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

yeah, it's not all lebron's fault. i'm sure he tells people to just treat him like he's anyone else, but...how? like on that play against orlando, one of the greatest players of all time flashes his hands at you...you're going to hesitate. if laravia had done that, luka ignores him and takes the shot.

anyway, it's just a bad fit at this stage in lebron's career, much like he and AD became a bad fit as lebron got slower and AD stopped making shots outside the paint.

on the upside, the sample size is growing and continues to support the idea that we can replace lebron with two high-functioning players and expect to be a good team, even if our second-best player is the lowly austin reaves.

 

Yeah. I completely agree. Particularly with the thought that a couple of high functioning guys can fill his role when he leaves. Team has to be centered around Luka though and that just can't happen if he is one the floor. It is what it is.

 

Yeah, as we were discussing on the other thread, I like the thought of multiple picks in this draft.

I'd be happy with Krivas alone though. He's one of the better defensive bigs in college and definitely one of the best shot blockers available in the draft.

 

I'm not so sure that Lebron being out makes this team better or this is proof of it - yeah they had a good win and I think Luka should deserve credit for it. But that 4th quarter happened and everything stalled out: Knicks got a bunch of looks they normally make and Brunson was just off a bit (eerily similar to Luka just being a little off against Denver when Jokic took over at the end)

 

This is fair and I'm trying not to be too kneejerk about the whole thing or bash LeBron. I mean I think the Spurs are like 10-4 without Wemby. I still think we need him if we want to make noise, but we're going to have to figure out how to get the guys to not lean on so much. Tricky thing to do.

But looking to the inevitable future without him, we can find guys that replace his production and Luka will be completely free to lead.

 

sooo...i'm not sure the sample is of insignificant size. at all. it's not just the knicks game that we've looked better with luka/reaves than with lebron/anyone. it doesn't mean lebron sucks; it just means we haven't been able to figure out how to play with all three of those guys on the floor.

if lebron was hitting his three, we'd probably be able to outscore most folks like i hoped/expected before the season. but he's kind of draymond, minus defensive intensity, plus midrange scoring right now. if that profile was available in free agency, we wouldn't be pursuing it (some teams would, though!).

anyway, i hope he rediscovers his shot, commits to his role, and the team surprises to end the season. but in any case, we've definitely got proof of concept that we can build a good team without him.

 

Agreed. I'm just a bit greedy in that I'm looking at this year's draft class and I see a number of really intriguing players for us and would love for us to find a way to nab up one or two more of those guys if at all possible.

But yeah, if we get to Draft Night and we walk out with just Mo Krivas? I'd be elated. Dude's a defensive monster and he flat-out immediately looks NBA ready than a lot of his other counterparts in the draft this year. He'd be a very smart pickup for us.

For that matter, Morez Johnson Jr. would also be a really smart pickup for us that'd be pretty quickly NBA ready IMO, even if I'd prefer us to prioritize us getting a proper 7ft center first over someone who's more of a Small Ball Center/Power Forward type. But hey, I can get onboard with the idea of us drafting a "More Compact Version of Joel Embiid"-type Center too.

Granted, I'd also be really excited if we got Aday Mara instead too. Mara would definitely be more of a development project for us, so being patient with him would be annoying, but IDK... Mara feels more like a natural Laker pick to me than Krivas on paper. Former UCLA guy, he grew up idolizing Pau Gasol, transferred over to Rob Pelinka's old alma mater.

 

I'm glad you brought up these players. I started watching tape on them. Mara and Bidenga seem like good targets. Mara is 7-3 255 and barley needs to jump. He's speaks the same language as Luka both literally and figuratively. Huge catch radius and easy lob threat for Luka. Also protects the rim on the other end. 7-7 wingspan. Sort of Gaffordish. Players like this seem to stick these days. Eddy, Clingan, Yang, Kaulkenbrenner, and Huff are recent examples. Tell Ayton that Bidenga plays like Clint Capela. Elite lob threat and rim protector, but om the smaller side at 6-9/6-10, but I'm sure standing reach, wingspan, and vertical are off the charts. Krivas is solid in the IHart mold, but in the videos I didn't see him dunk the ball at all. He seems to like to use the hook shot a lot. Idk if that is Lukas style and its not efficient like lobs. Ayton seems to like to do stuff like that. I would prioritize Mara and Bidenga.