Jarred Vanderbilt Discussion: The Vandalorian

Irwin on his pod this evening said we're supposed to get an update this week, but he's heard pessimism on that front. He's not going to report anything on injuries though (refuses to report injury info after how last year went. No upside with agent, player and team all having different info and agendas)

I'm at the point where if you can dump him, you do it. Love watching him play, but the injury history is no joke. He's a 20 mpg player who can't stay on the court. He's had foot injuries since entering the league and that's not going to basically get better. ESPECIALLY with that style of play. It's a long deal, but it's a small enough contract if you could find someone who likes him, thinks they're buying low, aren't trying to win right now and have a good medical staff...i know that's a lot of parameters but it's not impossible.

 

I think we'll shop his contract. He's a better defender than DFS, but availability is everything, and I think the DFS trade makes him expendable.

 

feel like we'd have to pay a decent first just to get off him, so we'll just have to eat the deal. can't afford to burn 1sts to save 10 million, imo. i suppose we could trade him for another bad contract on a living player, but i'm not sure that makes sense.

 

hasn't it been two or three injuries? like both feet and then a knee or something? or am i merging various injuries?

anyway, yes, i don't expect him back, maybe ever. his injuries extend to prior to college, iirc.

 

yeah, i'm a bit annoyed that they didn't thoroughly examine those feet prior to giving a 4 year guaranteed contract. again, my dumb a** assumed that they would have done that prior to offering that many years, but either they did and missed a huge red flag or they didn't. not a good look either way, imo. feel like the kind of foot injuries he's had are things you can foresee.

edit: there's a tiny part of me that wonders if the decision not to re-sign caruso was based part on injury fears (and he still gets hurt a lot, tbh), and that vando was a classic rob overcorrection.

 

I’m ready to use him as salary filler in a trade for a decent big. Combine him with Wood and you can take back, what, roughly 15m?

Fun player but just can’t stay healthy. The worry is teams ask for extra draft compensation to take him on.

 

Everything is negotiable. If he's a throw-in to a big we're targeting, throw in the extra draft compensation and get it done. That's entirely depending on who the target is though.

 

A guy has been out for almost a year,and some team, is going to eat 3 years of his contract in a trade? Not likely

I imagine if this situation lingers, he's eligible for us to receive some sort of injury exemption soon.

 

It’s funny and kind of typical that there’s some basically positive news above Prior to the new year that he’s now progressed to non contact portions of practice and is “trending in the right direction” yet no comments other than usual doom and gloom about his situation. Same as it was about Gabe with his and how he sucked even if he were to come back. Until he did and turned that around. Glass half full …. we may get him back this month healthy to play with this new wave of big defenders we have going. That wouldn’t suck. As well as he would also become more valuable obviously in any trade talks.

 

Well, last time he started his ramp up, they found fluid in his knee. I wish I could be more optimistic regarding his return, but it’s been an entire year.
I’m glad you are the reigning optimist with these injuries, LT- you keep being you!
I will still hold onto one of my favorite movie quotes:”So, you’re tellin’ me there’s a chance!”

 

let's revisit my summer trade target: isaiah stewart. his contract runs the same length as vando's. he's currently their third-highest paid player but only plays 20mpg. they have duren ahead of him and paul reed as another backup big option. they don't have a wood type or a hayes type on their roster, so either might find a way on the floor (assuming wood's not dead). would a lotto-protected pick 1st swap in 2026 be enough to make it happen?

i know, slick, he's 6'7". but his standing reach is basically the same as most backup centers (including nick richards, another target of ours) due to his 7'5" wingspan. he weighs 250 and is a rampaging beast.

 

It's going to take me seeing him on the court for a handful of games to get optimistic about his situation. Been burned too much with this one.

He hasn't played in almost a year. Prior ramp ups were damaging. He has a history of injuries. Still needs to go through contact practice with coaching staff, 2 on 2, 3 on 3, 5 on 5 and then get cleared. Then we have to hope he didn't come back too soon. Then wait for him to shake the year worth of rust off before he looks anything like the old Vando.

 

Of course.

 

I'm not sure who's touching that contract, but dude played his last game as a Laker on Feb 1, 2024. Sad...

 

You want to put some money on that, or you're just saying 100% positive he'll be moved prior to it happening?