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

I’m not of the mindset that he’s untradeable. I think few guys are. But that trade needs to be a home run.

And if we were to lose him for nothing I will likely get banned from the forum for a bit after the rant I dropped.

 

i'd like to talk about anything but losing by a zillion to the C Bags at home.

i've been watching more college hoops lately, and i think we have a chance to draft a good player if we're taking this seriously anymore. right now, we'd pick in the low 20s.

names i've seen that could be possible there include:

joshua jefferson (i'm a fan--big, two-way, high iq forward. not a great athlete, sort of mechanical, but i'll be surprised if he's not an nba rotation player and quickly)
karim lopez (looks interesting on film, don't know enough)
chris cenac (i think if he's there, you have to take him--athletic pf/c with some skill. i read motor concerns but did not see this in the games i caught--think kelel ware)
cameron carr (skinny, but his athleticism pops, and he's a shooter)
patrikc ngongba (another big prospect who might slip, but probably won't fall that far)
morez johnson (quite an athlete, little worried he's an nba 5 in an nba 4's body, like jt toppin)
alijah arenas (haven't seen enough, clearly talented, honestly worried bc of who his dad is)

i've seen some folks have philon slip that far, which would be crazy to me.

anyway, most draftniks are saying that picks 10-30 could go in a lot of different orders, and that there's a ton of talent in this draft even outside the lotto.

let's not screw this one up.

 

great coaching and even better roster construction on their side. mazulla gets the most out of his players and stevens is a goddamn wizard

meanwhile in LA, you have the complete opposite

 

I don't think anybody advocating trading for Reaves is saying just trade him for "pieces." His caphold does make it easier for team building, and that's a huge plus. I do think he'd take a discount, too. Not much, but I think if we approached him and say, "hey, Reaves we have a chance to bring in such & such player, can you take a slight haircut to help us," I think he would do that in a heartbeat. He's a team player. I have no issue with any of that.

On that note, I think a player like Peyton Watson or in that archetype works perfectly. There's others, but that sort of mold in the starting 5 would make a HUGE difference. Now, that said, the jury is still out on how how performs for the rest of the season and in these PO's. Still a long way to go there. I'm open for trading anybody if it's the right player coming back. It takes quality to get quality. If he's lights out in these PO's (win or lose), then all of us should shut our mouth about him, including myself. If he's inconsistent or replicates his performance from last year, then that's an issue, and I'd be open to discussing different scenarios this summer and going forward with him up to and including trading him, but we're a long ways off from that.

Just my two cents. And again, he isn't the biggest issue on this team? He's actually one of the better stories that we have; unfortunately, we've squandered picks, our last two first round choices have sucked, and he's our best asset. It is what it is...

 

Yeah I don’t disagree with this.

 

I love AR: he's my second favorite player in the league after Lebron. He's absolutely one of those guys who should play the majority of career with his Lakers as the underdog (along with Caruso errr I'll stop there). But if you're building a team it's just hard having both your top playmakers being teams target over and over again. We can say whatever about metrics, overall defensive effort, players taking plays off, falling asleep off - ball but I pay real attention to who teams target and teams just go after both Luka and AR.

You can make the case this pretty similar to what Dallas had with Luka and Kyrie but they got pretty much smoked in the FInals even with a team designed to compensate for these weaknesses. I hate even typing this but OKC and Boston told their guys to get into the chest of AR and get into your spot (J Will was one thing but Cason Wallace and then Pritchard) or you iso heavy with Luka (Charlotte, Brown called for the switch off Lebron - frustrated that Lebron just gave it up too damn easily don't let them pick on on Luka). My depressing thought is AR fits better with Lebron/AD type of duo than a Luka/Lively type of one. I'll go run and hide as everyone jumps on this take.

 

Who's going to pay him 40M? There is only 1 team capable of doing that from what I can tell. It's a negotiation, I'm not trying to outbid myself here.

 

I’m still of the mind AR’s not delusional about his abilities like Russ was on the Lakers, and if it remains that tough and he struggles in these playoffs that he recognizes it and because he does want to remain a Laker, and because it does help building out the roaster …. that he’s going to be amenable to the 35M per range. He’s not out to squeeze for every last penny …. errr …. M.

 

I'm rooting for our boy..but he has to handle his business in the playoffs.

 

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You and me on the same page about AR? See my post a couple up. Have been saying that since start of the season. 34-35M ish. For all the reasons listed.

Oh wait it was Jovan not You.

 

He said the "floor". He might get a little more than that, but we will see, you could very well be right at the end of the day.

 

i think chicago or bkn should offer him whatever they can, and even if they don't, you don't form good relationships by lowballing, especially over a few million per (you're talking the tpmle here). i think just say we're prepared to go max, but would appreciate it you'd consider less to help us <insert specific plan here>. if we can't do that, we'll do the max. the mavs did this with wes matthews years ago. they struck out on their FA plan (deandre jordan reneged), so they upped his deal to the max from just under it.

 

Luka and AR have a 108 defensive rating when playing together. Only OKC has more

Luka, Bron and AR have a 121 def rating. It's the worst in the league.
The 3 together are -10 net rating.

We can definitely contend with Luka/AR, we can't with the 3 together.

Another thing interesting is that any combination is worse when Ayton is out there.
We're +2.4 with the 3 together without Ayton.
I'm more and more convinced that we just let Ayton walk or trade him if he picks up the PO. And Bron should be gone.

Team will improve with just the right pieces. It's not individual quality. Bron, Rui, Ayton are all good (to great) players, they just don't fit the other 2 stars.
Basketball is more about fit then individual quality, especially in the players around the stars.
You can't tell me Scheierman, Queta or Gonzalez are better than Rui, Ayton and LaRavia. But each one of them kicked our a**.

We need guys who are physical, bump you up, press high on the ball, handle the ground when being pushed, fight the screens, give tough screens, box out, etc, etc.
All things that our 3-5 best players (Bron, Rui, Ayton) are less equipped to do. Or why Hayes is playing so much better for us after bulking up in the summer, just for his physicality and fit.

There's a silver lining in this defeat both short and long term. It can be the type of game that lights up a fire in our team while it reinforces the areas the FO need to address in the summer

Next season is a very key milestone for this franchise. It's Rob's finals game 7 in the summer to show if he has the ability to put together a winning team. And if so, it's JJ who gets the pressure to deliver and build a winning team when given the right pieces.
This year's roster is a transition year with the mold of Bron/AD framework but it's really the last year there's an "excuse".

Still want JJ to show savviness and his "brilliant basketball mind" in maximizing this group and the uniqueness of its build

 

Not sure where he's projected, but saw a clip of a 7'2 that can shoot torching Peterson's team (the #1 pick if I butchered the name) with 28pts

Yeah everyone's saying this draft is deep, a huge opportunity to get a good rotation piece moving forward.
Just not sure where are we with the scouting department lol

A lot of opportunities this summer

 

excellent points.