NBA Rumors: The most underpaid and overpaid players on every team in 2024-25

Los Angeles Lakers

Overpaid: D'Angelo Russell, $18.7 million

Underpaid: Austin Reaves, $12.9 million

From an objective standpoint, the Los Angeles Lakers have a pretty balanced payroll. Aside from LeBron James and Anthony Davis, there's not one player who seems grossly overpaid. However, for the sake of this experiment, we'll highlight D'Angelo Russell. Making nearly $19 million this upcoming season, he seems like a natural candidate to place here considering how much of a liability he can for the team when it matters most. When the Lakers have needed Russell to stand out the most, late in the playoffs, he hasn't been able to.

In fact, there have been times when Russell has been flat-out benched in the playoffs. That's a big no-no for a player who is getting paid that much money. No team wants to be benching the third-highest-paid player on the roster in crunch time.

On the other side, Austin Reaves' contract has to be considered one of the best in the league. Making less than $15 million this season, he's a bargain difference-maker for the Lakers - especially if he has another level in his development as a player.