porter Jr! And, he's excited about the money the Lakers were willing to offer, showing their belief in his talent!
Congratulations Mark Price and the Los Angeles Lakers!