2025-26 Team Developments: Trades / Free Agents / News / Rumors / Ideas

Picking up Dame on a minimum is a no brainer. That's for any playoffs contender, with an open roster spot. His options are abundant, and he can pick any team that he wants IMO. Who in the hell is going to say No?

 

Imagine Dame with the Warriors. They will be chucking up shots from half court with that team.

 

The only question that I have right now, is why did we jump on Laravia soo quickly? That screams of a Knecht trade, that had already been agreed on, that we are just holding off on executing, until Ayton clears waivers.

We shall see today.

 

Exactly. Here lies the problem if you don't get Ayton it would be absolutely inexcusable.

 

I think so too, if we lose Ayton for a couple of million Rob deserves to be fired

if he takes the Indiana bag, then it's different.

 

if he takes the indiana bag, i actually still have a quibble with rob and company, as you need to have your finger on that pulse, too. like--somebody had to know the turner negotiations weren't going great, right? you had to see that threat on the ayton waiver pickup.

and maybe they did, and that's why we've been negotiating trades for other centers over the past few days even after ayton was bought out.

i do know that if ayton decides and THEN we have to trade, we're in bad shape. so i'm hoping that these things happen bang bang today--if ayton signs elsewhere, our trade happens immediately.

if there's a delay, we're probably in trouble. for now, we at least have the possibility of the ayton signing on our side in negotiations (we don't need your guy). that goes out the window once ayton signs elsewhere.

 

Shelburne confirmed

This organization is just not well run

 

Shelburne has been on the outside looking in for years. She was one of the people saying Rob didn't understand the salary cap and was scrambling. That bridge was burned long ago.

 

shelburne was the author of "scrambling", iirc.

edit: wallangong beat me to it.

she should have just retired on the spot to be honest.

and "brook lopez turned down the lakers' starting job offer" is definitely a thing an agent tells the press when his guy joins the clippers (or the clippers tell the press).

 

Seems like its been confirmed for years though Pelinka isn't exactly well liked or trustworthy in the league. Sure some reporters might be on the outs and even make some stuff up, but I wouldn't say the organization is well run at all with Pelinka in charge.

 

That's the thing if Ayton signs elsewhere teams can squeeze every possible asset out of us. At that point you might just have to look at serious changes.

 

it's not perfect, but we have as many rings as any other franchise during rob's tenure and signed lebron, traded for AD in his prime, and traded for luka doncic in his prime.

it's clear some in the press hate rob, and it's clear a lot of folks hate the lakers and like to tell stories about us sucking in all ways.

 

maybe. but it's where we were before ayton opted out anyway, right?

but yeah, if we come out of all this with laravia for DFS or end up wildly overpaying for a meh center, then yeah, i'm guessing rob's out.

 

I think its slightly worse because you now have no other options on the FA market for a starter but I could be wrong

 

True, but do you feel like Rob and co have navigated the LeBron and AD era well?

 

we never really had any. unless you wanted to pay non-trivial chunks of the MLE for lopez or capela to start. we didn't have the money for turner, and indy didn't S&T. there just wasn't a center FA market, really.

 

not always. the westbrook trade was awful. letting caruso walk was awful. but lots of other complaints are silly to me--stuff every team screws up on. and we have lots of small wins, too. in the end, lebron and (especially) AD getting hurt in the years following the title was what doomed it as much as anything.

but to me, the hardest thing is getting a superstar in his prime. almost impossible. we've done it twice now, despite everyone hating rob and him being the dumbest reptile ever to steal an egg.

 

I don't think Indiana makes sense for Ayton

It's better for his career to take less money even and try to aim for a better contract going forward. Indiana with Halliburton would have been a legit choice but without him it's better for a guy like Ayton to get spoonfed easy buckets and to be on a playoff team.

 

From 3 outstanding passers. If he’s only about the money eff him. But wow this Turner to Milwaukee sure muddied the waters and best plans of mice and Lakers.