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

It probably is on the low side for Eason, yeah. I'm just not sold at all on the idea of overpaying Keon Ellis so much and I'd rather get creative and find a player who I feel more comfortable committing to a big contract/potential overpay instead, like Eason or Watson.

The argument for Eason being an easier target for us is that he's way more 'replaceable' on Houston than Watson is on Denver, so Houston wouldn't necessarily be opposed to flipping Eason for draft capital, which could in turn help Houston make a big move of their own after the fact if they feel the need to do so.

For the record, I prefer Watson. So if I'm wrong and it turns out to be easier for us to get Watson than Eason, I'll be elated. I'm just sticking with Eason in my speculations/hypothetical roster constructions for the offseason to try and keep it more 'reasonable' in my head.

I really want us to get Watson. I just don't know if we'll get lucky enough to nab him up.

 

This is how it has to be.

Luka 51

Reaves 30

Lebron 18

Lakers can win a championship like this. Luka has to take 50 shots.

from a basketball standpoint Luka has to shoot like Curry meaning Luka has to have everything has to be dictated around him.

Reaves needs his turn.

and Lebron can play the Draymond Green role. Running offense and getting what he can Threes.

 

Let Reaves play the Jaylon Brown role. Ayton can clean up around the Rim. This can win.

 

Anybody is crazy who thinks Shai is the MVP over Luka. Luka is the MVP. It’s clear. This is the guy I saw at the beginning of the season.

 

We need to get this tie breaker. We need the home court against Denver. That’s huge.

 

30-32m for Watson means Denver has to let go of Gordon and Cam Johnson. I’m fine with us locking up our cap space for 48 hours to force them to do that… it’s a big blow to them as a team.

But Houston, I just can’t see them offloading Eason. They’re trying to climb the mountain and are still below the 2nd Apron even overpaying him. Compare that to Denver and OKC who are both over the 2nd Apron… they’re the ones who have to make tough decisions.

For OKC they have 3 team options on Dort, Hartenstein and Kenrich. They’d probably rather get something in return that just letting these guys walk for nothing. A 1st for Dort is great for them, we could probably make them eat Knecht in return.

Heck, I wonder if we could entice them to take 2 firsts, Vando and Ayton for Hartenstein and Dort. That’s 20.5m going out (Ayton and Vando) and 46.7 coming in for a net gain of 26.5m. If OKC waive Kenrich, they’ve lowered their cap by 33.4 and added a decent backup center and another defender plus two future firsts.

If we can resign Hayes for 4m and dump Knecht we’d have 23m-ish in cap space. I’d throw that at Eason/Watson and force their teams to match. Otherwise bring back LeBron for another run. Best case scenario:

Luka / Smart / Bronny
Reaves / Kennard / Bufkin
Dort / LaRavia
Eason or Watson / Adou
IHart / Hayes / Kleber

That’s a pretty tough wing rotation. We improve at center. Maybe we’re still lacking a POA defender but I try to develop Bronny/Bufkin/Manon into that.

 

i just don't think houston's in a position where they have to make any choices. if i'm them, i just sign eason to market value and trade him later if it becomes an issue.

denver can't just sign watson to market value. they'd just BLAST through the second apron in a way almost nobody has.

me too, though again, i'd rather work something out ahead of time, as waiting for an RFA offer means basically missing out completely on the UFA/trade market.

the other thing i'll say is that i wonder if denver might use this opportunity like boston did--blame outside circumstances for making a tough choice. the analog is holiday. i think boston knew he was about to be paid much more than his on-court value, and he was declining. gordon may be in that exact situation, but like holiday was crucial in delivering a ring and is a fan and team favorite. blame second apron, end up in better shape to re-tool around jokic in the short-term. if you wait until everyone knows gordon's cooked, you're stuck.

yeah, that's what i meant about eason/hou. den/okc/cle/orl. those are the teams that almost HAVE to do something substantial that cuts costs.

i like it, but i still think okc will look anywhere but here. to bring up holiday* again, one thing i hope rob is doing is calling chicago and bkn and saying that we'll have something to offer them if they get player X in a salary dump. then they can get an asset coming and going, and we can get a player. okc/den can't make trades contingent on the other team not making a second trade to us, lol.

*how milwaukee would probably not have made that trade if they knew it would have landed holiday in boston

 

I just don’t know if people see us as a big threat. If I’m OKC, I’m probably thinking Denver has a multi year MVP that’s probably the best player on the floor any night, alongside a solid supporting cast that patches up Jokic’s weaknesses.

Then Houston is one PG away from just overwhelming teams with athleticism and physicality from KD, Jabari, Amen, Eason, Sengun and Adams.

Lastly, the Spurs are the scariest team of the lot, they have a generational big that might go down as the greatest defender of all time - he pretty much broke them earlier this season beating them 3 times in a row when they were thinking they could run at the warriors reg season record.

Plus I think you can argue that the 31 and 33 draft picks could be valuable and it’s better that, then nothing. Of course you make the calls to the BKN’s and Bulls of the world so they know you’ll be keen to pick up some productive players.

 

I'm trying not to overthink it but I'm legit concerned about what happens to Dort once he leaves OKC.

I definitely can't see him getting anything close to the benefit of the whistle he currently gets if he played here.

 

We probably could get Watson, but it would likely mean we decide not to get Dort on Draft Night. I mentioned earlier that we can get both of them, if we waive and stretch Vando. I wonder if we could got to Denver and say we are going to give Watson and offer sheet would you like to do a trade? If they say yes, then at that point we try to send them some salary, so we don't have to waive and stretch Vando. Maybe something like LaRavia + 2033 1st. I'm not sure if it works that way though.

 

I agree that Dort's whistle is probably going to get way more brutal for him the second he leaves OKC. That said, I do think he's still a young enough player to where he can adjust his game and play a somewhat 'cleaner' defense to stay out of foul trouble and still be really effective. Especially if we keep Marcus onboard, considering the similarities to between them and his presence in the locker room as a leader.

Yeah, it's tricky. I personally still think we can get Dort and either Watson or Eason, but it's probably going to require things to break a certain way for us in order to pull it off, like being able to package someone like LaRavia, Knecht or Vando in one of those trades, or Ayton opting out of his contract for some reason. I suppose Marcus could opt out of his contract too, but that'd be far more detrimental to us than if DA does.

 

No, you're right that Houston doesn't have to trade Eason or someone on their roster away right now, except for maybe FVV. But it's specifically because of their current circumstances of being a team with a ton of young talent on currently budget friendly contracts that makes me think that we could potentially get them to agree to a S&T for Eason. He's expendable to them in that regard, and getting a First from the Lakers that'd be coming in right around the tail end of Luka's prime would be a very valuable asset for them in exchange for Eason.

Again, I do really want us to find a way to get Watson if at all possible, but it seems like Denver might potentially be seeing Watson as their potential franchise lifeline post-Jokic, or at least a lifeline that significantly helps extend Jokic's window. Hopefully I'm wrong, because I think Watson would be a significant floor raiser for us and could even be a significant core piece for the Lakers long term if we manage to poach him.

I'd love to start next season with a starting lineup of Luka/Austin/Dort/Eason or Watson/IHart, but realistically I think our best case scenario is that we manage to acquire two of the three needed position Starters this offseason and maybe fix the bench somewhat... Granted, if the Lakers manage to successfully draft a top tier Center or two on Draft Night like Aday Mara, Motiejus Krivas or Flory Bidunga, we'd likely be able to also at least have a Big who could ideally develop into being our long term solution as a starting Center in another year or two.

 

6'3 to 6'7 - 3 and D specialists: approximate annual salary. Just to get an idea of Dort's production relative to his salary, and what he might be looking for in an extension, and what other 3D players, like Ellis might want.

KCP 21.6
Hart 20.9
Herb 20.9 (Extension)
Caruso 19.6
Dort 18.2
NAW 14.4 (Bargain)

I would guess Ellis get s paid in the 20-22 range. Dort might want an extension similar to Herb's. Nothing outlandish about those numbers. People talk about Ellis only averaging 6 points, but Caruso only averaged double digits once in his career. And, Ellis is a much better shooter. Fans on here are obviously biased toward Caruso, since he is a former Laker and helped us win a chip.

6'5 to 6'10 - 3, Score, and D: To get a feel for what Watson and Eason might get. (We would have to over pay a bit though, due to their RFA status).

Anunpby 42.5
Bridges 33.5
Suggs 32.4
White 30.3
Wiggins 30.2
Murphey 27.0
Vassell 27.0
McDaniels 26.2 (Not a scorer, but I guess he gets paid like this due to his size?)
Brooks 20.0 (Bargain)
Coumara 18.1 (Scoring is on the lower end compared to most of the others, so the contract matches up)

Hard to tell what these guys would get. OG is overpaid. Orlando over paid Suggs. There scoring is more in the McDaniels/Coumara range, but they both have a lot of upside. I would guess the McDaniels/Murphey range is accurate for them, but they might require 30+ million to pry away.

One thing of note, Dort and Watson both share the same agency (Klutch). So, there might be something that could be worked out. Rob seems to like to play that agent politics angle. That seems t o be one of his strengths. Might as well play to your strengths. Might as well keep the relationship with Klutch going. We were able to get players like AD, Harell, KCP, Walker, and many others in the past, due in part to the Klutch angle.

 

Just looking at the history of how Dodger management builds teams they either A.Get best player available or B. Build depth so it doesn’t hurt the team when players are injured. My gut feeling is they will do B this offseason.Probably using the cap space for 2 or 3 rotation pieces or 1 starter and 1-2 rotation players

 

I think we could get 2-3 starters. Option A could still be an option before the trade deadline. At that point, we would have filled our cap room, and if we are under the apron, we could take back about 25% more salary i think. I forgot of 1st or 2nd apron. Also by that time we would have stacked up good trade ballast. For example Watson + Dort could get a max player, but we would have other ballast like maybe Vando, Ayton, Knecht, LaRavia, etc.

 

As an aside, I spent all day yesterday at the ACC Quarterfinals. I got there late for the first game and only caught the second half of Virginia vs NC State and I had to leave before the UNC vs Clemson game to get home, but it was a great time and I'm glad I went. The Duke vs Florida State game was especially worth watching, which I'll get into more in a bit.

Ultimately the vast majority of the players I saw yesterday are probably going to either be Second Round draft picks or undrafted players who wind up in the G League or playing overseas. Moreover, a couple of projected First Round prospects I'd been hoping to see, Duke's Patrick Ngongba II and Louisville's Mikel Brown Jr., wound up not being able to play due to health or injury. And since I couldn't see the UNC game, I also missed out on Henri Veesaar.

There were plenty of really good players, but as a lifelong Tar Heel fan, I have to admit what I saw last night: Duke is filled with really talented/exciting prospects. They're obviously young and a bit raw in their game, which is a big part of why they very nearly lost to Florida State last night IMO (the whole stadium held its breath at that last would-be buzzer beater), but the fact of the matter is that I saw several guys in the Duke uniform last night that looked more NBA caliber to me in a way that the other teams just didn't.

Obviously there's Cameron Boozer. The hype for Boozer kinda just goes without saying at this point, he's projected to be a Top 1-3 pick in the lottery this year and for very good reason. Dude is going to be scary in a few years. Boozer's brother was also pretty dang good, but the three guys that I paid close attention to were Isaiah Evans, Maliq Brown and Dame Sarr. Those guys are all really intriguing players to keep an eye on. Evans had a really good game with 32 points and Brown had 12 rebounds.

Sarr, statistically, was nowhere near as impressive. He scored just 3 points and had 5 rebounds. But Good Lord, this guy is crazy athletic and has a promising defensive game. Reminded me a bit of Herb Jones in that regard. Would not be opposed to us buying into the Second Round to pick him up and develop his shot.

 

I’m just going off of their history and they haven’t shown any interest in spending 65-70% of available money on players who are not stars already. That gives me the feeling Watson might not be getting that type offer from them.I absolutely see them inquiring about Dort because the price is right for him. I could see them going after a couple 20mil guys and a less than 10mil guy to add quality depth.

 

That makes sense. I have been researching Watson lately, and my interest has declined quite a bit. It would be more trouble than what it's worth, really. And, in the end he could look like an overpriced contract. But even from a fit perspective, Watson is concerning. Only 34% of his fg% are from behind the arc. This is worse than Rui's 46%. About 25% of his shots are 3-10 feet. About 25% within 3 feet. That later is good, but the 3-10 is not very efficient. Players like Ellis and Dort attempt about 70% of their shots behind the arc. This produces gravity, and is what fits with Luka and Reaves.

 

I think I disagree with this one. I want another guy that can create some offense for himself and isn't just a spot-up shooter. I think saying we have Luka and Reaves, everyone else just catch lobs and spot up for threes is a big mistake. That's how you become really vulnerable to teams that can actually defend the pick and roll well.

Like say we match up with the Spurs. Castle is guarding Austin every minute he's on the court. Any P&R Austin tries to run with a big, Castle is chasing him over the top and Wemby (the best P&R defender in the league) is defending in drop, taking away the rim while also contesting midrange jumpers/floaters. Not confident Austin is having a super efficient series under those circumstances. Do we have any other pitch to throw, other than Luka score 40+ a night? That's basically what happened to the Mavs in the Finals - they had multiple guys who could defend Kyrie well in iso or P&R, his efficiency and production tanked, and they didn't have another pitch to throw other than putting even more on Luka.

If an opponent's best wing and guard defenders are pre-occupied with Luka and Austin, it would be great to have a 3rd guy that can actually create some offense. It's why the theory of LeBron as the 3rd guy is compelling to me, it just hasn't panned out. So I'd love to bring in Watson.