What are the Los Angeles Lakers players’ salaries for the 2022-23 NBA season?
With criticism suggesting that they’ve only been interested in ‘bank book basketball,’ the Lakers now face an uphill task of free cap space, but what are the salaries of the roster like?
When looking at salaries across the league for the 2022-23 regular season, figures really doesn’t get any higher than those found on the roster of the Los Angeles Lakers. Yet when considering their recent lack of success, is that really a good thing?
The salaries of the Los Angeles Lakers for 2022-23
While the likes of LeBron James, Anthony Davis and Russell Westbrook are all on extremely lucrative deals, the rest of the roster isn’t earning peanuts by any means. Indeed, since the Lakers became bogged down by their luxuriant team bankroll, one could be forgiven for thinking that it’s not worth it. Even more so when considering last season’s failure to make the playoffs. On the other hand, though he’s owed $47 million, this will in fact be Westbrook’s last year on the books which will undoubtedly free up a great deal of cap space for the following season. Add to that the fact that a number of players on the Lakers roster will become free agents after this coming season and you’ve got a fair chance that the Lakers could escape the curse of the checkbook. Regardless, here’s a look at the complete Lakers squad and their respective salaries for the 2022-23 NBA regular season:
| Rank | Player | Salary |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Russell Westbrook | $47,063,478 |
| 2 | LeBron James | $44,474,988 |
| 3 | Anthony Davis | $37,980,720 |
| 4 | Patrick Beverley | $13,000,000 |
| 5 | Lonnie Walker IV | $6,479,000 |
| 6 | Kendrick Nunn | $5,250,000 |
| 7 | Damian Jones | $2,298,000 |
| 8 | Juan Toscano-Anderson | $1,968,175 |
| 9 | Troy Brown | $1,968,175 |
| 10 | Thomas Bryant | $1,968,175 |
| 11 | Wenyen Gabriel | $1,878,720 |
| 12 | Jay Huff | $1,637,966 |
| 13 | Austin Reaves | $1,563,518 |
| 14 | Max Christie | $1,017,781 |
| 15 | Javante McCoy | $1,017,781 |
| 16 | Fabian White | $1,017,781 |
| 17 | Cole Swider | $508,891 |
| 18 | Scottie Pippen Jr. | $508,891 |
| Team Total | NA | $171,767,528 |
Where does that leave the Los Angeles Lakers?
Much like their city counter parts the Los Angeles Rams, the Lakers have spent a great deal of money in the last few years in an effort to construct a championship team. To be fair to LA, they did in fact achieve that in 2020, but since then, a series of untimely injuries and the now much maligned Russell Westbrook project have got in the way of a team that seemed to be once again on the cusp of greatness. To make matters worse, their constant focus on signing marquee players led to a deficiency in the future building department. What’s that mean? Quite frankly, the Lakers didn’t pay enough attention to protecting their draft picks and with that they won’t see a first-round pick until 2027 and then again in 2029. Not ideal to say the least, especially when considering that in all likelihood, any move to offload Westbrook would have to include at least one of those picks.
If they can manage to get Westbrook off the books, it would create a massive amount of cap space for the Lakers. Alongside that, you’ve got Kendrick Nunn, Wenyen Gabriel, Juan Toscano-Anderson, Troy Brown Jr, Damian Jones, and Lonnie Walker all hitting free agency, which is to say the Lakers could be working with more than $60 million come next season. It goes without saying, that such an amount would go a long way towards acquiring the kind of talent that could compliment LeBron James and Anthony Davis.