Buss Vows Not To Reduce Payroll

The Lakers have no plans to make a trade to reduce their payroll, according to owner Jerry Buss.

Los Angeles has continued to spend this offseason despite the perception that they would cut back a bit.

"If something came up where we could get something for the future, then we might entertain a trade," Buss said. "But outside of that, I think we're pretty well fixed."

The Lakers have given new deals to keep Phil Jackson, Derek Fisher and Shannon Brown while adding Steve Blake, Matt Barnes and Theo Ratliff as free agents.

"I don't know where that came from really. We didn't ever have a meeting and say, 'OK, let's slash payroll.'  We sat down and said, 'How can we improve this team?' And basically we came up with Blake and Barnes," Buss said of the belief that the Lakers would cut costs.

"We were really exceptionally happy and thrilled to get both of them at a decent price."