2024-25 Team Developments: Trades / Free Agents / News / Rumors / Ideas

I think OKC vs. Minnesota going to be a long, drawn out battle that likely goes 6 to 7 games.

Both teams got streaks of inconsistency with their shooting.

 

I’m pumped for the wolves verse OKC. I think they’re more evenly matched than the media will say. When Randle got healthy to end the season and gelled they were on a 60+ win team pace.

DVV, Antman, Randle, McDaniels, Gobert with NAW and Reid is a tough 7 physically and athletically to handle.

 

Out of 4 remaining teams Only Knicks won championship before and it was loong time ago.

 

Jokic in his exit interview said he's going to drink a lot of beer.Let's see how media will react

 

Just see it differently. Obviously there's great value in making what the league deems as a fringe NBA player to a top 8 rotation player, that goes without question. Goodwin specifically is a JJ bump though and not a Luka bump.

I value maximizing players that are going to get you to the 'ship. Starters are much more likely to do that than bargain bin gems. Luka doing for starting center x or starting wing y what Nash, Kidd, CP3 did for some of theirs is what be the difference in June. Amare, West, RJ, VC, and Redick with one of those guys highlights that difference. Then the PPG might not show it, but if you look at the FG% or TS% for guys like Chandler, Griffin, DJ, Marion it showcases the same kind of elite playmaker elevation that I'm focusing on.

Metics and JJ being nice in front of a mic tells a different story than the majority of his quick subs was due to something on defense. Whether it was a foul, missed rotation, or just being in over his skiis.

I think he is. The career games played aren't too far off, so the statistical comps for achievement marks are close enough to do a side by side.
Claxton/Hayes
Games scoring less than 10 points: 191/220
Games w/ more than 10: 120/80
More than 15: 45/25
More than 20: 15/5
More than 25: 1/0

Also found this interesting: Hayes has played 111 games with Bron. He's better without Bron.


One of the most damning things for Jax comped against anyone is just how remarkably bad of a rebounder he is for his length and size.

Clax/Jax
Games with <5 REB: 85/212
Games with ≥8 REB: 123/48
Games with ≥10 REB: 67/ 12

 

I think The Lakers need to make a serious run at Kevin Durant.

Lebron is coming back and wants to play with his boy. More importantly Luka needs to be assured that we are going to put championship players around him.

I love Austin Reeves. But in the playoffs he’s not a reliable three point perimeter shooter. and with Luka you have to be that. He needs the ball in his hands and Luka is the primarily ball handler. I just don’t think he can play with him.

with AD it made sense because AD and Reeves ran pick and roll to perfection. With Luka their games overlap.

I think a fair trade is Reeves the 2031 unprotected 1st round pick. And Knect.

you play Reeves with Booker who can be off ball shooter. You get a 1st round pick. Reeves has a great contract. And you get a young wing in Knect. And that pick can be anything.

we get Durant he’s the reliable three point shooter in the playoffs. You all see the perimeter shooting by teams has not been great in the playoffs.i think this wins us a championship.

Lebron plays with his boy. Takes a load off of him. Gives us a proven scorer superstar to run with Luka when LeBron retires. Kevin Durant gets to play in L.A. with Luka.

when we had Eddie Jones and traded him for Glen Rice. Eddie Jones was my favorite player. He made the all star team with Charlotte. And we did it cause Kobe had to play and start. And we won a championship. Jerry West made that trade because Eddie Jones couldn’t play with Kobe.

Teams like San Antonio and Houston and OKC will be trying to trade for Gianiss. Negotiating.

we can negotiate with Phoenix and get a trade done for Kevin Durant. I think Durants a Laker. I think we win a championship.


Sign Clint Capela to protect the rim. He’s the pick and roll center Luka wants. Pelinka will probably sign. Lopez to be the center stretch center. He’ll have competition from Golden state.

I don’t believe the Jaren Jackson stuff. Just smoke. I like Nic Claxton im not trading a core player for him.

I’d sign Steven Adams at a cheap price. I’d even bring Jaxson Hayes back. I just think he wasn’t played or given opportunity due to inept coaching by JJ Reddick.

Only way Lakers win championship is Kevin Durant. He gives you length defense and shooting. Something Reeves doesn’t.

Your bench is set with Hachumiura Vanderbilt and James and I would even sign a Deangelo Russel cheap or Jordan Clarkson trade for to bring some scoring off the bench.

I would say starting lineup.

Luka pg

Finney Smith sg


Durant Sf

James pf

Capella C

that gives you enough defense length and shooting in the front court and starting lineup to balance Luka and James.

This is the only way you’re competing against Minnesota OKC and Denver. I’m only trading Reeves if I’m getting Durant or Giannis.

BTW I wouldn’t be surprised if Deandre Ayton is traded here with a trade centered around Kinect and the pick.
so what yall think????

 

I brought this up a while back, I could see us do it and have both KD and Lebron sail into the sunset in a year or two. Aside from not liking KD personally, he's still an amazing offensive player that protects the rim some. How would it actually look like in reality though - numbers wise?

KD Is owed 54.7m next year. To match his salary, we'd have to trade: Rui, Reaves, Kleber and Gabe exactly these 4 guys get it done. And PHX can't aggregate salaries so that's that. Which means our starting lineup would be:

Luka (46m) / CP3 (2.3m) / Bronny (1.95m)
NAW (7m) / Goodwin (2.3m) / Knecht (4m)
Lebron (42m) / DFS (10m) / Vet Min (2.3m)
Durant (54.7m) / Vando (11.6m)
Capela (7m) / Hayes (2.3m) / Jemison (2.3m)

This would be the absolute best outcome we could hope for with Durant and it's a championship roster if we're healthy. There's just no way this happens though:

• Lebron takes a 10m paycut for one last ring
• DFS takes a 5m payout for longer years
• CP3 signs on for the minimum
• We sign two MLE players in Capela and NAW for half the MLE each

More likelier is CP3 stays in San Antonio and we keep Shake, Lebron & DFS don't take the pay cut and we sign Capela to the TPMLE at 5.7m meaning no NAW.

Luka (46m) / Shake (3m) / Bronny (1.95m)
Goodwin (2.3m) / Knecht (4m) / Vet Min (2.3m)
Lebron (54.7m) / DFS (15m) / Vet Min (2.3m)
Durant (54.7m) / Vando (11.6m)
Capela (5.7m) / Hayes (2.3m) / Jemison (2.3m)

It's not a bad team, but if any of Capela, Lebron or Durant get injured, we're in trouble.

 

i feel like this is a bit of cherrypicking. when you look across their careers, hayes and claxton's numbers are much too similar for my comfort. if you were talking about just trading one for the other, of course claxton is better. but you're talking about trading a rotation player plus a couple picks for a guy who may only be marginally better than the guy we just nailed to the bench for the playoffs.

like, claxton's a better rebounder than hayes, but he's not in the class of chandler or jordan. if we could get someone like that right now, i'd be itchier on the trade trigger.

btw, you know who's an underrated rebounder? deandre ayton. if he could be had with say, vando/kleber/gabe, i'd probably be more interested in that than rui/two firsts for claxton.

and again, capela is an excellent rebounder, still. and could theoretically cost us no assets.

anyway, i'd be good with claxton, but i think overpaying there could end up being a mistake.

 

I think OKC might roll over the Wolves in 5. The Wolves are really good, but I’m not sure they have the collective ball-handling and composure to hold up against that OKC defense. It’s not hard to imagine the Wolves committing a bunch of live-ball turnovers like the Nuggets did yesterday. I think they’ll have to play Conley more than they’d like to just to keep themselves composed on offense.

That game yesterday also showed why we still may have the best “formula” to beating OKC. Wing-sized playmakers like Luka and LeBron, with 5-out spacing, are the key to solving their defense. They have a bunch of tough, talented defenders but they’re all on the shorter side. The Nuggets’ problem was that their offensive hub is a center, so you need to actually get him the ball. OKC could front him with Caruso and then have one of their bigs sag off of a bad/unreliable shooter to take away the high entry pass. That’s not a problem for Luka and LeBron because they can just bring the ball up themselves. The roster isn’t close to being able to beat OKC in a series right now, but we have the right Top 2 to do it.

 

Dear Lord!



On the KD front...
No to KD. He's an elite bucket but you have to deplete way too many assets just to match salary for someone who's not the athlete or defender that a Luka team needs. What's the plan outscore the other team? Losing Austin and Rui offsets any benefit that KD gives you offensively. Every time he leaves a city, it's a messy divorce.

You're not getting both if that's the suggestion.

Cheapest he'll be is TPMLE and that's a big if and would likely require making promises regarding role. I'm fine with depending on how trade market and free agency plays out.

Not happening with how it ended. That relationship has ended and I'm perfectly OK with that.

Things being done to that group defensively are illegal in 46 states. Waaaay too slow.

We have to scrounge up $35m-ish in outgoing salary. Hard no.

No. No one is giving up an expiring next year for Vando's contract. They should keep their expirings until the deadline and then they can be aggressive and move some combo of Ayton, Simons and Robert Williams. That's nearly $70m in expiring money if they want to get serious about basketball again.

Ayton is not a winning basketball player. I'd take him for the NTPMLE and hope for a reclamation project, but that would be the 2026 summer when he's a FA. No universe I'm paying him $35m. Like ever.

 

yep. it's why i keep saying the gap between jokic and luka isn't the chasm everyone suggests. it's just harder to build an offense around a center--even one who's historically good offensively. and on defense, you have to build and scheme for the same kinds of deficiencies.

we definitely have a roster that can bother okc. especially if we could find a reliable back line defender.

you're not paying him 35 million for one year?

keep in mind that claxton hasn't exactly been part of a winning formula at any point in his career, either.

now, you may be right that portland would rather use ayton as salary ballast in a deal to upgrade.

but again, i go back to the idea that bkn also has very little incentive to move claxton on a declining contract, either.

i don't know; the more i look at the center market, the more convinced i become that we're going to have to use the tpmle and end up with a capela or a lopez and not a claxton or even gafford.