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

Discussion in 'Lakers Discussion' started by TIME, May 23, 2023.

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Pioneer10 - Lakers All Star -

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PurpleAndGold88 said: ↑

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Turned out to be pretty dumb criticism.

Pioneer10, Jan 20, 2024

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Pioneer10 said: ↑

Turned out to be pretty dumb criticism.
Click to expand...

How was it dumb? What was wrong with what he said?..... His predictability just couldn't be stopped.

Winston562, Jan 20, 2024

#6862

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From his substack Friday

The paths in front of them

...the Lakers have their choice in paths ahead of them. They can go all-in on a ceiling-raiser like Dejounte Murray or Zach LaVine. They could play things more conservatively and use Gabe Vincent’s contract to bring in a steadier role player like Tyus Jones. They could split the difference by bringing in Malcom Brogdon or Gary Trent Jr. Or, if things don’t pan out, they can hold off and see what the buyout market provides and with less competition in that marketplace because of the new CBA.
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Murray and LaVine

As has been reported quite thoroughly at this point, the Lakers have made calls on LaVine and Murray. Per sources close to the situation, they are quite a bit more interested in Murray, who they view as a better two-way player on a much more reasonable contract.

As recently as late last week, some in the Lakers organization thought they were nearing a deal for Murray that would’ve seen D’Angelo Russell go to Atlanta, as well as the 2029 pick and recent first-round selection Jalen Hood Schifino. Atlanta changed course, though, and asked for Austin Reaves. At that point, talks between the two teams stalled and haven’t picked up since.

Some I’ve spoken to have also mentioned the Lakers sending more money to Atlanta (say, Gabe Vincent or Rui Hachimura) to take back Bogdan Bogdanovic (who, I’m told the Lakers have called about on his own), Clint Capela or Lakers legend De’Andre Hunter’s longer term contracts. Issue there is Vincent and Hachimura are on longer deals of their own so a third team would likely have to send a large expiring to make this make more sense for Atlanta.

There is some belief around the league that those talks could reignite closer to the deadline, but not deal is imminent as of right now.

If Atlanta moves off of their current stance that the Lakers can only get Murray for a package built around Reaves and okays a deal for Russell, it’d be pretty hard to not see that as a major upgrade. Murray is more consistent than Russell and has been a plus on defense earlier in his career when he wasn’t trying to make up for Trae Young on the perimeter.

Murray could play alongside Reaves in lineups and is more than capable of driving units on his own. He’s hitting threes at a career rate this year, too, which would help with spacing in groups with LeBron James and Anthony Davis. Would he make the Lakers title favorites? No. But he would absolutely help.

It makes all the sense in the world for the Lakers to hold steady and see if they can land Murray for Russell and stuff. It would be a clear upgrade at a position the Lakers feel they need one.

As far as LaVine goes, the Lakers would have to send out so many rotation minutes to match his contract that any assets beyond that are out of the question, unless Chicago is willing to include something else to entice them.
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Mid tier deals

Some internally believe the Lakers are close as is. We’ve seen this team look overwhelming at various points this season and, if they managed to upgrade here and there, could reach those heights more consistently.

As mentioned above, the Lakers have had conversations internally and externally about Brogdon and Trent Jr. Per sources, they’ve also spoken to the Charlotte Hornets about Terry Rozier and to the Brooklyn Nets about Spencer Dinwiddie, Dorian Finney Smith and Royce O’Neale. Dave McMenamin of ESPN also mentioned Collin Sexton before yesterday’s game.

L.A. has also shown interest in Bojan Bogdanovic in the past but Detroit is such a mess that figuring out an asking price with them is like talking physics with a toddler. Sure it’s entertaining for a little while but then you realize you’ve spent 15 minutes talking to a toddler.

The Lakers and several teams have called about Alex Caruso, but his price tag is so high still he may as well be in the previous section. From what I’ve heard, teams around the league think Caruso is off the table this deadline, as Chicago’s front office wants to hold on tight to one of the few things Arturas Karnisovas has done right since taking over.

If you’re curious about another former Laker, Washington’s asking price on Kyle Kuzma is in that two first-rounder range. And as the Lakers only have one to work with right now, it feels unlikely the Lakers can swing a deal to bring him back to L.A., depending on how Washington feels about Hood-Schifino.

For what it’s worth, sources close to both sides of this (the Lakers and Kuz) say they’d both happily welcome a reunion.
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Bench upgrades

In this scenario, the Lakers would turn Vincent’s $10.5M deal and, say, Cam Reddish, Jaxson Hayes, and/or Hood-Schifino, plus some draft capital (in this case, not likely the ‘29 pick), into a backup upgrade.

Vincent’s tenure has been thoroughly disappointing and his return isn’t slated for a couple weeks after the trade deadline. Fortunately, he’s on a very reasonable contract and unlike Kendrick Nunn last year, teams around the league still think he belongs in it. In talking about him to league sources, there’s enough optimism that he’ll help a team that he isn’t seen as a negative asset.

Washington’s Tyus Jones might be overqualified to back up Russell or his deadline replacement, and as he’s started this year, the Wizards are expecting a starter’s return in trade. Michael Scotto of Hoopshype reported Washington “covets” a first rounder for Jones.

For what it’s worth, when I asked about surrendering the ‘29 first for Jones, even heavily protected, one NBA official said “They can covet that all they want.”

Other names I’ve been told to keep an eye on in this category of player: Alec Burks, Monte Morris, Kris Dunn, Lonnie Walker IV, Luke Kennard and Gary Harris.
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Consideration is also being given to keeping the pick till the off season

...I’ve been told by multiple sources this is something the Lakers are seriously considering. If the Lakers are able to add to their roster without moving that ‘29 first rounder, they could have as many as three to work with on draft night this summer.
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Reminder about the buy out market

The Lakers currently sit a mere $1.265M above the luxury tax. I’d look for them to duck under the tax this trade season to reset their repeater. This would also give them a chance at picking up a buyout candidate (Gordon Hayward, for example, as my dude Jake Fischer reported) while staying under their hard cap.
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JSM, Jan 21, 2024

#6863

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karacha Moderator Staff Member

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How exactly would we find minutes for someone like Kuz, when we can't even play Wood & Rui enough? Please don't tell me he's Ham's primary backup center. You all know he'd want to do this.

karacha, Jan 21, 2024

#6864

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if no murray, i'm ok with moving for tyus jones or brogdon as long as we don't give up a 1st in the deal. i know we all hate jhs, but i think he should count as a 1st in trades like this. he's probably better than whomever washington would draft anyway. gabe/jhs/hayes/2 2nds may drop us just below the tax line, too.

we could also just swap russell for jones (i'd hope to get something else back on top of jones in such a case) and accomplish similar things.

brogdon's trickier because he makes more money. i just don't see the lakers adding salary unless it's for a star (murray qualifies here). otherwise, my guess is that if they fail to make a trade of interest, we'll pay a second rounder to get off hayes's deal and sneak under the tax.

abeer3, Jan 21, 2024

#6865

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abeer3 said: ↑

if no murray, i'm ok with moving for tyus jones or brogdon as long as we don't give up a 1st in the deal. i know we all hate jhs, but i think he should count as a 1st in trades like this. he's probably better than whomever washington would draft anyway. gabe/jhs/hayes/2 2nds may drop us just below the tax line, too.

we could also just swap russell for jones (i'd hope to get something else back on top of jones in such a case) and accomplish similar things.

brogdon's trickier because he makes more money. i just don't see the lakers adding salary unless it's for a star (murray qualifies here). otherwise, my guess is that if they fail to make a trade of interest, we'll pay a second rounder to get off hayes's deal and sneak under the tax.
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Yeah I'm not giving that pick if it's not for an all star. One of our stars will leave for nothing. We need those picks for the next star, there's no other way around. Stars don't hit the FA anymore.
If you're Boston, OKC and alike, your stars are young and you have a 5 to 10 year window with them, you can trade picks for upgrades in your role players. We can't.

We can only trade picks starting in 2029, so only in 2026 we can trade 3 FRPs in a deal, barring we don't trade any of them until then. This was the cost for an expiring Siakam to put that into perspective. So the less picks we have, fewer chances to grab an established superstar to pair with AD.

That's why Dejounte's deal makes so much sense. You would lose that pick but you get a younger star who can play at all star level. He's on a great contract, fits perfectly with Reaves and AD and we can have AD, Dejounte and Reaves leading the next years + ability to have another 20/30M guy because of Dejounte and Reaves' good contracts.
You also get a good core to travel until '26, '27 when those picks start getting available and be in position to grab another superstar.

And that's why you don't use the pick for a Bruce Brown/Tyus Jones. They are not building blocks for the future and you're one pick down to prepare for post-Lebron.

I'm ok in giving up any combination of DLo, Gabe, Rui, Wood, Hayes, JHS, Lewis, Max and '29 pick for Dejounte.
I'm baffled that they would really be considering DLo, JHS and the pick, that's an absolute steal

I trust Rob to make the best decision.

pika1708, Jan 21, 2024

#6866

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The asking price for players from other teams is ridiculous. Kuz is not worth 2 first and even as much as I love Caruso. I’m not giving up that for him either.

Cookie, Jan 21, 2024

#6867

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Woike on who we're interested in

Externally, expect the Lakers to be aggressive.

Atlanta guard Dejounte Murray seems like the primary trade target, with the Lakers having talked about a trade centered on Russell, rookie Jalen Hood-Schifino and their 2029 first-round pick. But Murray has been on an absolute tear for the Hawks over the past week, the asking price undoubtedly on the rise. Atlanta asked for Austin Reaves, predictably, but the Lakers have continued to show no interest in trading him.

Forward Bruce Brown, whom the Lakers aggressively pursued in free agency, is back in play after he ended up in Toronto as part of the Pascal Siakam trade. With a skill set that fits on any contender, the Lakers will have competition for Brown’s acquisition.

There’s interest in Washington point guard Tyus Jones and center Daniel Gafford, Charlotte guard Terry Rozier and Brooklyn’s wings Royce O’Neal (whom they were discussing in draft night trades) and Dorian Finney-Smith.

And while the Lakers continue to register no real interest in a Zach LaVine deal, they would still covet Alex Caruso — the former Laker though the Bulls don’t seem to have real interest in trading him.

All of this can change in the push to the trade deadline — as well as the Lakers’ motivations to be aggressive.
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JSM, Jan 21, 2024

#6868

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murray is the only realistic option i'm willing to give up 1st rounders for. giving them up for someone like tyus jones or brogdon who don't move the needle at all (and in brogdon's case is always hurt) would be incredibly dumb

432J, Jan 21, 2024

#6869

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bet you that when we discussed royce oneale it was to move down from our pick for one of theirs in the process.

abeer3, Jan 21, 2024

#6870

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JSM said: ↑

Woike on who we're interested in
Click to expand...

Season can't be saved. You destroyed it when you hired Darvin Ham. Ham is a monstrosity. Lakers organization is going to have to sit in this until Lebron contract is complete.

OX1947, Jan 21, 2024

#6871

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KuzmoBall17, Jan 21, 2024

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Pioneer10 - Lakers All Star -

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Winston562 said: ↑

How was it dumb? What was wrong with what he said?..... His predictability just couldn't be stopped.
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Think of it this way: if making himself unpredictable ended up in the same result or likely worse maybe just maybe the criticism is not valid. The end result is what matter not how it looks in other words.

Pioneer10, Jan 21, 2024

#6873
karacha Moderator Staff Member

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We are not saving this season, regardless of potential trades. It's not going to happen. At this point, just making the playoffs is a success, and there are better teams than the Lakers in the West. The team, even if it's improved, needs time to gel. As long as Ham is here, he is going to screw up the rotations, and we'll want to trade perfectly adequate role-players, just so Ham can't (over)use them in a wrong way. It's beyond frustrating.

This team was probably perfectly fine for a nice playoff run, until he completely destroyed the chemistry.

karacha, Jan 21, 2024

#6874

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Latest from Stein

Brown's price

The Raptors’ asking price for teams interested in acquiring Bruce Brown has been described as a future first-round pick and a quality player … at a minimum.

Toronto knows that a variety of contending teams are interested in Brown, noting his contributions to Denver’s title run last season, making the Raptors hopeful they can spark some robust bidding for a player with both championship pedigree and a team-friendly contract.

Brown cannot be aggregated with any other Raptors in a deal before the Feb. 8 trade buzzer but is very movable on his own with a $22 million salary this season and a $23 million team option in 2024-25.

The Los Angeles Lakers and the New York Knicks, two teams known to have coveted Brown last summer before Indiana used a considerable chunk of salary-cap space to win the race for Brown’s signature, have been frequently mentioned as likely suitors since Toronto acquired the 6-foot-4 swingman as a centerpiece of the Pascal Siakam trade. There are bound to be more.
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Blazers keep saying they're keeping Grant

Portland has been repeatedly described by rival teams in recent weeks as resistant to the notion of trading forward Jerami Grant, who figured to be a target for some teams that missed out on Siakam.

The Blazers, despite their 12-29 struggles entering Sunday’s play in Year 1 of the Scoot Henderson Era have been trying to convince an array of skeptics leaguewide that they really want to keep Grant after signing him to a five-year, $160 million deal that many interpreted as a move designed to enhance Portland's chances of keeping Damian Lillard happy. Lillard requested a trade out of the Pacific Northwest last summer one day after Grant's deal was verbally agreed.

Grant, for his part, is not angling for his own exit. The 29-year-old, who turns 30 in March, told Sean Highkin in this piece via Highkin's excellent Substack (The Rose Garden Report) that he hopes to stay a Blazer.

"I'm cool here," Grant told Highkin. "I'm good with what I'm doing. Keep my head down and keep working, keep trying to help the young guys as much as I can. [Trade speculation is] definitely something you see. It's not something you can do anything about, especially since I just signed a deal. I'm here for as long as they want me."
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Brogdon on the other hand...

Malcolm Brogdon, by contrast, remains a Blazer considered very likely to be traded before the Feb. 8 deadline.

Brogdon’s name has been mentioned as a potential Knicks target in their well-chronicled search for a guard to fortify their bench ever since they were forced to surrender Immanuel Quickley to Toronto in the Anunoby trade.
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Wiz want a lot for Kuz -- Mavs, Kings have some interest. Wiz looking for quality draft compensation for Kuz, Jones, Gafford

The Mavericks, league sources say, are among the teams that have inquired with Washington about its willingness to part with forward Kyle Kuzma.

The Wizards, sources say, want at least two first-round picks for Kuzma. And the implication is they will be seeking higher quality picks than Toronto received from Indiana in the Siakam trade; two of the three future first-rounders sent to the Raptors by Indiana are from the oft-maligned 2024 draft this June.

Washington had little leverage when it traded away Bradley Beal and Kristaps Porziņģis last June … particularly in Beal’s case since he possessed the league’s only full no-trade clause (then and now). Neither trade netted the Wizards even one outright first-round pick.

Rest assured they won’t surrender Kuzma, Daniel Gafford or Tyus Jones without making up for the first-rounders they didn’t get then. All three players are drawing no shortage of interest leading up to the Feb. 8 deadline despite Washington’s 7-34 record. The Wizards appear determined to capitalize on the demand.

The Kings are another Western Conference contender, like Dallas, known to be Kuzma fans. The Wizards, though, are under no real pressure to trade Kuzma in this transaction window. Not with Kuzma in Year 1 of a four-year, $90 million contract that pays out $25.6 million this season but descends all the way to $19.4 million in Year 4.

Absorbing such a contract, compared to the max deal Siakam was known to be seeking before Toronto traded him and which he is expected to land in Indiana, would be far easier to absorb for teams such as the Kings (De’Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis) and the Mavericks (Luka Dončić and Kyrie Irving) that both already have two expensive contracts on their rosters.
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In an appearance earlier this week on The Ben and Skin Show on 97.1 (FM) The Freak in Dallas, which is also home to my weekly show The Saturday Stein Line, Mavericks alternate governor Mark Cuban essentially confirmed my Jan. 1 report that the team is looking to upgrade in the frontcourt.

"If we can get a big who can also create off the dribble, that’d be a plus," Cuban said, adding that the player would preferably stand at least 6-foot-8.

Kuzma obviously fits that description, but Dallas has only one available first-round pick to trade (in 2027). The Mavericks also know that the Wizards’ determination to acquire as many future firsts as possible is not going away; sources say Washington established considerable asking prices months ago when Dallas made past inquiries on the in-demand Gafford as well as Deni Avdija.

Good reminder from my longtime colleague Brad Townsend of The Dallas Morning News: The Mavericks have swung a trade before the deadline in each of the previous seven years and nine of the past 11.
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JSM, Jan 21, 2024

#6875

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karacha said: ↑

We are not saving this season, regardless of potential trades. It's not going to happen. At this point, just making the playoffs is a success, and there are better teams than the Lakers in the West. The team, even if it's improved, needs time to gel. As long as Ham is here, he is going to screw up the rotations, and we'll want to trade perfectly adequate role-players, just so Ham can't (over)use them in a wrong way. It's beyond frustrating.

This team was probably perfectly fine for a nice playoff run, until he completely destroyed the chemistry.
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Meh..a bit premature, to panic right now IMO. These next 10 games, aren't exactly, the toughest gauntlet, of all time or something.

Last season was last season, and we've only played Denver once, Memphis twice, and haven't played Golden State at all, but we base all of our expectations, off of last season's playoff run.

I still say that, not having another PG, has exposed Reaves and Russell on defense, even more than last season. Can't blame everything on Prince, tbh Rui isn't an upgrade at SF on defense, Reaves either. I'm curious to see Vanderbilt and Reddish together with AD, the defense should definitely improve.

Big picture long term, are Reaves and Russell, really a championship caliber backcourt, without Lebron? I have serious doubts on that, but Murray/Christie, could be an intriguing backcourt, for the future.

A homerun big trade, would be Murray and Jerami Grant. That's still title contender caliber, moving on without Lebron too. I don't know if we have the assets Portland or Atlanta wants, but we can definitely match the salaries.

It's all speculation at the moment, Rob might have something totally different in mind.

Slick2021, Jan 21, 2024

#6876
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/spor...tenton-may-released-prison-early/11677757002/

Our old friend was released last year and now speaks against guns. Here he is with frenemy Gil talking about Ja

KareemtheGreat33, Jan 21, 2024

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I don’t get our interest in Brown, dude shoots 33% from three this year and for his career, averaged 12 ppg makes 22 mil per.

Weezy, Jan 21, 2024

#6878

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Weezy said: ↑

I don’t get our interest in Brown, dude shoots 33% from three this year and for his career, averaged 12 ppg makes 22 mil per.

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Because he can legit guard 1-4 and gives you another ballhandler. He brings a lot of lineup verstality while adding a legit guard defender.

Pioneer10, Jan 21, 2024

#6879

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Pioneer10 said: ↑

Because he can legit guard 1-4 and gives you another ballhandler. He brings a lot of lineup verstality while adding a legit guard defender.
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This. Think we only have to send out $14 million?

VladeD714, Jan 21, 2024

#6880

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