I'm not certain why the Lakers had to cut him but he was on a minimum salary contract last season so perhaps his salary had a raise for this coming season which would mean it counts against the salary cap for the actual salary due to be paid. Normally minimum contracts only count against the cap for the amount of a rookie so teams don't have an incentive to sign younger minimum salaries players over older veteran minimum salary players. The minimum salary is higher for players with additional years of experience.
If the Lakers had to cut Kendall to save cap space my guess is we wouldn't be able to claim his salary as a minimum contract off waivers. If somehow we can claim him off waivers I'd rather have him than any of Crabbe, Clavier, Meyers though. But since those salaries are guaranteed I don't know if Paul Allen wants to waste a million bucks for a player not on the roster. We might be able to use one of those players as trade bait and avoid paying the remainder of the contract.