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

LOL LeBron … who else?

 

Oh well, that is good!! I guess?!?!?!

 

That's Jokic's agent btw, talking about making plans for 2026, so it's not a nothing burger. It could be read as recruiting LeBron, but that wouldn't make sense cap-wise, whereas Jokic coming to LA could make sense.

 

Theoretically, if Jokic forced his way to the Lakers (asked for a trade to Lakers, said he wouldn't re-sign anywhere else, and would just sign w Lakers as FA in 2027 if forced anywhere else), and if Austin and Rui were willing to S&T to Denver, then the 2026 roster would look like Luka, Smart, LeBron, Vando, and Jokic. Vando could actually play in that lineup, since Jokic can shoot from outside, and we would need Vando and Smart's defense to help cover for Luka, LeBron, and Jokic. Bench of Vincent, Bronny, LaRavia, Knecht, Thiero, Koloko, Hayes, and whoever else we can sign. If LeBron has anything left in the tank, that starting lineup would be a sight to behold.

If you want to put the most Laker-y of Laker goggles on, Ayton and Rui would play well enough to get S&T'd, and we keep Austin and start Luka, Austin, Smart, LeBron, Jokic, with Vando off the bench. That would be incredible.


/dreaming

 

One of our big holes is rebounding

Offensive and defensive

It sucks watching our guys just stand there and the opponent gets multiple shots

Or we shoot 1 shot and run back on defense

Rebounding is a huge key to success

That's why Rodman was so important to the Bulls

I'm looking forward to see the impact that DA will have

 

Wilt was very strong and would have over powered Jokic

Shaq was more agile and could jump

You just couldn't rely on him to give the full effort on every play

IMO both would over shadow Jokic by a good margin

 

Agree 100%

 

Yes, but that's just one part of the equation, when banging in the post. But when Jokic pulls them out and shoots 3's or makes a sweet dish to a cutter for an easy layup, those might account for more ppp than Shaq or Wilt's shots, which they will still miss some of.

 

I would need to look into it more, but intuitively, I think it's more about offense + guarding 3's. The GSW death lineup worked because it gave them way more offensive firepower but still a good defense because Dray was really that good, and could guard both the perimeter and opposing C's. When Gobert gets played off the floor, it's because he can't guard the perimeter when they pull him out. Zubac, idk, but I'm assuming the same thing. Because if they could guard the 3, why would they ever get pulled out in crunch time?

Agree, you can get away with it during a number of regular reason games, but not the full season, and definitely not the playoffs. It just gives away too many possessions due to lack of rebounding. If we just had better rebounding this past postseason, we would have beaten Minnesota and been in contention for a championship. We got outrebounded by 72! Gave away more than 14 possessions (over 14 points) a game due to that single factor!

I feel you. Closing lineup of Luka, Reaves, Smart, Rui, LeBron could be amazing if LeBron is giving his all on defense. Death lineup 3.0 if Rui & LeBron can hold their own against bigs.

 

No 3 line when Wilt played

Jokic would have to work the paint

True that he can shoot 3's, but I believe that Shaq was athletic enough to challenge him at the line

We'll never know, but makes good discussion

 

Good point about the 3 line.

For Shaq, maybe Orlando Shaq could come out to the perimeter, but Lakers Shaq couldn't do it effectively. Shaq would get his points on Jokic and dominate offensively like he usually did, but on the other end, Jokic would draw Shaq out and create easy buckets for cutters. Net effect on the teams and who would win is too hard to say. Unknowable imo.

 

NBA offseason grades: How every team fared before 2025-26 season

Los Angeles Lakers

Grade: B

The Lakers are an interesting contrast to their crosstown rivals' offseason. Building around 26-year-old Luka Doncic, the Lakers added Jake LaRavia, 23, the youngest unrestricted free agent to change teams for more than the minimum, plus Deandre Ayton, who recently turned 27. Marcus Smart, 31, is the Lakers' oldest newcomer. The Lakers' additions weren't as effective last season as the Clippers', but the new Lakers stand a better chance of being long-term contributors.

The biggest question about the Lakers' offseason is what that approach means for 40-year-old superstar LeBron James. However, James has little leverage after exercising his player option. It's more important for the Lakers to persuade Doncic to sign an extension when he becomes eligible this weekend.

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id...eason-boston-C Bags-oklahoma-city-thunder#lal

ESPN, it must hurt for them to say nice things about us

 

All good points

Shaq was in very good shape at one point

Got lazy and took things for granted, which is sad

Think what more he could have accomplished

Alas....

 

You can say a similar thing about Wilt. He just got bored and quit to do other things. He was a very good volleyball player and tried to establish a professional league that unfortunately failed. I have always been amazed that volleyball did not catch on with the American public. It is a great team game that has great elements to it's play. Wilt was an amazing athlete. He retired very early by today's standards.

 

Oh.



One of 3 possibilities for the post? He's implying something big for Lakers or HIM going to Denver or he's being a deuche still about not getting his PO year and all that that implied.

 

i'm keeping receipts on this stuff. pretty much everyone has said that the clips had a much better offseason than we did.

let's see.

 

True. However, he's saying that CP3, Beal, and Lopez were more effective than Smart, LaRavia, and Ayton in 2024-25, but that the Lakers players "stand a better chance of being long-term contributors."

So it's actually a positive comment imo. My guess as to why the Clippers got a B+ and Lakers a B, is that the Clips did the Collins trade which helps their frontcourt a lot, while replacing Powell with Beal. If the Lakers did a trade using their expirings and possibly draft assets, that would probably bump us up.

 

i guess, but by the same logic wasn't powell a more valuable player than collins last year?

i thought the clippers did fine; i just think it's quite obvious that the press wants to tell certain stories in certain ways.

 

Yes, but that's like saying DFS was a more valuable player than LaRavia. The Clippers move was actually Powell for Collins + Beal, just like the Lakers move was (essentially) DFS for LaRavia + Ayton.

The Clips made a trade and got 4 helpful players, while we did not make a trade yet and got 3 helpful players. So I'm fine with the B vs B+ or whatever, it's basically the same. If the Lakers make a good trade, that boosts us up to possibly A category, depending on the trade.