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

nope. i was on record against it as it was happening. i've never liked the three-star model. besides, if kawhi really wanted to play here, he was already giving up money leaving toronto. 1 million wasn't going to be the difference.

as for dragging zubac along, no big deal. you negotiate the terms of the contract to be signed after other signings occur. if his agent gets a better offer, you talk again. people do this all the time. if he signs a QO that gets in the way, you let him go. but you don't have to pre-emptively punt for mike muscala while handing your cross-town rival their starting center for the next decade.

yes. it's called player development, and it happens with guys you draft at age 19. they generally take a while to be good. we're mad about wasting 10 million when we're paying russ 47?

you said if this were announced as part of a larger russ trade, people would be ok with it. i agree. but it wasn't, and the other thing hasn't happened yet. the other thing that has literally been discussed between the two teams for months was not completed at the same time, and this is concerning.

can and will. caruso is the better player.

 

wow

 

Yeah that other deal has been on the table for awhile if reports are to be believed. I don't think we can bank on it until its done.

 

This part: I totally understand this. If you have a gripe with the Lakers essentially picking THT over Caruso for being cheap and then trading him for Beverley; when we already had a younger, bigger, and current better version of what Pav Bev can do, I can't disagree there.

 

My concern is we always seem to get guys with defensive chops when they’re already cooked (Hibbert, Bogut, Marc Gasol, Ariza Pt.2, etc.). Hopefully Pat Bev doesn’t fall off a cliff at age 34 here.

 

He's soft though. All bark, no bite... black yorkshire terrier.

 

We were puppies out there last year though. Anything is a step up.

 

It still all comes down to the next trade....period.

Yes, Beverly replacing THT does make us better, but it doesn't move the needle enough. Sure, THT has the upside and Beverly is long in the tooth (34) but the former simply doesn't fit on this roster and the later does.

I don't think I have read anywhere any other supposed trade besides the Indiana one and their insistence on getting not one, but two first round picks in a Wesbtrook trade for Turner and Heild. There was whispers of us getting in the Utah/Knicks proposed Mitchell trade, but that figures to be off the table now since we just made a move with them...That leads to two really intriguing questions for the Lakers:

1) They created 34 million in cap space for next season by unloading THT, but the proposed Pacer deal would cut that in over half because of the $19 million owed to Hield next season. Is the trade for the two worth losing that cap space or would the goal to be trying to unload Buddy to get Kyrie Irving to sign on the dotted line next offseason? Has the Irving thing pretty much come and gone with KD deciding to stay and LeBron signing his huge max, meaning we wouldn't be able to sign Irving to a max anyway?

2) How much better would the Lakers be with Turner and Hield? Is it that much better that you would trade two #1 picks AND lose that cap space??? One would think it "could" be marginally better:

PF Anthony Davis
SF LeBron James
C Myles Turner
SG Buddy Hield
PG Patrick Beverly

G Austin Reaves
G Kendrick Nunn
F Juan Tascano-Anderson
F Troy Brown Jr
C Damian Jones
G Lonnie Walker IV
C Thomas Bryant

Can the Lakers add another 1-2 bodies to the above dozen to close the gap with the better Western teams or even make us a contender??

I am not overly optimistic that we can...............

 

Lol.

Yeah, this is a shift in the narrative now that Kyrie is officially off the table.

 

I totally understand it, it’s objectively poor asset management and a big point of criticism when you’re evaluating Rob’s overall tenure.

I just don’t think it’s relevant when evaluating what we could/should have traded THT for at this point in time.

In other news, I’ve started to drink the Cranjis Kool-Aid, and he seems pretty high on this trade (as well as the idea of adding Hield/Turner now).

 

Possibly or a good GM would have sold high when his value was higher.

But I get your point.

 

Oh, he's gonna go off all right. Go off the rails. Good luck chumps!

 

My delusional optimistic take here is that this is Lebron knowing a Russ trade is coming soon and trying to publicly distance himself from being connected to it. “See I was always supportive of Russ and signed my extension weeks ago. I totally wasn’t pushing Rob to trade the picks and dump Russ. It wasn’t me who pushed the FO into trading for a player that Russ hates. The FO just independently decided to do all that!”

I really hope it’s not actually supposed to be spin control because we really don’t have any trades on the horizon.

Again, if we do actually go into camp with Pat Bev and Russ together (and therefore presumably didn’t make any additional moves of substance either), I will join all of you in calling for Rob’s head.

 

Yeah, if that happens, Rob need to be fired.

 

A healthy Lebron and AD is just as much of a contender as anyone else in the West. I don't get with this idea of all these superior teams in this conference at all. The only teams that have accomplished anything of note lately in the West, are the Lakers and Golden State. These other teams would be immediate 7-10 playin candidates the minute they were without their two best players too. This huge degree of separation simply doesn't exist. We will be as good as James and Davis can carry us, it doesn't matter what other moves we make. Frankly I'm starting to be against trading any future 1st round picks for ANYBODY. Unless someone becomes available that isn't being talked about right now. Nobody is beating down Indiana's door for Myles Turner and Buddy Hield, I haven't actually seen any reports of ONE other team interested in those two, let alone willing to give up a single pick for them. This Utah thing is all speculation, Mitchell hasn't even been traded yet. I don't think we should be in a hurry to make some trade, just because everyone wants one to be made. Hell we probably could have gotten Beverly in a buyout later, it's not like he is some hot commodity either.

 

I hope but as I’ve said a few times this morning, I have doubt.