Lakers waiving Shake Milton

As Bobby Marks of ESPN notes (via Twitter), the move now puts Los Angeles $3.9MM below the league’s first luxury tax apron. Smart’s salary for 2025/26 is $5.1MM, and Marks suggests that another transaction is on the way for the Lakers to accommodate signing him to their full biannual exception.

As cap expert Yossi Gozlan tweets, Los Angeles needs to open up $4.2MM in payroll to reach the full exception.

Los Angeles recently picked up its club option on the $2.3MM contract of young, defense-first guard Jordan Goodwin, who could feel a bit of a rotational squeeze with the advent of Smart. Only $25K of Goodwin’s contract is guaranteed as of now, but the agreement becomes fully guaranteed in January if he stays rostered in L.A.

The 6’5″ SMU alum was a minimal contributor to head coach JJ Redick‘s rotation after being acquired as part of L.A.’s midseason trade for Dorian Finney-Smith.

Across 30 contests after being traded to Los Angeles, Milton averaged 3.9 PPG, 1.8 RPG, and 1.3 APG in 11.5 MPG. The 28-year-old fell out of Redick’s rotation in the postseason, appearing in just two games for 2.0 MPG.