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

I think we have a fair shot. It's okay to talk about the off-season too, the thread covers both the 25-26 season, and off-season ideas, etc.

 

Double yikes - NBA needs to be focused on fans. Not necessarily die hards like us you post on forums but make basketball fans #1 priority.
This going all in on gambling after you have arrests in the same year of a coach and players for gambling related issues is taking the league into a bad place

 

Don't see anything wrong with going after tanking teams, though.

Every year, 10 teams are just tanking or don't care about winning.

The league has to take a serious look at how they prevent tanking.

1. Teams that can't win at least 30 games per season are fined.
2. You can't get a top 5 pick for the next 3 years if you've just gotten one.
3. You can give up that top 5 pick if you don't like that draft class but it will be given randomly to any NBA team.
4. If you have a losing record for 5 straight seasons, you should be fined

I think the problem is many of these team management organizations do a terrible job building out their roster and end up in a situation where they can't compete and just give up and wait for the draft to save them.

Stuff like signing Bradley Beal... who was never worth a max contract but because teams settle on mediocrity, they pay him that kind of $. Now imagine if they had to actually be good at their job, they would have offered Beal maybe 60-70% of what he actually got paid.

 

I love the action.

 

Tankings a problem you can’t have teams losing on purpose. Like I said one way you solve it is you lose your 1st round pick the year you’re tanking and it goes number 1 the following year. So for example if you were tanking the year LeBron and Melo came out you would be stripped of that 1st round pick that draft and get the number 1 pick in the year of Dwight in 2004.

 

A very valid point, though I do fear that Missi being so young and raw would be a rather notable issue for us to work with and that it'd take him more time to develop as a starting Center.

Again, if there's some way for us to manage to nab Isaiah Hartenstein this summer in addition to Herb, Watson and Missi, I think that'd be ideal. Hartenstein is a starting caliber center right now and is in the middle of his prime, so having him there alongside the other three would give Missi more time to develop and mature as a backup center before taking over the reins.

But of course, that all would take some serious alchemy to make happen, in addition to figuring out how to fill out the rest of the bench on the margins.

 

Meh..I think this lob threat stuff gets overblown. Dallas won 1 Conference Finals, and only 1 game in the Finals. That's not this magic formula , that it's getting portrayed to be IMO.

"Luka needs lob threats!" The same way " Lebron needs to be surrounded by shooters!"

Nah..Luka just needs quality players around him, the same as Lebron did.

 

Missi is trash.

 

Watched the first episode of “Soul Power,” on Prime. It’s about the beginning of the ABA and how it competed with the NBA.
Pretty well done.

 

On the Herb/Watson/Missi path:

Is an 8-man rotation of Luka, AR, Herb, Watson, Missi, Smart, Kennard, Vando good enough to go all-in on that?

I feel we would miss a bunch of offense with only Luka, AR, Kennard and maybe Watson being able to put 12+ppg.
We would really need to trust Watson is the semi-all star he showed for a stretch this year and that's a big bet.
And whenever Luka/AR would miss games we would struggle.

Rest of the bench was Hayes,Thiero, Bufkin, Ball...we need more to spend all our assets on it.

I also think Missi may take a while to get there. He would be ok as a Hayes replacement, not as a starter right now

I'd rather be patient and let the market play out a bit. We may get Dort or Hartenstein, if not directly from OKC, as a fallout in another trade like Boston did with Jrue.

I do think we need Herb/Watson types on the wings. I don't think we need to spend 1sts on Watson and just overpay him at around 30M, a number Denver can't get to and hope it plays out.

I also think if we go the RFA path with Watson, blocking that number in the cap for a week, we likely go to Bron as a plan B at around the same number in case Denver matches. Bron can't get more and a better scenario than here and we don't have much more good names a week into FA.
Probably Rui comes back too

It also may give us sometime to let the market play out and be in a stronger position to help some team solve cap issues and get assets from it for a later move.

I'm starting to think we'll not have the whole plan done by July 1. We may do a draft deal but not with all the assets, maybe a minor one or even trading it for multiple future firsts.
Not out of the question keeping that pick too. We really only have Adou as a prospect and we certainly need a couple more to have a few cost-controlled guys that can crack the rotation at some point.

 

if i had to make a summer prediction it would be that we land someone none of us have discussed via this route. like giannis moved somewhere, and in the shuffling, we get our holiday type acquisition.

lebron wouldn't allow himself to be a plan B, and i don't know that i blame him. if we're going to pay him 20-25, that will be decided early/ahead of time. still think he's going to cleveland, though.

oh, and i'd bet the plan B (or C or D) is actually signing someone to an RFA deal. that would mean you struck out on other plans, imo, as all those agreements will have happened by the time an RFA can even sign an offer sheet. so yeah, if we were unable to agree to a salary absorbing trade on draft night (delayed completion a la AD) or to secure any UFA commitments, then you just throw a wad at whichever RFA hasn't already come to terms with their current team (or agreed to an S&T). ideally, though, you're the team that got the S&T and were able to pursue other other things with that in hand.

 

With new (rich) owners and Luka on the team, conference finals should be "plan minimum" every single year. If we're not a real contender next season, i'll be beyond pissed. Don't know how to get there (im not the one making millions to figure it out). Just GET IT DONE.

 

This talk of all these mid level players. I just don’t see it.

and to all the fans in here saying well the Lakers never get the guy or this guy.

Mark Walters is different. He’s a different guy. Doesn’t say a word but runs the league. You saw the firings. He’s gonna get the top everything.

some guys are loud and brash like Cuban and some guys are quiet and move mountains like mark.

I would say Ohtani was on the Dodgers radar since they got rid of Corey Seager or he left. A very popular Dodger. Mark analyzes and sees what needs to get done. It’s how he runs his buisness. What would make this team successful Giannis!!!!!!!!!!

I’m pretty sure after Friedman and Zaidi talked to Rob and got the feel of the league. The consensuous was Gianiss.

please don’t get s*** twisted. The Warriors are a phenomenal team. Stephen Curry is an iconic player. But they were quietly told thanks but no thanks. And they certainly would’ve made that blockbuster for Gianiss with assurances from Gianiss. But at the last minute Gianiss. Pivoted.

there’s the affection for Luka there’s always been a flirtation with the Lakers.

some would argue this purchase was Mark making sure he would get a Giannis.

they buy teams to make money. The Ohtani investment is paying handsomely.

and Yes Shoes Shoes and Shoes. Giannis Nike greak freak makes headlines in L.A.

True Laker fans did you see Gianiss in L.A. at Intuit???? Did you notice it????

Gianiss Luka.

and don’t rule out Lebron saying you know what???? I’m a billionaire. I got my son here. I got Savannah. Kids are happy. What’s a nice low end mid level to make all this work and give a big f*** you to the NBA and the haters.


The reports are true. Mark is set on Gianiss. This is Ohtani. This is his Ohtani. Gianiss saw the Dodgers beat his Brewers. Everybody’s working.

The only off season and I repeat off season conversations. Begin and end with Gianiss.

 

Yeah you might be on to something.

I was thinking we were going to trade for Bogdan Bogdanovic, and then we went and got Luka. I guess maybe I set the bar too low, but I do prefer to set more realistic, lower expectations, and be pleasantly surprised later.

I wouldn't be upset if we got Giannis. But, I feel that the Herb/Watson/Missi type model is also possible.

Although, I would prefer a better shooter than Herb, like Dort. Lakers have excellent leverage for Watson.

Basically, Denver might have to decide on keeping either Watson or Gordon. There are also "fallout" trade possibilities with other teams that trade for Giannis, with players such as McDaniels, Divicenzo, Wiggins, Ware, etc.

Hartenstein is interesting, but you have to remember Luka requested lob threat centers shortly after arriving in Los Angeles. Laker went as far as trading for Mark Williams.

Players like Okongwu were on that list. He wanted lob targets. IHeart can catch lobs, but he is more methodical in the post, like an Ayton. Potential 3-fold problem with him:

One, he costs significantly more than a pure lob threat center, like Missi.

Two: The methodical post play is that little extra, but we only need him to catch lobs. It's like Ayton, or the center equivalent to Rui. We only need Rui for catch and shoot threes but he tries to iso and shoot middies, which disrupts the flow of the offense.

Three: Would in theory decrease Luka's enjoyment of the game, by not giving him that lob threat.

That's not even mentioning it's a less entertaining product without Luka having a lob threat big, but winning does have priority over entertainment.

Hartenstein would be great for the defense, but Lakers would need to consider the constraints. Bad comparison, but players who were not ideal fits that costed significant assets for player like Westbrook, you could see from a mile away.

Even Giannis is not a precise fit, but his lob-catching, rebounding, and defense are so overwhelmingly good that you cant pass up on it.

But his usage isn't ideal for a team with Luka and Reaves. But at least he offers things other than scoring and passing, and he does those other things at a high level.