Gilbert Arenas Openly Calls for Lakers to Break Salary Cap Rules
In a recent appearance on his podcast, Gil’s Arena, former NBA player Gilbert Arenas suggested on his podcast that the Los Angeles Lakers should pay LeBron James via a “backdoor”, if it means being able to tie him down for as long as he wants to continue his career. And in doing so, he effectively encouraged salary cap circumvention.
Speaking about James’s longevity and value to the NBA, Arena mused that the Lakers, or even the league itself, ought to find creative ways to compensate LeBron beyond the limitations of the NBA’s arcane yet overarching salary cap. Arenas, clearly, believes James is worth breaking the rules for.
“If I were the owner, I would have made a deal with him,” said Arenas. “Ask him what he wanted. If I can backdoor another $50 [million] to him, like invest in his school or whatever, something he’s going to capitalize on later in life to save me $50 [million] today where I can build, I would have done it.”
The Hot Topic Of NBA Cap Circumvention
“Cap circumvention” is a very hot topic of conversation in the NBA right now. The other Los Angeles team, the Clippers, are having their feet held to the fire regarding a no-show endorsement contract by
A generous interpretation of Arenas’s comment might say that he was making a point about how, because of the confines of the cap, the NBA’s biggest stars are underpaid relative to their true economic value. LeBron James generates hundreds of millions annually in ticket sales, merchandise, television ratings, sponsorship exposure and other unquantifiable benefits, for both the Lakers and the NBA. Yet due to the NBA’s salary cap, the maximum contract he can sign, while still sizeable, is a fraction of his market value.
However, Arenas’ proposed workaround of essentially just side-stepping the cap is, to give him an even more generous interpretation, ill-timed.
Precisely because of the Leonard situation, awareness of cap circumvention,
Lakers And LeBron Not Extending Together
The discussion of how to pay LeBron more is derived from recent reports that, for whatever reason, the Lakers and LeBron have been unable to come to terms
At 40 years old and entering his record-setting 23rd NBA season, LeBron continues to perform at a level that defies logic and convention. Yet in being by far the oldest player in the NBA means the Lakers have to operate on multiple timelines. They can only spend so much on a player who will only be around for so long.
By any measure, LeBron – who is set to earn $52,627,153 in NBA player salary this season – is underpaid compared to his impact. For the Lakers, the value he provides in ticket business, jersey sales and sponsorships far exceeds his annual salary. For the NBA, his presence boosts television deals and international reach to an unfathomable degree. Even my mother has heard of LeBron James. In that sense, Arenas’ point – that LeBron is worth more than the system allows – reflects a real imbalance. Yet the suggestion of paying LeBron off the books only causes problems, rather than fixes them.
Gilbert Arenas, Noted CBA Analyst
What Arenas (probably unintentionally) has touched upon is a conversation about whether the NBA’s salary cap rules should evolve.
Some have long argued for a “franchise exception”
Such proposals have never gained all that much traction, in part because they threaten the competitive balance that the NBA so badly seeks. Nevertheless, Arenas could be onto something there. Unless, of course, he was wanting to be taken entirely at face value.
Gilbert Arenas is no stranger to hot takes, and these LeBron comments may simply be another example of his – once again, generously-described – flair for provocation. It is not as if he is likely to have studied the Collective Bargaining Agreement’s particulars before reaching this position. Still, the idea of paying anyone via a backdoor strikes a sensitive chord in a league that right now would rather we all stop talking about the possibility even existing. Arenas may have been speaking tongue-in-cheek, as his his wont. The NBA, however, won’t be laughing.
Denver Broncos QB Bo Nix and His Wife Izzy Smoke: Fast Facts You Need to Know
It’s been a quick ascent for Denver Broncos second year quarterback Bo Nix
Nix and the Broncos have high expectations in 2025 thanks to an elite defense featuring cornerback and NFL Defensive Player of the Year
Nix, 25 years old, comes from a longtime Southern football family. His grandfather, Conrad Nix, was a high school football coach for 43 years in Alabama, Tennessee and Georgia while Nix’s father, Patrick Nix, was a 3-year starter at quarterback at Auburn, including an undefeated season in 1993.
Patrick Nix was also Bo Nix’s head coach at Pinson Valley (Alabama) High School, where Nix played with younger brother and current Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Tez Johnson.
Nix followed his father’s footsteps at Auburn, where he started for 3 seasons and was the SEC Freshman of the Year in 2019. It was also where he met his future wife, Auburn cheerleader Izzy Smoke, before he transferred to Oregon for his final 2 seasons in 2022 and 2023.
With the Ducks, Nix rewrote the NCAA record books in 2 seasons, going 22-5 as the starter before he and Smoke headed to Denver on a 4-year, $18.6 million rookie contract.
“The day I met Bo, he told me about this God-sized dream of his. I will never stop praising the Lord for His faithfulness or have enough words to express how proud I am of you, Bo,” Smoke wrote on
Here’s some more facts about Nix and Smoke, who got married on July 2, 2022, in Alpine, Alabama:
Alabama Natives Who Met at Auburn
Smoke is a Birmingham, Alabama, native — just 2.5 hours northwest of Phenix City — and she married Nix shortly after she graduated from Auburn with a Bachelor of Science in Exercise Science with minors in Psychology and Sport Coaching in May 2022.
The couple got engaged in September 2021.
After the wedding, Smoke and Nix packed up the U-Haul and headed west, traveling 2,600 miles across the country to Eugene, Oregon, where he joined 36-year-old first year head coach and former Georgia defensive coordinator Dan Lanning.
The move to Oregon — and the move 2 years later to Denver — left both husband and wife still trying to bring all of their stuff with them from Alabama.
“When Bo and I got married back in 2022, we moved across the country to Oregon and left all of our wedding gifts unopened in Alabama,” Smoke told Mestiza New York
Unique Way Couple Spent Draft Day
Instead of heading to Detroit and getting drafted in front of 275,000 NFL fans at Detroit’s Hart Plaza, Nix and Smoke chose to watch the draft at his family’s home in Alabama surrounded by family and friends.
When Nix answered the call from Broncos general manager George Paton to tell him he was going to be drafted, the first question he asked was “You want to go win a Super Bowl?”
