Hibbert waived $2.3M trade kicker in joining Lakers: 'It was a no-brainer'
The Los Angeles Lakers were willing to take on Roy Hibbert's $15.5-million contract without sending any dead money back to the Indiana Pacers in return, but they needed a small favor from the beleaguered, 7-foot-2 center.
The Lakers asked him to collect only $100,000 of the $2.3-million trade kicker baked into his contract, so they had the requisite cap flexibility to sign free agents Lou Williams and Brandon Bass.
And Hibbert, grateful simply to be leaving a situation in which he wasn't wanted for one in which he was, obliged.
"In the long run, it was a no-brainer," he told Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times. "If I were to say I wanted my $2 million and the trade couldn't get done, I would have been back in Indy and wouldn't have gotten that $2 million anyway. I would have had to basically fight an uphill battle just to try and get on the court. Hopefully I can make that (money) up in the long run if I do well."
Given the dramatic pullback he's experienced in the last two seasons, particularly at the offensive end, and particularly in the back half of the campaigns, that's not an insignificant if. But Hibbert is taking steps to improve his fitness, both to keep himself from breaking down and to better adapt to the increasingly fast, smallball-dominated NBA of today.
He told Bresnahan he consulted a nutritionist a few months ago and lost 14 pounds, trimming down to 268.
"I saw how the trend was going with big guys in the NBA with how Golden State won," he said. "I started changing a little bit."
Hibbert's chief task will be improving a Lakers defense that finished second-last in the NBA in defensive efficiency last season. His scuffling offensive game will run a very distant second on the priority list.
Hibbert said he spoke to Kobe Bryant upon being traded to Los Angeles, and made it clear what he was there to do.
"I just told him, 'I'll be ready on the defensive end to help whatever way I can.' He was all about that. I will say that."