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

Facts the Lakers will not win a championship with fringe role players. The roster is not strong enough.

Claxton is not bringing a championship here.

I just don’t see it. He’s not the impact player.

Daniel Gafford either.

Jaren Jackson makes a difference. That’s a Pau Gasol type of impact.

When Anthony Davis got traded we lost our rim protection. Our anchor our backend. He guards 1-5 cleaned everything up. He was underestimated here. Him And Gianiss in my opinion the two anchors in the league.

but it was Luka and anybody would do that.

you laker fans in here. What’s your focus??? Is it rebuild?? Sale some seats??? Show Luka that L.A. is fun??? Or win championships?????

the last championship we won we had defense. Dogs!!!!!!! KCP Caruso Davis Kuzma. That’s all gone.

do you get Kuzma back or KCP I don’t know??? Bring in Lopez.


At this point in Lopez career. He’s a nice player.

Luka has to be assured this is winning and it’s about championships. Now the Jokic smoke I’m on the belief system that he’s coming to the Lakers and will demand a trade to the Lakers. The way he was talking no there aren’t players here to win a championship obviously we didn’t win. So I’m sure people are paying attention to that.


I’d rather focus on getting Deandre Ayton we can’t just get a tree trunk. We need a guy that coaches people respect. On a scouting report you have to respect Ayton.

give me the former number 1 pick from Arizona who was a stretch 5 in college. Has proven he could get it done scoring in the NBA. Y’all didn’t watch a lot of Portland Trail Blazers games last season. He was incredible. A lot of 20-10 games 25-10 he was splitting time with Clingman and they gotta play that kid.

I’d Love to see Ayton in a pick and roll with Luka cause it’s lob city to the rim Ayton is very good on those pick and roll lobs you pull him out with Luka and then just lob to the basket. That’s the player he needs.

he’s got a decent post game. Nice hands. When motivated coached right he’s a beast. This would be the perfect player for Phil Jackson. Reddick needs to be calm with him.

Monty was just a bad coach dealing with him. Look at Detroit when he left.

Luka and Ayton lowkey can be a beast tandem. Add Reeves and Lebron to that now we’re cooking Hachiumura. That’s a championship team. You got some outside shooting. Make a play at Clarkson or a Beasley.

Im done with Kessler great defense but doesn’t make free throws. Not the Kings ransom worth what Utah wants. Only way I’m talking to Utah is about Markanan.


Durant can come here. If he makes it vocal he only wants to be in the Lakers in L.A. he will be here. No team will trade for him unhappy like we saw with Golden State.

the friendship with Lebron and Durant is important. The Lakers will make a run at Durant.

But the realistic trade is Ayton. You don’t have to trade a core guy for him. And he’s impact. When he wants to he can play defense. I think Reddick helps.

yall gotta remember Davis was giving us 25-12. You ain’t getting that in Claxton or Capela you can’t just pick a bum up off the streets.

Ayton will give you 18-10. Especially with this team. And most improved player.

all the what Portland gets??? Remember yall the team is for sale. They are just trying to get the salary off the roster.

all Portland wants is Clingman Henderson Sharpe Avilla they just want picks.

we give the 2031 pick Knect or Vanderbilt or Hachiumura Vincent.

I think Ayton is wayyyyyyy better than Mark Williams.

 

i don't agree with everything above, but i like the effort.

i've said i'm not opposed to ayton. i'm less bullish on kd, though i can see why people would say to go for it.

 

I guess one hope is Ayton would be in a contract year - the ghosts of Tim Thomas and Trevor Ariza could be whispering in his ear

 

i agree with jsm that ayton probably isn't even available to us, but i've warmed to it like i warmed to lavine last year after an initial "hell no" mindset.

i'd still probably spend more assets on a perimeter athlete and use tpmle and vet min on capela and paul reed and lopez types, though.

 

Yo love the passion in here. But the Lakers aren’t winning a championship with Paul Reed.

It’s nice but those are Jaxson Hayes types of players. This isn’t Kobe and Gasol Kobe Shaq LeBron AD.

you can’t get away with that shlit. It’s very tricky to compete with LeBron and Luka and reset. LeBron is getting older he’s going to be 41.

the league is so flucking young. Look at Indiana. They are like a f***ing track meet Indy 500 Haliburton Siakm who’s 31 Turner who’s 29 Naesmith Maturian. Youth with length.


Enough with the soft shlit . Bronny has to take a huge stride this off season be that young guard off the bench maybe bring in a Bruce Brown. Just try to acquire the young youth.


Kuzma even Clarkson.




But Ayton acquiring is important. He’s 26 he’s on the same timeline with Luka 26 they will grow together. This will help Lebron.

even though Shaq was older Shaq and Kobe grew together.


Get a big that Luka can grow with. 26 years old. Hachumura can be a part of that. I don’t know if Kuzma is attainable. Maybe Tim Hardaway jr. Comes here. Definitely want to bring Dorian Finney Smith jr. Back. I really like Ayton because that length.


From a pure Baskrball perspective. You need to have guys in that Luka pick and roll that defense will respect so Luka will have his room spacing. In the playoffs when it slows down. Ayton can provide. That. The Clippers had no answer for him. And he was part of a suns team that went to the NBA finals. I’ve always liked the kid since the university of Arizona. Bigs take longer to develop.

he really showed some growth last season.

we gotta get a difference maker at Center.

Embiid is too injured. Jackson jr. Isn’t coming Claxton is too inconsistent. And Ayton is the closest to giving us a little bit of everything. And he makes free throws.

all I’m saying if yall really wanna win this thing next season get Ayton. If we wanna just fill out the roster fine. Sign Capella Lopez raw raw and Lebron can retire and we’ll bring out the rocking chair Kareem Abdul Jabar style.


I just got a sour taste in my mouth the way the season ended and I want to flucking wreck the league. This is the way too do it.


Also we gotta take some of this scoring load off of Lebron.

 

I love Dalton Knect. I hope he’s utilized. He’s proven he can shoot. With the 8 three point game. We could’ve used that against Minnesota. He’s gonna be leaned on to preserve Lebrons minutes. He’s got the size to play at the three.

And I think we unlocked something in that Denver game when LeBron sat out. Kinect went crazy with reeves. With Luka Kinect and Reeves on the floor at the same time. There’s so much shooting and spacing.

I really liked him at Tennessee. Hes the main reason I was happy the Williams trade was rescinded. When he came back he wasn’t the same. He needs his confidence restored.

this season I’m getting him giving him 25-28 minutes a game. We are going to lean on him. I’m scaling Lebrons minutes back a lot 30 minutes a game. Curry treatment. Gotta keep him fresh for the playoffs. He plays so hard.


Give Kinect a lot of minutes. Give Bronny a lot of minutes to. Bronny should be averaging 25 points a game in summer league. I don’t think Kincet will play summer league. But he should. Klay Thompson played summer league I think year two. It helped him tremendously. He only played like one game I think he had 35 points I know Russell played year two. But just being around the guys. Coaches. Being the guy on the team. Leading the team. It helps you a lot. So I hope those guys show up at Summer league.

 

Not saying pay a lot for him.

but you gotta get a guy.

I just saw Jokic go toe to toe with OKC 7 games that’s the best Center in the league. Gave his all. Had a 42 point game and a 42 point game.

we gonna need some more Luka and Lebron can score and reeves. But we will need a great legit center.

serviceable center not enough. Edwards was toying with us. I’d love to get Jalen Johnson from Atlanta. Nearly impossible. Only one can dream. And would be great to get Naz Reid. That’s somewhere to look. Rodriguez and company don’t have the money or have stated they will shed salary and not pay players. So we shall see.

the Capella signing or Lopez signing will be nice. But damn Davis not having him it shows.

if he doesn’t get hurt in 2021 against Phoenix. We are definitely back to back champs. That was our window with that bunch. Anybody who says bubble championship was an asterisk is just ignorant. That was such a tough championship and well deserved.

 

It's very different with Ayton. He WAS part of a winning team, they were 1st and 2nd in the West in two of his seasons there and went to the finals. After that, they said no...we're good here. He was hated by teammates and coaches and blamed for everything (not fully his fault). He did everything that was asked for him. They said they weren't going to reward him for playing the right way and he said f*** that, never doing that again. I get it, but that makes me want him far away from my team.

I don't care if it's for 10 days. I'm always against paying a player 2x or in his case, 3x of what he's actually worth. The only benefit of getting him is you have a larger expiring to deal at the deadline but then you're identity shifting again if you're moving a starting a C for another large salary somewhere. I'd like for us to not build the plane in the air this year, build in the summer and tweak/ fine tune in Feb. But again, Portland gives us that asset for a negative asset, why?

I guess it boils down to this: What do you think they can get for him? Will they get more for him than what we can/will offer? Teams saw what we traded for Williams and I don't think they will get that back for Claxton. I am hoping we can do a DK, Rui, swap based package but I'd do the Williams deal for him if it came down to it. He's a better two way center than Williams and we have to have a Luka style starting center on night one.

I think anyone on a rebuilding team making over $20m that isn't a sure fire bidding war guy or a star is available for the right price.

I've seen several things mocked to the Nets in the draft. I've seen Knueppel, can you squint and convince yourself that DK is that shooter and you use your pick on another want? Pre-combine I saw Maluach landing there on a couple mocks. If you take him, you are not keeping Claxton, Sharpe, and the rook. I've seen the suggestion they take a flyer on Queen's upside cause f*** it...we're rebuilding and if he hits. There's a few guards i've seen but they feel like wastes for now. They need to suck for another year, keep the books clean and then find their direction in next summer's FA. I think they'll hold on to Cam until they get their ask of several first rounders (OKC should be the ones calling in Feb). But when you're rudderless, if you're not going to get a better deal because you know there is a team out there that HAS to make a splashy move to appease the generational talent they are trying to convince to go home with them, why would you be hell bent on holding on to Claxton?

 

I don’t think Claxton is that much of a difference maker. I’m not trading capital for Claxton. I’ve watched him extensively. No real offensive game.

I get all your stuff about Ayton. I just see a product there that I know will give me what I want. With Lebron and Luka I think Ayton is an all star type player with their court vision.


Lebron and Luka need to be making hardcore pitches out there for Kevin Durant. Bring him here.


I assure Golden State will be coming with everything they have with Curry and Butler.

Minnesota looks great with Edwards and
OKC looks great with Shai Alexander and Williams.


Is Charlotte an option with Miles Bridges??? We need young athleticism on the wing like that.


Capella Lopez Robert Williams he never stays healthy. Do you go to Chicago for Zach Collins??? I’m not sure. Kuzma Jonathan Issac Wendal Carter??? We need more youth. We have to get youth.

Brooklyn has young players but they want Kobe Bryant Magic Johnson Jerry West and James Worthy for any trade we make with them.

I would like to inquire about Royce O’Neal also.

 

If we get KD (or even seriously mention this cupcake), im stepping away from the Lakers. Enough is enough...

 

Agreed. Disagree on your definition on fringe role players.

Yep, but are you willing to give up everything that's not Luka, Bron and Bronny to get him cause that's what we have to offer them and let them pick? Then they still say no cause we only have one tradeable first. I'm still not sold on him being a winning player. Need to see a couple seasons of him doing on his own without Ja and vice versa.

I agree, we set the model and then fled from it as soon as possible. That model is still being followed today. But we don't have the assets or cap flexibility to return that kind of build. Kuz hated that style, he was much happier holding his fashion shows in DC. It went ok with Milwaukee until it didn't.

Kuz isn't the dog anymore. Washington poisoned that out of him. Lopez is cooked like a Disney Land churro that was left in the hot oil for a couple years and forgotten about. Plus we didn't exactly end on the best of terms last go around.

Oh yeah and Luka's lob threat...maybe if Steven Adams picks him up and puts him on his shoulders.

Maybe. But there's two years left on that deal that he has to honor. They have no reasons to do him any favors earlier than the deadline before his PO. Without him, they are back to the bottom. I could definitely see the two wanting to team up, but you would have to be cautious about a 32 year old Joker and how long you think he'd play after that. He is a guy who it wouldn't surprise me if we woke up one morning and saw that he decided to retire (early) and focus on his horses. I'd hate to be stuck on the receiving end of that telegram. Plus with the amount of beer that he and Luka enjoy...it might actually send Nico into sending a complaint letter to the league about their beer sponsorship.

He hasn't been respected for some time now.

Six 20/10 games is a lot?
One 25/10 game is a lot?

A lot is 20. These guys had 20+ games with 20/10 this season:
Tatum, Zu, Mobley, Sengun, Vuc, Wemby, AD, Sabonis, Towns, Joker, Antetokounmpo

Lob city? Last year ago he was in the 30s in dunks with only 80.
This season he boasted a career low in dunks.

Different league.

Monty wasn't a bad coach. Suns ran out of places to point blame. He tried warning Detroit that he wasn't ready for the gig. They just kept upping the offer. At the time, they offered him the largest contract in the league for him, at a certain point you can no longer turn down stupid money.

I agree they will trade him where he wants to go, Suns have already kind of said they'll work with him on this. His friendship with Bron means absolute zero. If that was a factor in any decision CP3 would be here by now. Dray would be here by now.

If Rob has any sense at all, he will not call the Suns for anything other than for restaurant recommendations.

How do you get to $35m without a "core guy"?

He hasn't wanted to play defense for quite awhile.

You're right, Claxton and Capela aren't giving you 25/12. They might not even average 25 ppg combined. You're comparing them to one of the best bigs in the league. Hardly seems fair.

Those stats aren't huge reaches because of how few games he's actually available for. But let's dive deeper into some recent context.

Last year he scored 18 in 14 games last year. He had 10+ rebounds in 21 games. He did both in only 9 games.

Year before: 28 games with 18+. 10+ boards in 24 of those 28. But he played 55 games. Math mathing for you?

Wake me up when they move Grant.

It's not or x or y or z. Salary matching is required.

 

ayton is the definition of soft

hell no

 

You bought up great points. I’m all about results.

you’ve mentioned some of the best centers in the league. Who are better Centers that you’re going to get then Deandre Ayton???????

Jaren Jackson??? As you stated you’d have to trade your whole team for him. So like an Anthony Davis trade???

Myles Turner???? No way he’s staying in Indiana with Tyrese Haliburton.


Joel Embiid???? Maybe but his legs falling off.


you ain’t getting Evan Mobley.


What are you getting???? And what are you trading Austin Reeves for??? I’m not trading Austin Reeves for any player. Any center ain’t doing it. Ain’t doing it not Reeves.


Jacob Poetell Center is he better than Ayton??? Not the best free throw shooter. Not the ideal player center to pair play with Luka in a pick and roll.


Nick Claxton???? What does he offer you??? Langy long he’s not as advanced as Ayton.


Bam Amoboyodaga ????? Miami likes Reeves. You want him??? I would rather not give all that up and just get Ayton.



What I’m saying is based on what we would have to give up to keep our core together id like to bring Ayton in. That’s where I’m at. He will put up numbers.


He has proven he can put up 25-10 in games doesn’t have to do that here. Did you mention the 16 rebounds he pulled down against us???? Don’t act like the guy is a bum. I watched alot of Portland Trail Blazers games and he played great. He was great with Anferene Simmons and Scoot Henderson on the lobs so that’s why I mentioned that cause. That’s Luka’s game. And he would be a star level with Luka.


With LeBron James here you are going to have to have championship players here.

Maybe you can get a good role player wing in Careless Lavert from Atlanta the hawks. And he can come in and help.

Kevin Durant is for length and three point shooting on the wing. I’m not worried about perception. I know what Durant brings in the playoffs saw it on Golden State. Chris Paul and Kevin Durant two different players. Chris Paul will probably come here to.


When we are talking about Lob players maybe you want to give up everything for Daniel Gafford or Walker Kessler. Or maybe you want to trade Austin Reeves for Derek Lively.

I don’t want to trade Austin Reeves.

 

Nick Claxton 10.4 points per game 7.4 rebound a game and 2.2 assists

hes 26 years old same age as Ayton.

 

Jaxon Hayes 6.4 points no plays drawn up for him. 4.6 rebound that number has to come up. 24 years old. Is there that much of a difference Claxton from Hayes????

 

yeah, i've posted some other concerning stats about claxton, and i agree with you that i'd much rather trade knecht and no picks for ayton than knecht and picks for claxton.

people are too down on ayton, claiming he's a loser and such. that phx team had all sorts of issues, as we can all see now. it clearly wasn't all his fault they were disappointing. and people are too high on claxton--who's never won at all.

but again, i think it's moot because we'd have to include vando in the deal (i wouldn't include rui) due to ayton's salary.

my whole goal is to ADD two rotation players this offseason. we currently have:

luka
lebron
AR
rui
DFS
and maybe gabe...but i probably would say we have only 5 playoff-caliber rotation players right now. 5.5?

we need 7 or 7.5. we could escape with 6 if the guy we add is better than rui and DFS.

we have expiring contracts up to about 25 million (gabe and kleber, i don't think of rui this way), knecht, one first, and some swaps we can offer. plus the tpmle (possibly full mle if lebron took a cut, but that seems unlikely).

anyway, this is why i keep naming guys you don't like (capela, reed, etc.). if we can get one guy who can play in playoff games, even for 15mpg, with the tpmle, that really opens things up for trades. it also allows us to be patient and hold the expirings and picks until the deadline, when they'll have the highest value.

i keep going back to signing a vet center with the tpmle and trying to get portland to take our expirings and either knecht and picks for robert williams and thybulle. i know portland hates us or whatever, but they have clingan, ayton, and williams--somebody has to go. and they have camara, sharpe, and avdija at the wing spots. i feel like they could use gabe once they inevitably move simons, and kleber could be a change of pace backup for a year.

for us, williams is obviously a huge risk, which is why you get reed or capela as insurance. you start thybulle and move reaves to the ginobili role.

williams/capela (or reed)
lebron/vando
rui/DFS
luka/goodwin
thybulle/reaves

your starting five is huge and switchable with a bona fide POA guy at the guard spot and (when healthy) a bona fide switchable rim protector on the back line.

nobody in the rotation is shorter than 6'5".

for the 55 games williams is unavailable, you slot up the backup centers and split spot minutes between the two-way bigs (koloko and jemison).

i have too much time on my hands this morning.