2022-23 Team Developments: News / Trades / Free Agents / Rumors

If Rob manages to hold on to Malik and Nunn, while keeping our MLE? That would be an impressive feat alone. I like Warren with that spot, I wouldn't complain about Joe. Batum could be a vet min that sees an opportunity to play and stay in LA. Bamba could get free as an UA, if Orlando let's him walk. A trade for him as a RFA is not likely. Of course my perfect trade idea revolves around Tucker for Wood. Chatter says that the Rockets want a player and a 1st rd pick for him....Talen and a 2nd rd pick might do the trick, it depends on what they get offered. Idk how it's gonna play out but I think we do better than some think on upgrading the roster.

 

cries in "not owned by mega-billionaires"

 

https://www.tmz.com/2022/06/02/port...hil-knight-two-billion-dollar-offer-buy-team/
Portland tells Phil Knight team is not for sale.

 

Lillard watch 2023

 

When it comes to injury prone players, I would say it’s safe to put Lonzo in that category. The most games he’s ever played in a season was 63 games during the 2019-2020 season, and he’s coming off a year where he’s only played 35 games…. Now it’s looking like he will miss training camp and the start of next season.

Chicago has him on the payroll for another 3 years too, albeit I think it’s a fairly decent contract if he can at least play 70+ games a season (big big if).

So the thought came to mind, with the whole Zach Lavine to LA rumor, salary cap wise it could work if we traded Westbrook and THT for a sign and traded Lavine and Lonzo. I think to make the Bulls willing to accept this offer, the Lakers basically have to give up their 2 first round picks they can trade in 2027 and 2029.

The Bulls would only do this if they view Lonzo as a salary dump and knew that Lavine isn’t coming back to them anyway.

In many ways, the Bulls might be the only team that might value Westbrook as a player to think it’s not all bad. Westbrook might actually fit in decently alongside DeRozen and Vucevic. Their starting lineup might actually work too, with Westbrook/Caruso or Coby White/DeRozen/Pat Williams/Vucevic. They would be able to get the 2 picks from LA, and if worst case scenerio it isn’t working out… the Bulls actually could trade Westbrook again at the deadline, but this time to teams like the Hornets or Pacers who will have a better idea if they want to salary dump the players we talked about (Brogdon, Hayward, etc). The difference here is the Bulls might actually be able to get picks from either the Hornets or Pacers for Westbrook at the deadline, because at that point it’s just a buyout for the remaining 3 months of Westbrooks contract to get rid of him and it helps those teams erase several years of dead weight contracts in the process.

If I were the Bulls, and I only do this if I know Lavine is not coming back, it’s actually very appealing. The idea you could salvage Lavine walking away with a salary dump (Lonzo) and the future Lakers picks plus THT, with the potential you could even compound that with more picks by trading Westbrook again at the deadline…. It could help their franchise a lot in the long run after the Vucevic/DeRozen era ends. They may even remain competitive with Westbrook there for most of the season too.

From a Lakers perspective, they get Lavine who’s very good, young, athletic and plays a position we need help in. He’s also a Klutch client to help grease the wheels to make this happen. We take on injury prone Lonzo with the risk we have to pay him for the next 3 years and have him only play 40 games a season, but he also fills a need for the Lakers and is a great defensive point guard, who can play make and his three point shot has finally improved.

Not a bad idea right? It’s also not that absurd to think it would never happen

 

I’d do this if we could execute it. Lavine is a better fit than Russ and quite a bit younger.

 

it would be ok, but...we're back to vet mins everywhere else again, as we'd be hardcapped by the incoming s&t.

pair that with lavine and lonzo making AD look like an iron man, and i'm actually saying no?

i also worry that lavine's just not a winner. wasn't it weird that derozan shows up on the downside of his career, basically supplants lavine as the team's go-to guy, and they're better for it?

i actually prefer a hayward/rozier type trade because a) it doesn't hard cap us, b) at least one player has a history of decent health, and c) hayward is probably going to be as available as lonzo, has a shorter deal, and is better when he's available.

 

I’d be on board for Lavine though there are guys I prefer like Donovan Mitchell.

Honestly would like to see Rob pull off one of those Mitch moves like we were talking about a few weeks back. Something off the radar that instantly helps the team.

 

even though he's an s&t that returns us to three players plus the merry minimums?

 

it’s definitely not ideal but yes. if pressed I’d rather him and minimums than Russ and minimums because of fit. It would be hard for me to not pull the trigger on that because we basically know the current team won’t work.

 

Lavine is also much more movable than Russ. So if it doesn’t work out you could trade him for 2-3 decent players that aren’t injury prone or have terrible contracts.

Edit: and when healthy Lonzo is one of the best defenders at his position, a good playmaker and a good shooter.

 

serious question: if lavine doesn't work out, is he actually movable? because that would mean he wasn't playing very well on a max contract that has three more years on it.

 

We could use that logic for any player outside the top 5 though couldn’t we? Young all stars are about as close to always tradable as we are going to get.

 

yeah, i just think about russell and wiggins and such.

i think the only reason westbrook is considered unmovable is because the press hates the lakers in general.

expirings have been moved for value recently.

 

IDK...the way things have gone lately, Lebron would play more than all of them! Lol and the picture of Lonzo, Lavine, AD and Lebron all in street clothes would be epic meltdown material. I don't know much about Zach, but I feel bad for Lonzo, he's a likable kid, I wonder if those terrible Baller Brand shoes contributed to his injuries in some way. I've seen more than a few studies on the effects of low tops vs high tops and the correlation to ankle/knee injuries. The results seem to say that it doesn't really matter. I'd imagine that the actual quality of the construction of said shoe does though. I do know that the Klutch Sports runs the Lakers crowd would go bananas over that trade if it went left. James and Paul would have to hire some body guards. Interesting idea nevertheless.

 

I agree, he wouldn’t be easily moved if he played poorly with us. That being said, I prefer the LaVine/Lonzo deal over any other proposal except I’m not willing to give up BOTH picks. One is enough.
It’s highly likely that none of these trades will work out in our favor and we will need some picks to rebuild with.

 

Is there an example of a team giving up multiple draft picks to trade an expiring contract?

 

How can you slander someone you don't even know is there? If someone isn't there, how do you know they even exist?

 

The craziest idea can seem sound if it gets parroted enough.

 

right. this is my point. all these deals where we're taking on undesirable salary and giving picks are laker hater fantasy. we'll do one or the other, but not both in the same deal. not even magic would pull that.