Los Angeles Lakers center Andrew Bynum is still young. He’s 24, though it really feels like he’s been in the league forever. This season he’s been healthy and in the Dwight Howard rumor mill, but he’s all been an All-Star starter and his having a career year. So it’s been an interesting year for Bynum to say the least. The latest turn is the least surprising. Monday, Los Angeles Times reported the Lakers exercised their team optionon Bynum for the 2012-2013 season.
“He’s the starting center on the West All-Star team. Why wouldn’t we do everything we could to keep him here?” Lakers General Manager Mitch Kupchak said. “We’re ecstatic to have him on the team.”
They’re ecstatic to have him on their team until the next round of Dwight Howard or Deron Williams rumors pop up. This also means the Lakers and Bynum have time to extend him before he hits the free agent market in July of 2013. Bynum is scheduled to make $16 million this season and will be eligible for a five year extension. Is he worth a five year max deal? If he stays healthy I would say yes, but you can’t rely on that.
At this point in time he’s got more trade value than Pau Gasol, so maybe you ship him out and get a couple of pieces that will help the Lakers’ depth issues. If you trade him you better get a sure thing back because trading Bynum and then watching him become the best center in the league would probably end Mitch Kupchak’s tenure with the Lakers. If Bynum doesn’t get extended we also might be looking at him, Dwight Howard AND Chris Paul as free agents next summer. That’d be almost as fun as the summer of 2010.
