Lakers to Foot the Bill for Title Parade

Unlike last year’s extravagant celebration — which the broke city of L.A. nearly had to paid for — this year’s parade will be coming entirely out of the Lakers’ coffers. From the OC Register: “There will be a parade [Monday], and the Lakers will pay about $1.5 million to cover the costs to make it happen. It’s a generous gesture by the Lakers when cities are usually the ones staging these championship celebrations to promote civic pride and when Lakers owner Jerry Buss is already paying a league-high $91 million payroll to go with Phil Jackson’s $12 million salary this season. Last year, there was controversy over the city paying for a Lakers celebration when the City of Los Angeles was having such a budget crisis. Eventually, the Lakers and private donors covered the costs that neared $2 million.”