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

Yeah, me too. That was like 7.6 million per year for 5 to 7 years, I think. But, that was a much higher percentage of what the cap was back then, so it really hurt.

 

I'm against any waive and stretch. Unless it's for a reaaaally good deal for a 3rd starter after you get the other 2, which I don't think we'll be able to do in a single offseason.
You do the waive and stretch when you're one move away from your peak contending squad and have the core guys locked multiple year so you can do that math.

We're not there yet, this will be year 1 of building around Luka and it's unprecedented you do all of it in one year. So I rather keep Vando, he still brings skills we can use and is an expiring the year after. Hopefully we are able to trade him without spending additional assets

 

Well it kind of limits us on what we could spend. For example, if we get Dort + 18th pick on draft night, it leaves us with about 16.6 million to spend. The good thing is, it's a little more than the non-tax payer minimum. Its probably too low for anybody super impactful though. Ellis and Grimes are probably in the 20-23 million range. Definitely won't be able to get a Watson or an Eason with anything less 28 million or so. If we take this conservative approach, we could sign a Dean Wade, and that's basically it for 3 and D players. You could also try and sign a big, like Robinson or Richards with that 16.6 million, but it's a draft that is deep in centers, centers are typically more NBA ready than other players. So, you are probably better off using the draft to get your bigs. You might get arguably three starters in Dort, Wade, and the big taken with the 18th pick. If you want to pass on the 18th pick, you could open up about 20.8 million, and maybe sign an Ellis or Grimes. The 23rd pick might still be decent enough to start, or be a strong backup for Hayes. And then we sign a Robert Williams with the vet minimum. The conservative approach could definitely be a solid option. Just please don't use that 16.6 million to bring back Rui.

 

I’m not a fan of using the stretch provision at all - it’s a terrible use of cap space. Especially not for the chance at a RFA.

The stretch on Vando isn’t far off the TP MLE every year. You could bring in a Marcus Smart level player every year who wants to compete for a championship alongside Luka.

The reality is we won’t be able to get 3 starters and upgrade the bench in a single offseason. Just get 2 parts now. Then another at the next deadline and another the offseason afterwards.

I’m looking at other options; can we sign and trade Rui for anything? Can we send Knecht + 1st to DEN, OKC or HOU for one of Watson, Dort/Hartenstein or Eason?

I also think it’s highly unlikely a player like Ellis signs for 22m when Grimes, Giddey, Kuminga, Eason, Watson all had issues with their extensions.

 

I mostly agree that we can’t properly get all three starting positions that the Lakers need to addressed filled in one offseason and that the best case scenario is getting two filled.

There is however one caveat to this and it’s why I’m so adamant about us being aggressive at draft night to go after Centers. I think we can do trades/sign two NBA starters this offseason tops, but we can also try to draft someone who will develop into being our long term starting Center too.

They almost certainly won’t be ready to start full time right away, but it’s still a huge victory for us if we manage to homegrow our own starting Center for the long haul instead of trying to trade or sign for one at a latter point.

As for packaging Knecht along with a 1st for one of the wings we want to target, I suspect the best bet would be Houston for Tari. Knecht still being on a cheap rookie contract makes him a relatively safe gamble for Houston in being able to potentially get his confidence back and have him be a shooter with the rest of the team’s elite defense covering DK’s defensive weaknesses.

 

There are only 4 teams with the cap space, to throw 20M plus at Grimes and Ellis.

Atlanta
Brooklyn
Chicago
Lakers

We are probably the only one thinking, of doing such a thing IMO.

 

Point taken on the stretch provision. Maybe that's the break glass option.

I hear you on only getting 2 starters as opposed to two. I'm fine with Hayes as the starter for next season. However, we might be able to get a center in the draft that could help in their rookie year. Bigs tend to translate better to the NBA, compared to the other positions. Lively, Missi, and Ware are recent examples of lob-threat centers who have been successful in their rookie seasons.

As far as Ellis is concerned, sure it would be great if he doesn't cost 22 million, but I tend to plan somewhere between mid and worst-case scenario.

 

Honestly the fact that we realistically can only go after two starters this summer makes me that more concrete in my belief that we should go for Tari Eason, not Ellis.

Other than that though, I completely agree with you on the overall assessment- the two NBA starters we should go after need to be the starting Wing/Forward duo and draft our center(s) instead.