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

I also think people are underrating Austin getting the max. 240 million is generational wealth. It really confuses me when people are like yeah he’s made 50m, he’ll just take less on his contract or he’ll sign a 1 year deal.

As an athlete you only have a certain shelf life to make money and if you get a chance to take the max, you lock it in for as many years as you can - full stop.

 

don't have time to catch up on every point, but giannis is definitely the 4th or 5th most-desired option in my mind heading into the offseason. the fact that we're spending pages largely hand-waving at the fact that reaves would have to agree to a s&t to milwaukee adds a layer of weirdness (why not just take a max from chicago or bkn?).

but even ignoring that, svtzr mentioned in a defense for giannis that he didn't buy into the pick and roll game with lillard despite it working when they did it. and this would be my point: giannis wants to play a very specific way. so does luka. and these ways are actually not super compatible. we already dealt with lebron throwing a fit early in the season because he couldn't play the way he wanted, now we want that in a perhaps even more intractable situation? who plays center? luka wants lob threats and giannis wants a three point shooter. you can't just run two separate teams when you have two guys making 60 million and are built to be THE GUY.

i get that the lakers, historically, chase stars, and i gather that mark walter does the same, so i'm prepared to be involved in the giannis talks, but i'm just hoping we somehow get eliminated from them by either giannis himself or some other teams making offers we couldn't possibly match anyway. i don't see it being the best path to a three-year contention window, which should be the goal for this summer.

 

There’s a lot of wishcasting with Austin in general. The idea that he’d scoff at a $40 million a year offer for the Bucks and instead take a contract up to $10 million per year less is just silly. No one does that. People act like he’s LeBron in the summer of 2010 who can just call his shot and go anywhere he wants and any team would move heaven and earth to open up space for him.

In reality, he’s a 27 year old scoring guard who’s had exactly one season (this season) of All-Star caliber play, in which he only played in 51 games. I don’t think there are a bunch of teams that are dying to pay him $35 million plus per year. People keep bringing up Chicago - why would they do that? What does signing Austin to a big contract actually do for them? Maybe it puts them right back in the play-in mix, which is what they’ve wanted the last few years, but they just fired the FO so I don’t know if that’s the plan anymore.

Why would Brooklyn sign him to a max? What does that do for them? They’re multiple lottery pick hits away from being a good team, why would you sign a 27 year old scoring guard right now? I guess you could say they would sign him to trade him later, but what’s Austin’s trade value on a much bigger deal? Again, I think people are drastically overrating his value around the league. For that matter, I kind of doubt Milwaukee would even want to sign him to a big deal. Same reason as Brooklyn, what does that actually do for them.

 

The three main arguments against Giannis are:

- Health: yep, get that. But Reaves has his own issues here. And most every other team has health issues apart from OKC at the moment.

- Bucks: they don’t own their own picks so what’s the point of bottoming out? If I was them I’d try to get my picks back as a first priority, I’m trading Giannis to Portland or something.

- Incompatibility: Just like Dwight Howard in his first stint here, Giannis doesn’t want to just be a PnR big, set screens and roll hard to rack up 25-30 points a game while just focusing on defense and rebounding. He wants to be the man. I’m sure in his head he thinks he is still the best player in the NBA and that Luka should be second fiddle.

I mean Luka and him would need to talk and get on the same page. If they do, you’re talking about the most game breaking two man game the league has. And Giannis is kind of the ultimate defender, can guard 3-5 to an elite level while being able to switch onto the perimeter on anyone.

His fit with Luka if he just focused on rolling and defence could be elite. Surround them with LeBron, Turner/Portis, Hayes, Smart, Ellis, Kennard and Jake and you’ve got a truly elite contender.

 

Really great points. Agree on Reaves not scoffing at a Max even if it’s a sign and trade and agree about Brooklyn and Chicago. Chicago already has Giddey and they could have just kept Coby for a scoring guard. Brooklyn meanwhile is super far away from getting a franchise player and maybe having Reaves makes them too competitive to really bottom out and get a franchise changing player.

I hadn’t thought about why Milwaukee would want Reaves and that’s a great point. Most likely only way it works is for a 3 team sign and trade where we find a suitor for Reaves that would send additional picks to the Bucks. I don’t know who that third team could be.

 

Because he is still a very good player and will get paid what players who score 18-20pts grab 6-7 boards and assist on 6-7 baskets get paid.

 

Yep. Been on this and why I avoid this forum like the plague. However, there are a few people that are coming around to the idea that he's best suited as a third option. The advantage with Austin is there are nights (a lot of them) where he can be really damn good, and his salary has helped the last couple of years tremendously. He'll so (with his low cap hold) be a major part in us being able to build a better basketball team this year. No slight against him. I like him. I just think he needs to be slotted correctly, and I don't want to spend the summer or year attempting to figure out if he and Luka can win a championship together as a 1/2 punch when I already know they won't, IMO.

 

Every single thing that the Laker Franchise has said regarding Austin is that they love him and want him here.
On the Giannis side, adding him to Luka, while gutting the team, is just Westbrick 2.0. I don’t value anyone’s basketball IQ who thinks this would work. Luka and The Greek are both ball dominant, extremely high usage players who thrive on having spaced out shooters. Luka needs a PnR springy big and Giannis has no interest in this type of offense.
The extra $20million is more like $9 million over that span after taxes and agent fees. That’s not enough to leave a Franchise whom you LOVE playing for, in a city you LOVE living in to go to the unknown of fit of a new team, high probability of losing a lot of games every year, inability to golf year round, leaving two “stars” who you are very tight with and LOVE playing alongside, and having to live in an awfully boring, frozen city called Milwaukee.
I think you are the one who is not understanding the context of just how much the Lakers and Austin are a perfect fit.

 

I agree it's probably not happening. But Giannis is a lob threat, and he ads defense, unlike Westbrook did. It would require a lot of cooperation from the two main characters, and very specific roster surrounding them. Giannis is always going to need a stretch 5, they are going to need shooters, the backup to Giannis needs to be a lob threat for Luka, etc. It's a fun thought, and if everyone is on the same page, they would in theory be highly successful. But I acknowledge, probably not happening.

 

I believe that’s what they will do.They can get Goodwin for a lot less.I don’t believe they will swing for the fence. Fill in the bench with dependable vets and probably make a trade to absorb a contract

 

Oklahoma
F A. Caruso Out
G S. Gilgeous-Alexander Out
C I. Hartenstein Out
C C. Holmgren Out
G Isaiah Joe Out
G A. Mitchell Out
G C. Wallace Out
F J. Williams Out
C J. Williams Out
Denver

MAY NOT PLAY
G C. Braun Ques
F A. Gordon Ques
F C. Johnson Ques
C N. Jokic Ques
G J. Murray Ques
F S. Jones Out

interesting
what Silver going do ?
remember he fined Indiana and Siakam

 

Austin would be a great laker. I plan on him resigning.

But the Lakers will due diligence on Gianiss. They’ve always wanted him.

Austin Reaves is nowhere near Gianiss and should not be discussed in the same sentence as him.

it’s laughable. OKC and San Antonio were gearing up to get him. And that might be the reason they don’t win a championship.

Milwaukee turned down Luka for him. So stop with that narrative that he can’t play anymore or isn’t dominant. You want to put that with Luka???? Anybody would. You make it work.

and honestly in the NBA if we want to talk about it. When they are on. And playing.


It goes like this

1. Jokic
2. Gianiss
3.Shai
4. Luka
5. Edwards
6.Wemby

the first 3 guys have championships.

 

Reaves with his long documented injuries. He’s going to try to get as much money as he can.

I assure you he will have production. But the way he plays he needs to correct it because he’s had calf issues.

The Lakers will sign him and offer him everything they can.

The Gianiss thing is Gianiss would be the perfect lob threat for Luka as a Center. He can guard and score on anybody.

 

Terry Rozier????

we’ll get some good betting tips.

 

f*** Chris Paul, just in case.

 

I'm not going to take part in the page after page of this regarding Giannis. I just have no real interest in wasting much time discussing him until he says something stupid again, then I may pop my head back up to ask the Giannis crowd: you sure?

I don't want to contribute to the daily 10 pages discussing him because he's my least favorite option this summer unless we're talking about bringing Russ back or something as horrific as that.

Before closing my eyes while scrolling past any and all Giannis talk, I will restate my overall opinion, which is the same as it was at the deadline, maybe only slightly more sour because he continues to be a two faced scared diva.


We're an extremely top heavy team, sacrificing remaining depth is never a good roster building practice. There's not enough trade cycles left in Luka's prime to build out that version of a roster (i think we're currently 3 cycles away, you can overpay to possibly shrink that to 2). I've seen some of the suggested followup moves or ways to expand on the trade. It's not that easy, if it was the Bucks wouldn't be in the position they're in and Giannis would have multiple rings. Depth wins out in this current version of the NBA.

On to Giannis himself... his game is solely based on athleticism. He is a sub 30% 3 point shooter. Only top 20 players who are that bad from deep are Bam and AD. There's been the Bron comp of late career shot progression but Bron is a 1/1 in every since of the word. By year 9, Bron had put in the work on the shot (even though it ebbed and flowed a bit after). Also Bron is the only athletic superfreak to still be an athletic superfreak at age 41. Sure Giannis could also remain an athletic monster into his mid 30s but given the odds and how it's ended for every other athletic player in the history of the NBA as they age, I really like my Vegas odds betting against him.

Giannis wants to be the focal point of the team, which is why NY and Miami make the most sense and the factor in the ease of travel back home... those are no brainer destinations. Hell, even during the GS talks it came out he didn't like the idea of being on Steph's team. This is Luka's team, period.

Giannis will not set screens and wants to be a Joker-like hub (also came out during mid season pout fest). You know... just without the generational vision or passing ability (he's solid, Joker is elite). This is equating to possession percent concerns. Spacing issues. Forcing a stretch big who will screen to be in the starting lineup with them. Yay... let's create more limitations on this roster!

In a weak East, Bucks were out in the 1st round 3 years in a row. This year, they're not making the play-in. Bucks have also had 6 coaches since drafting him. But Bron is the coach killer with 9.


Giannis has gained some local clout from dragging that micro market into relevancy so they've grinned as he's publicly wavered on his allegiance to the team or pressured management at some really ill timed moments. He leaves, he has none of that goodwill or preexisting standing. People have whined and complained non stop since Bron got here about him doing something like that, now we want to run that approach back with a far inferior player (historically, not currently)?

Then factor in the circus drama factory he's caused this year, I don't want to be in that business. Lost a lot of respect for him through all this with his b*******.

 

Let me summarize for you:

Spoiler

F*** Giannis.

 

I find it insane that a player who was playing at MV

If he didn’t need the ball to be in his hands so much, liked to play PnR, and could shoot around league average from three, he could be a good fit.

 

Which dingbats (no offense to dingbats everywhere ) are you claiming are saying 10M less at 30M per? Those of us saying he very well may accept less to remain a Laker ... especially since his season ended before he could put to rest all the haters' bogus claims he always disappears in the playoffs .... have been talking 35M ish plus/minus a couple M.