Big winner here, Rich Paul, muscled this like a muthafucka. Brilliant maneuvering by him to force this to happen.

The league always has a hand in the big deals and this was like a bank bailout for the Lakers. They fucked up for years but were "too big to fail."

You wanna say "OH BUT THEY GAVE UP A LOT?" Did they? Two guys coming off season-ending injuries, one of which has had a series of injuries and the other of which may have a chronic condition. They keep Kuzma. The No. 4 pick is a nice chip but without it they aren't even in business here and it's far from a lock for a star in this draft.

Nice deal for the Lakers, especially because by my count they still have well over $30M in cap space. That's enough to create a big three then use the MLE, vet min, etc to fill out the roster. Kuz is still on a cheap deal, obviously.