His agent is asking for the max. They've shelved talks until Sept to get a better assessment of how the knee responds to offseason training.
This is a tough case, much harder than the decision Mullin made to lock Ellis in for more than he's worth. Buss would never have paid a non-superstar guard that much. His pattern has been to trade guys like Eddie Jones and Caron Butler and give the huge contracts to bigs or Kobes/Magics. He gave $9 mill a year to KWAME based on the P-word. He makes Bynum look like Patrick Ewing by comparison. ...so he's gonna get paid.
I don't know how many games of Bynum's you saw last year, but it's a much safer bet after those 30 gms that his ceiling is 18/10/2 at minimum. The knee has overtaken his potential as the major question mark. I wouldn't focus as much on the surgery as the potential for reinjury. The surgery itself was minor arthroscopy to remove debris. The concern is that knees can dislocate easier after the first time.
With all that said, LA is primarily in a bind because no matter the questions, he's still a lottery center and not a Monta. You lose one of those and you could regret it for years. Your point about team salary is also significant, but it's not just the max contracts they're worried about, it's the other guys. They're shopping Odom, they let Turiaf go, they refused to give Vujacic their usual bad longterm deal, they'll probably lose Ariza next year. Buss knows he has to pay Bynum. In future years, it'll be the money players and a horrible bench.
