I still think NBA needs to reconsider this cap space thing, we are at a level where almost every team is above the allowed cap space with just 3 players, and if not, at maximum 5-6 people passes it easily, meaning you cannot build a decent "team", you build a great core and terrible helpers around them which makes no sense to me. We need to raise the cap space a bit, just a bit, but also drop what the biggest names could make, 50+ million levels is not acceptable, doesn't leave enough for anyone else.
Or they should stop overpaying some athletes so they can make space for other good athletes to join their club. Also, they can always pay the luxury tax if they really want to pay big and get more athletes.
And, if you have maxed your salary cap with just 5-6 players, you are already a superteam. If you raise the cap, then some teams will just hoard all the stars and there will be no more competitiveness in the league.
Clarkson cannot technically go to Lakers because Lakers do not have a cap space available and Clarkson is not a minimum contract guy. He would probably either stay, or leave to a team that could pay him a good amount, otherwise it doesn't make sense for him to take a cut.
If they trade westbrook, it will create a LOT of space. WB is eating a chunk of LA Lakers cap.