2023-24 Team Developments: Trades / Free Agents / News / Rumors / Ideas

Yay! He had a second decent game since becoming a Laker.
Blocks don’t always tell the entire story of how well one has played defense.
I agree, not having a good perimeter defender out there hurts.
This a different issue from the fact that when AD is out, this team has no chance against anyone driving the paint.

 

Ok so who do you want?

 

lol, i wanted gorgui dieng, but his a** retired, so what do i know?

 

I wanted someone who could play defense this past summer. Milk has already been spilt. Let’s see who we can pickup from the buyout market later this season.

 

Beal is expected to miss a few weeks due to the right ankle injury he suffered in Friday's 139-122 loss to the Knicks, Shams Charania of The Athletic reports

 

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, one of my childhood-into-adulthood heroes: in my thoughts tonight. He already has chronic myeloid leukemia and prostate cancer.

Hope he makes it out of hip surgery and does as well as can possibly be expected for a 7'2" 76 year old.

Get Well ASAP, Cap!

 

A defensive player wouldn’t be replacing CW though they would be replacing JH.I would like Dayron Sharpe at least he is a rebounder

 

Say what we will about Bradley Beal, but just don't call him "Iron Man Beal."

Apparently no metal bends as easily under a little bit of heat as aluminum does. Beal sprains his ankle after coming back from another injury: foiled again!

 

Oh no! Kareem took a fall at a concert last night and broke his hip.

NBA legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar breaks hip in fall at Los Angeles concert

NBA legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was taken to an Los Angeles hospital after he fell and broke his hip at a concert Friday night, a representative for Abdul-Jabbar said Saturday.

In a statement posted to Abdul-Jabbar's X account, the 76-year-old's longtime business partner Deborah Morales said he suffered the injury in an "accidental fall" at the concert and will undergo surgery Saturday.

"We are all deeply appreciative of all the support for Kareem, especially from the Los Angeles Fire Department who assisted Kareem on site and the amazing medical team and doctors at UCLA Hospital who are taking great care of Kareem now," Morales wrote.

No further details on the incident were immediately provided.

In December 2020, Abdul-Jabbar revealed that he at some point had been diagnosed with prostate cancer and beaten it. He was also diagnosed with chronic myelogenous leukemia in 2008. In 2011, he disclosed that his leukemia was at an "absolute minimum."

Abdul-Jabbar, born Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor Jr, is one of the NBA's greats, winning six NBA titles and six MVP awards. The 7-foot-2 former center is behind only LeBron James for most regular season points scored in NBA history.

He retired from the sport in 1989 at the age of 42 with a multitude of records to his name. He remains the all-time leader in minutes and field goals made.

 

Kareem means a lot to me. He's just this outsized chunk of my past, so he's been constantly in my thoughts since I heard about him breaking his hip. Does anyone know who was performing? I can't tell from glancing at, like 20 articles, most of 'em based on what Deborah Morales is telling the press. Not that it matters at all about Kareem getting well, but I just wondered. I suspect someone jazzy.

I'll never forgot that story from Kareem after his house burnt down in one of the wildfires in the hills: rare copy of the Qu'ran, Persian rugs, and a MASSIVE collection of jazz records. And random LA people would come up to him and hand him rare jazz LPs after that, which blew his mind, because he was convinced he was seen by rich, white Laker fans as merely some freak performer who helped their Lakers win. They didn't see him as a human being, he thought. But so many people really love this guy. I know i do.

 

Getting older, we’re all getting older

 

Anthony Irwin's got some trade stuff in his latest substack.

Before we get to the what does this negative Podcaster know? He's close with Larsuel (front office employee), has him on the pod weekly and is constantly on the pod Larsuel is involved with. Then Anthony is also pretty chummy with Buha and Woike. How fresh or serious it is when it gets to him is another matter entirely, but here's who he hears we're interested in

Just posting the rumors. To see the trade ideas, head over to the substack

There's not a realistic trade where he's an interesting option for me.

That's the definition of don't bother calling -- 2 firsts, contributing player, a prospect, and take on a bad contract. I know that's their starting point and not what they'll get... but damn! Only way I see them moving him is if that bad contract they want to attach is Zach's. That's the only way to flip the script on his market.

I like OG's game but don't want to be paying that next deal he's expecting. And i guess we're missing Dennis already. Not surprised.

Trent could be interesting, depending on the price. He's having a rough year, maybe that would lower the price.

I am not too thrilled with us pining after the ones we let get away -- AC, DS and Kuz. Those miscalculations look poorly on the front office when you're considering giving up even more assets to get them back.


Notes

It's nice to be in the position of power in trade discussions and not wreaking of desperation. Should really help our position closer to the deadline.

I like Rui but I think that's a fair value to put on him. Sounds like if we can get an upgrade to a two way player in that position, we'll take it.

 

broken hips are not easy to recover from at that age. and with all his prior health issues, it certainly won't be an easy road to recovery

i wish kareem all the best

 

broken hips are often the beginning of the end

 

yeah, it's a very bad look. especially given that basically all of them (maybe not schroder) are completely self-inflicted wounds.

i also found it interesting that he would be surprised if dlo was still here after the deadline. i do feel like lebron hates him, not sure why, just get that feeling. but imo, dlo has probably outplayed his contract overall, and i'm not sure there's an upgrade out there to be had.

a lot hinges for me on what gabe can bring, if anything. he was our big addition in the offseason, and we lack his (theoretical) skillset right now, imo. we need another steady ballhandler and a tougher on-ball defender at the pg spot (hence the caruso interest). in theory, that guy's on the roster in streetclothes. if he can't fill that role due to injury or whatever, i wonder if we look to a veteran backup pg who's not playing much somewhere else.

i have some degree of interest in brogdon and grant, but most of the other names--many of which have been on the radar for years (e.g., trent, burks) don't move the needle for me. we have plenty of sgs (reddish, reaves, christie). and our two best players both are really pfs. we have several serviceable sfs now, so if the trade isn't bringing back a center or a pg, i'm probably not very interested.

of teams not mentioned, i think atlanta's worth keeping an eye on. they're disappointing again, and i think we'd have some degree of interest in several of their players (e.g., capela, bogdanovic, young) and potentially the assets to get something done.

 

I think he had to be pre-season DLO to stick. He's likeable, matured, has good vibes and a contract that's closer reflection of his play SO it has to be the inconsistency. I agree, I don't think Bron is his biggest fan. Irwin mentioned a couple weeks ago that there was frustration in the locker room with DLO and how he said it, it didn't seem like a big problem but I think there's probably at least a couple guys frustrated that you can't prep for a game properly because you have no idea what DLO you're getting until it's too late. When he's on, we're really difficult to beat but when he's off it can be a tough night especially without a traditional backup behind him.

My concern is if you're dealing him cause he's the friendliest contract then what's the plan at the point? Most of the players it seems we're interested in are wings. I'm all for talent consolidating if it makes sense. You have to address the PG depth in any trade. HAVE TO. Like you said, maybe you can find a under utilized backup on one of these bad teams to bandaid it. Even if Gabe comes back and proves to be what we signed him to be, I'm not going to trust his durability because of his start as a Laker. I'm also not willing to put that much on Austin, if he's our primary PG then teams are going to target him every night and you can't have the offense struggle to get into sets every night because Austin spent the first 10 seconds of the clock shedding a defender.

I think at least one of these positions need to be addressed even if we're doing a wing consolidation/upgrade play. Like I mentioned above, PG position is shaky -- behind DLO (if he stays) until Gabe shows he can stay on the court or especially if you move DLO because on offensive creation goes waaaay down. At center we have two third string bigs. Hayes is a good 3rd string guy, not a backup and he's leaped Wood in the rotation. What does that say? Wood is either a 3rd string C because he can't shoot or defend or a starter next to AD when Bron is out. I thought he could be that when AD is out but no... defense is not good enough as the primary front court defender. Need a legit backup and that's been clear since the start of the off season.

I really like Capela as an option. I pondered aloud weeks ago as to what that might cost. I'd like to get Bogdanovic's shooting but wonder at who's expense would be get minutes over?

 

I don't even know who this cat is.

 

Not a Laker …. Duh!

 

Goddamn THT and a dumbest decision this franchise has ever made -- letting AC go and, at the same time, bringing in Brick.

Just amazingly idiotic on all possible levels.