Lakers-Pelicans trade expected to happen July 6, lowering Lakers space

It’s been a wild few days for figuring out how and when the Anthony Davis trade to the Los Angeles Lakers will go down, with the timing having a major impact on the Lakers ability to create maximum cap space. But with the New Orleans Pelicans trading the 4th pick to the Atlanta Hawks, it appears the trade will still go down on July 6th.

Both The Athletic’s Sam Amick and ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski report that the trade will go down on July 6th, which will lower the Lakers possible cap space to $23.3 million, which could expand to $27.3 million if Anthony Davis waives his trade kicker.

If Lakers want more cap room, they’d have to incentivize Pelicans to alter deal by adding additional pieces and New Orleans could refuse. Atlanta’s current expectation is that Hawks should have the fourth pick for summer league.

— Sam Amick (@sam_amick) June 20, 2019

Rob Pelinka and David Griffin, upon completion of Anthony Davis deal, had agreed that if a third team was looped into trade, teams would finalize on July 6. No third team wanted to wait until late July. Once Atlanta was brought in today, Pelinka was already on board.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 20, 2019

So while it was technically possible for the Lakers to create max cap space, it doesn’t look like that scenario will come to fruition since the Pelicans nor the Atlanta Hawks have interest in waiting until late July to integrate their draft picks.

The Lakers still may be able to get the Hawks to take on the collection of Moe Wagner, Isaac Bonga and Jemerrio Jones but it may take additional draft capital that they don’t have.

We’ve already detailed the ways in which the Lakers can maximize their cap space, as well as outlined a few potential free agent targets for the rest of their cap space.