Lakers to waive veteran forward Alfonzo McKinnie

The Lakers will waive veteran forward Alfonzo McKinnie, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).

McKinnie still had two more years left on his minimum-salary contract with the Lakers, but his salaries for the next two seasons were fully non-guaranteed. As such, the team won’t be on the hook for any dead money as a result of releasing McKinnie, who will get a chance to seek out a new opportunity.

McKinnie, who will turn 29 next month, averaged 3.1 PPG and 1.4 RPG on .516/.410/.556 shooting in 39 games (6.6 MPG) for the Lakers in 2020-21.

Although McKinnie had been on a minimum contract, his $1.91M salary for 2021-22 would’ve been higher than the cap hit for a newly-signed one-year, minimum-salary contract. So the Lakers will likely replace McKinnie on the roster with a free agent and save a bit of money in the process. That’s not insignificant, since the club projects to be well over the tax line this season.