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

Yeah what I have been feeling this offseason (and it has been a trend) is that it's either Jokic or bust.
We have Luka. We have Bron. We have young and proven guys like AR, Rui and Ayton. But it feels like we suck and have 0 chances of success. It's weird. I imagine there's like +25 franchises who would prefer to have our team. That puts us in the realm of team that can win the title. OKC had two 7 game series, they're beatable.

Is it perfect? No. Can it be better? Yes. But that doesn't mean it has to be better on July 18. And like the past years, it's not like we have been missing out on guys. Our season starts in March 2026. We had great success last year with this group with Hayes instead of Ayton. How can we not be excited?
Yes, we had a bad series but people putting the Rockets ahead of us is laughable. Grass is always greener on the neighbor's garden

We have Luka, coming for a revenge year. We have Bron, that is not dumb and knows he has a unique opportunity to build on his legacy.
We have the role players in contract years.

We will be top5 of the league, I don't have much doubts

 

I disagree with the bolded. A championship team needs to build championship habits starting from training camp. Everyone needs to be on the same page. The 09 team had a singular focus from the moment the buzzer sounded in Game 6 of the Finals. Get back and finish the job. OKC came out the gates dominating this year. Boston did the same the year prior. Denver racked up enough wins to coast down the stretch in 2023. Warriors got out to a crazy early record before doing the same in 2022.

This is part of why I hate the whole "maybe prices will drop closer to the deadline" approach our FO likes to do. When was the last time a champion made a significant change to the team during the season? Can't think of one.

 

I think the only way we dip into 2026 (never mind 2027) flexibility is for a young player we think can be part of a core going forward. If that doesn’t present itself, we’ll either deal expirings for expirings or just dump shake for the best stopgap defensive guard available for our money.

I’m on board with it. As folks have said, we’re already competitive as we are right now.

 

Yet to keep from getting screwed, unlike other teams not named the Lakers in these sought after pre-season deals .... sometimes, more often "usually", it's necessary.

 

I don’t think we’re angling for deadline deals, tbh. If one arises, great. But we sign smart/melton/okigie/gp2 in shake’s place I think we compete now and keep lots of options open going forward.

 

I'm not a fan of that approach, but that's probably right. We'll see, if the team comes out in October looking awesome and one piece away from a ring it might be hard to keep the ammo dry.

 

Well the devil's advocate case is that the team lost a key cog in DFS. Is relying on a guy to play center who has a reputation of being soft with definite I'm in this for the money and I don't like basketball all that much vibes, doesn't have a POA defender, Gabe Vincent sucked for two years in a row now outside of the Miami Spoelstra magic. LaRavia has not broken into a playoff rotation yet. Knecht looks worse

On top of that coach threw up an absolute stinker of a playoff performance

Lot of holes and a lot of hope mixed into a bag of two superstars, a really good 3rd wheel, and one proven playoff rotation player in Rui

Lakers are definitely a team that could play well above expectations with Ayton and LaRavia living up to Lakers fans hope (I've been positive about both signings!) but they could easily be a team like Phoenix which had high expectations and just went sideways in a very tough conference. Very high variance team in potential outcomes.

 

maybe…what’s the win now move we missed by not trading the expirings and picks this summer?

I just don’t see it. We could trade for Wiggins (btw, just copy your ayton comments for him) and your doom scenario could play out with us also not having picks and cutting into cap space.

 

I think my post is agnostic to what may or may not have been a available.

I personally like this team a lot more than what we had going into the playoffs. But I'm trying to be realistic I thought that team had a legit chance to make a deep playoff run and instead they put up a stinker. The holes at C and lack of guards outside of AR really stuck out like a sore thumb

Have to check your internal biases at some point a neutral observer in terms of next season is the Lakers are probably playoff team with a high upside but also a real chance of underperforming (Lebron wheels might finally fall off, the guard rotation is really really bad compared to some of these western conference teams in particular, Ayton can be bad Ayton). This stuff wouldn't be a surprise to anyone if they happened (like Jokic having an injury prone subpar year could happen but low probability)

 

I don’t disagree; and lebron is the biggest concern. That’s life when your second star is 40.

I just think we’re playing this correctly.

 

The thing is, these top guys like Jokic and Giannis are not really getting equal value back either. Trading star players that are maxed out or near maxed out are not easy to get value back on. The Suns basically got Jalen Green and Dillon Brooks for Durant, along with a bunch of draft picks that may or may not pan out into anything. When star players either want to get traded or their FO wants to kick them to the curb, if things become public, it often ends out underwhelming. Point is, no reason to trade AR but looking for a top tier talent should not be out of the question for anybody. If we could package him with a few more draft picks, and maybe someone else, like Rui, who says we couldn't land Jokic or similar, especially if that target wants to be here to play with Luka!!! Weirder stuff has happened!!

 

This is a good post and probably a reasonable assessment of current value in some teams eyes. However, I don't think it captures who he will be, and how players with his productivity are generally valued. For example, how would you rank the following players? (Approximately top 15, 20, 30, 40, etc) Stats aren't everything, but assume similar ages, sizes, positions, and defense, and that advanced stats are in line with the below regular stats.

Player A: 24.0 pts, 5.0 asts, 4.5 rebs, 3.3 3's, 1.3 stls, 44.3% FG, 36.8% 3P, 82.3% FT

Player B: 25.6 pts, 7.1 asts, 4.1 rebs, 2.4 3's, 0.9 stls, 46.1% FG, 33.2% 3P, 89.4% FT

Player C: 25.9 pts, 7.4 asts, 5.5 rebs, 3.1 3's, 1.5 stls, 46.7% FG, 38.1% 3P, 91.4% FT

 

Top 20

 

If no trades, then go ahead and sign Okogie and let's go!

 

I've gotten really interested in Marcus Smart thinking about it if he can be had for low salary in a buyout or a trade that doesn't cost us someone we don't really want to lose. He's 31 and the same height virtually as Bronny with 1/2 inch on him in socks or shoes. 6'2"- 6'3.25" vs 6'1.5"-63" and the same exact weight at 220lbs. He can teach Bronny so much and Bronny when HE hits his prime in 5-6 years will be a just phenomenal athlete if no serious injuries .... and probably another 5-8 lbs heavier.

2024-25 highlights with Wizzards

 

I think Herb for Reaves is a fair argument on a lot of general NBA boards. As fans, we tend to overrate scoring, however, having a game breaking defensive player is just as valuable as scoring 20. Reaves is the better player, but Herb is the better fit.