It's Post Season for Laker Deals
The team is trying to acquire underachieving Kwame Brown from the Wizards. Butler and another player would go to Washington.
By Mike Bresnahan, Times Staff Writer
With the goal of adding a post player, the Lakers are trying to acquire troubled Kwame Brown from the Washington Wizards in a trade for Caron Butler and a player to be determined — point guard Chucky Atkins, forward Devean George or aging center Vlade Divac, depending on the Wizards' preference.
The Lakers might also include the 2006 first-round pick they acquired from the Miami Heat in the Shaquille O'Neal trade last July.
If Butler is traded and if the Lakers take advantage of a one-time opportunity to waive Brian Grant to save almost $30 million in luxury taxes, Lamar Odom will be the only original piece left from the O'Neal deal.
Brown, 23, is a restricted free agent who received a qualifying offer of $6.9 million from the Wizards, giving them the right to match if another team signs him to an offer sheet. Wizard President Ernie Grunfeld, a longtime friend of Laker General Manager Mitch Kupchak's, is mulling a handful of sign-and-trade offers from other teams involving Brown.
The main sticking point in the Laker trade is negotiation of the length of Brown's contract. The Lakers offered only two guaranteed years so they could stay on track for their long-range goal of getting under the salary cap by the summer of 2007, when Amare Stoudemire and Yao Ming could become unrestricted free agents.
Brown's representatives wanted a guaranteed third year, a potential deal-breaker, while the Lakers had offered only a team option for the third year.
Kupchak, who met Tuesday with Brown's agent, Arn Tellem, declined to comment specifically on Brown.
"Whether it's prior to the trade deadline or during the off-season, in particular when you win 34 games, it's my job to look for ways to improve the team," Kupchak said. "You can do that through the draft, via free agency or via a trade, and we'll continue to do that."