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

Trae is one of the best pick and roll guards in the league, that alone makes him an interesting pairing with AD. When he gets on a roll he's extremely hard to stop; he's the only reason why they were able to take two games off the C Bags in that series last year. The problems are (1) this is an all-in move to try and get one more title with LeBron, but he's going to be 40 and I'm not sure about the fit with him and Trae; and (2) we're already lacking two-way role players, and after trading probably Reaves + Vincent, Rui or Vando for him it's going to be really hard to find two legit 3&D starters plus round out the bench.

We're going to be in a really tough spot this summer. Do we make an all-in move to try for one or two more pushes with LeBron, or do we call his bluff and keep our ammo dry/cap sheet clean. Mitchell, Kyrie and Trae are the names out there now but new ones always come up. Say the C Bags get upset in the playoffs again by the Knicks or the Cavs or whomever, does Tatum start reconsidering his situation? He has a PO for 2025-2026 and I think its an open secret at this point that he wouldn't mind playing in LA. Luka has a PO for 2026-2027 and seems like exactly the type to try and force his way somewhere specific.

I think I'm higher on Trae than most, but I'm not super keen on him and 30+ year old AD being the foundation post-LeBron. I'm not sure how attractive that is to the next truly great player to lead this franchise because lets be honest; neither Trae nor an older AD are the best player on a championship team. At the moment, I think I'm leaning toward not trading for Trae, calling LeBron's bluff and, if LeBron leaves, rolling with a young(ish) core of Reaves/Max/Rui/Vando around AD and seeing if we can snag Tatum, Luka or the next big name in the next few years.

 

would love mitchell, but he's not coming to the lakers

 

Regardless of what happens this year IMO the Lakers should target a big like Jalen Smith in Indiana.

 

my opinion depends on whether his defensive improvement is real and sustainable. if he's going to defend like he has this year in addition to his offense, he's a top-10 player. right now, it could be argued (pretty easily, imo) that he's better than anthony edwards or jayson tatum, two guys whom everyone seems to be all-in on in general. if i'm cleveland, i do everything i can to extend him this summer and don't think about trading him unless he demands it.

i'm with you on pretty much all fronts. i just don't think we'd call lebron's bluff/let him walk. if he wants trae, we'll go get him. i don't think we'll trade reaves for him, though. all the picks, yes? reaves? no.

and i'm not sure luka's the type to demand a trade, tbh. he's definitely the type to walk in free agency to us or the knicks if we have space, though. i also don't see tatum demanding a trade, but he can walk earlier. hope we have someone in his ear telling him that after next year, we plan to have an open max slot for him next to AD (would be easy to get off gabe and rui if we had to that summer).

all that said, i think the appeal to a young trade is bird-in-the-hand stuff. it was clear when lebron came here, we had some advance notice that it was possible/probable. if we make a big move this summer, i'm guessing luka or tatum has indicated that they don't plan on leaving their team in the next couple years.

 

Trae is not an inefficient offense player when you factor in his ability to get to the line. His True shooting % is 58.3% for the year and 58.1% for his career. He's also as stated, one of the best pick and roll players in the nba able to score, as well as being an elite passer.

Atlanta have had the following offensive ranks with him as the lead guy the past 4 years.

20-21 - #8
21-22 - #2
22-23 - #7
23-24 - #7

He doesn't move much off ball but his catch and shoot 3 ball is 38.1%. He does need to move a lot more but he's definitely a force offensively. His defense though, has always been a liability and I don't think there's a way to fix that with his lack of size/strength. He'd need someone like AD or Wemby to save him there.

 

You know who's a good p&r ball handler, we've flirted with for the past several years, loves LA and Kobe, timeline matches that Bron window, would cost in the low $20m range in a S&T, and wouldn't strip us of all our assets in the process?




Just because a star (reportedly) becomes (possibly) available, it doesn't mean they're the right star. You don't pull out the ring for the first girl that smiles at you. That's what a Trae idea is. Then when Bron does ride off in the sunset you're not stuck. You have the draft capital for a star who is worth unloading the chamber for -- Tatum, Luka, Ant, SGA, etc.



Speaking of this off-season:

Good early look at the current landscape this summer

 

Offensive grifting...yay! And if the league decides to randomly crack down on that again?

They're barely a .500 team with a top tier offense. That should tell you something. Their record each of those years:
20-21: 41-31
21-22: 43-39
22-23: 41-41
23-24: 24-34

You'll have to pry the ball out of his dead fingers.

#2 in time of possession
#1t seconds per touch among starters
#3 in dribbles per touch

 

derozan was never a good fit here, even if it would have been better than russ. which of our 20 million dollar players would you trade for him? don't think chicago will take gabe and jhs, and i think you're robbing peter to pay paul (and downgrading) if you move rui, dlo, or vando as part of such a deal.

it's hard to think of mid-tier acquisitions that would dramatically alter my perception of this team, tbh.

 

yeah, i don't see any way derozan would be a good fit alongside lebron

 

I would basically have him slot into Dinwiddie's role. If you could bring back Dinwiddie for $15m-$20m, I would but that's not an option. 30 mpg backup guard who can score and handle the ball some. He's not a great fit, you know who else isn't a great fit Trae Young. Lakers want a guard. Bron wants a guard. Both have liked DD as recently as this season. This summer's FA guard market is AWFUL. Bron might not like him as much as a Klutch'er but oh well, we'll draft Bronny. I don't care which of our mid tier players go in this scenario. If you're doing a cost analysis of losing one of them vs. losing three first rounders and swaps, mid tier players including Austin for Trae f***ing Young.... and then anchoring your franchise to him. Everyone needs to be more familiar with Trae Young is all I'm going to say. Give me a two year rental on an ill fit that appeases management and Bron for half the price tag and a fraction of the assets every day of the week.

I don't think that move moves the needle for us but it keeps other assets in play that could WHILE maintaining flexibility for when a star that matters is available. AC and DFS (and the other guys we made a run at) should be cheaper this summer as teams realize no one wanted them at the deadline price.

Stagger play. He's a much better fit next to him than Trae. The ball will have air left in it when DD passes it to him vs when Trae does.

 

Trae creates fouls because he's able to beat his man and create the advantage. He's also small and frail so he gets the benefit of the doubt a lot unlike a Lebron for instance. Even when they supposedly cracked down last year, he still averaged almost 9 fts a game.

As for the team records, the Hawks just are not very good. He did take them to the conference finals in 2021 and were able to get two games off of the 57 win C Bags last year. I do agree he is on-ball far too much though.

I'm not saying it's a slam dunk to trade for him as he has his limitations/cons. I was just striking back at the notion that he's an inefficient offensive player. I'd take him on the team of course, but it would be up to Rob to negotiate. I wouldn't want him to unload every asset.

 

He's very tough to build around. Hawks can't lure FAs, so that's always a problem. After his cap hit, you have to have a high end athletic rim protector that'll cost you $15-20m just to get a starting level C who can do that. Then you either try to have a bunch of switchy defenders or try to outscore teams. The year they went to the ECF, that was a weird NBA playoffs riddled by injuries (more in the West) but focusing on the teams they faced -- Embiid, Antetokounmpo and even Trae all had some injuries that affected their play or forced them to sit. That squad tried to outshoot you with Bogdanovic, Huerter, Gallo, and Trae. Defense won out, Bucks win.

I've said they're not good with or without him, I think they're a little better with Murray as the primary and by trading out Trae but that makes no sense if you're an owner. But that's the thing if you're a star in this league making that high of a salary and only in their 20s, you're supposed to be more of a floor riser. They're 15-22 without him for his career. If you're a .500 team with him... you're almost a .500 team without him. That's a Trae Young problem.

When you trade for him and you already have two max slots filled, you cannot cover enough holes of the sinking ship that he would arrive to LA in. You don't have the financial means.

I'm sorry, I don't care how many FTs you're getting if you're below league average in 3s and 2s, that's not efficient to me. I don't want to be relying on the whistle to compensate for my max player's shooting percentage. Those calls don't go your way in the playoffs and his playoff shooting numbers are even worse than regular season... how's that even possible? In the past 3 years, only years they've made the playoffs, his 2% dips 1.5%... no biggie. His 3% dips 5%, down to 29.7%. If the lights bother you in ATL... we're looking at Ray Charles in LA.

 

We are not.It just all star weekend that lost a lot of interest and media need some rumors
Lakers can only offer him the MLE
But Klay still wants to get around 40 millions