The Los Angeles Lakers should pay the Milwaukee Bucks two second-round picks for Jericho Sims, because the salary costs them nothing they need: Bronny James’s $2,296,271 unlocks $4,842,542, and Sims’s expiring $2,801,346 fits inside it with $2,041,196 to spare. Draft compensation is the only thing in the way, and it has been since before the season.
Zach Buckley of Bleacher Report named Sims one of three backup-center options for Los Angeles on Nov. 6, giving Milwaukee’s preseason asking price as two future second-round picks, per Jake Fischer. Eli Gregorski of Heavy relayed Fischer’s read on SiriusXM NBA Radio — Sims as “the easy, obvious, highlight letter A, No. 1 option” — and floated James plus a 2031 second.
Matching Was Never the Obstacle, and the Cheapest Contract on the Roster Proves It
Basketball-Reference puts the Lakers’ payroll at $201,332,759, or $7,682,241 below the $209,015,000 first apron, and that position selects the rule: below the apron, outgoing salary under $8,845,709 unlocks 200 percent plus $250,000, per Over The Apron. Sims is a $2,801,346 contract on Basketball-Reference’s Bucks table, fully guaranteed, with no 2027-28 year at all.
James covers it alone, and so does Adou Thiero’s $2,150,917. Kevon Looney’s $2,449,421 would too, but Hoops Rumors lists him among seven Lakers who cannot be traded until Dec. 15; James, Thiero and Sims are not on it.
The hard cap is a separate ceiling and this barely moves it. Los Angeles is capped at the first apron for acquiring Walker Kessler via sign-and-trade, per Hoops Rumors, and swapping James out for Sims raises the payroll by $505,075, leaving $7,177,166 of room. Milwaukee takes back less salary than it sends out, so the deal is simple on its end too.
Milwaukee Is 1-10 and Giving Its Third Center Eight Minutes a Night
Through Milwaukee’s first 10 games, Sims had appeared in six and averaged 7.7 minutes, 0.3 points and 0.8 rebounds, behind Myles Turner’s 27.1 minutes and Kel’el Ware’s 17.3. The Bucks fell to 1-10 with a 117-85 loss at New York on Tuesday.
Buckley’s case is that the price should have moved with the role: Sims sat out four of those first 10 games and has not been given a rotation spot behind Turner and Ware.
The Lakers’ need has not moved. Side Eye Sports argued that guaranteeing Ware’s 2027-28 salary left Los Angeles still shopping for a center, and that Jaden Hardy’s $6,000,000 is the contract to spend on Brook Lopez. Sims is the addition that spends neither Hardy nor a rotation player.
A Team Option Going Out, an Expiring Deal Coming In
Milwaukee would get back a controlled year, not an obligation: James’s 2027-28 $2,486,995 is a team option, per Spotrac, while Sims has no 2027-28 season on the books.
Basketball-Reference italicises James’s $2,296,271 for this season, meaning not fully guaranteed. That does not touch the arithmetic, because salary counts toward matching either way.
Pay the Second Pick
Two things are not knowable. Whether Milwaukee would still want two seconds for a center it plays eight minutes a night is the Bucks’ business; nobody has reported a price since. Whether Los Angeles would rather bank the picks for a larger deal is a judgment no figure settles.
The cost of trying is small. Two seconds and the cheapest contract on the roster buy a lob-finishing center behind Kessler at $2,801,346 that expires in June, with Hardy untouched for the Lopez deal. The Lakers offered Dalton Knecht and one second for this player and walked when Milwaukee asked for two; Side Eye Sports has argued that waiving Knecht bought flexibility rather than misjudged the player.
That pick is the whole gap between a 10-2 team and a backup center. Send it.
Sources: Zach Buckley of Bleacher Report; Eli Gregorski of Heavy, relaying Jake Fischer on SiriusXM NBA Radio. Contract figures, payroll totals, rosters and minutes via Basketball-Reference; option status via Spotrac; cap, apron and trade-eligibility figures via Hoops Rumors; salary-matching rules via Over The Apron. Contract and payroll figures as of November 10, 2026.
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