Los Angeles enters the season with the most expensive roster in franchise history, built around a $49.8 million cornerstone in Dončić. The record still reads 0-0 with camp ahead, but the spending has already crossed the tax threshold, and every move from here has to answer to it.
The Anchor Contracts
Dončić's $49.8 million is the largest number in Los Angeles, with Austin Reaves at $41.2 million and Walker Kessler at $30.2 million behind him. Quentin Grimes carries $14.0 million and Sandro Mamukelashvili $13.0 million, with Jarred Vanderbilt's $12.4 million close behind. Those five contracts alone account for more than half of the $201.3 million spread across 16 deals this season.
Past the Threshold
That $201.3 million has already crossed the $200.4 million tax threshold, with the $209.0 million first apron the next wall and the $221.7 million second apron the one no front office wants to touch. The salary cap itself sits at $165.0 million, the league's baseline this season, a measure of how far this group has climbed beyond it while chasing a championship built around Dončić.
The Price Down the Road
Next season raises the stakes further: Dončić's number climbs to $53.8 million, Reaves to $44.5 million, Kessler to $31.7 million and Grimes to $14.7 million, while Vanderbilt's $13.3 million player option, Hardy's $6.0 million team option and Thiero's $2.5 million team option all hang over next summer's planning. The draft capital paying for it comes due too: a 2029 first-round pick owed to Dallas and a 2029 second owed to Memphis, part of the cost of building around Dončić, alongside protected and swap picks still working through 2027, 2028 and 2030.
Are the Lakers over the tax threshold?
Yes. Their $201.3 million in salary already sits past the $200.4 million threshold, with the $209.0 million first apron still ahead.
Which draft picks do the Lakers still owe?
Los Angeles owes its 2029 first-round pick to Dallas and its 2029 second to Memphis, while holding protected or swap picks in 2027, 2028 and 2030.
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