The Lakers Expanded The Anthony Davis Trade And Now Have Room For A Max Free Agent

Much has been made of the various mechanisms behind the Anthony Davis trade that handcuffed the amount of money the Los Angeles Lakers would have on the free agency market. But after a pair of details became more clear on Thursday afternoon, the Lakers got a clear runway to go big game hunting, as the team freed up the necessary space to acquire one more max free agent.

According to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, the trade that sent Davis to Los Angeles has been expanded to include a trio of players — Moe Wagner, Isaac Bonga, and Jemerrio Jones — going to the Washington Wizards, which inches the Lakers closer to freeing up the necessary room.

Shams Charania of The Athletic brings word that the Lakers will unload a second round draft pick to facilitate this move.

But still, one more move was needed to get Los Angeles over the finish line, and right after the expanded trade was announced, it happened. Woj reported that Davis will waive his $4 million trade kicker, which gets the Lakers to a point where they can offer one player in this summer’s free agency madness a max deal.

Of course, this money doesn’t have to go to one player, and Los Angeles can very easily choose to spread that out among a handful of guys instead. But still, that is not the Lakers’ M.O., and while it’s hard to speculate what could be in store for them once free agency opens up on June 30 at 6 p.m., things just became a whole lot more interesting in L.A.