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

If we had a dude like Naz Reid off the bench, instead of Jax Hayes, we would be considered in the top tier of Contenders.
Or, if you replace LaRavia with someone who could defend AND score 10-14 points a night, we would be much stronger.
Look what happened when we only switched out Cardio Gabe with Luke.
If that trade didn’t go down, we would be down 0-2 right now instead of the reverse.
A few dependable, key contributors off the bench make a huge difference in the playoffs.

 

I wouldn't mind sending two first for Wiggins or Hart if it means we liquidate Vando and Knecht. One of those first is #25 this year, it's not that great.

 

Minny punching Denver in the face rn, makes me smile.

 

NBA upside down!!!!

 

nice something you and slick can agree on.

 

Who knows what can happen. We can potentially get a sweep with Austin playing and we might be resting where OKC might be playing two games and then another grinding it out with no Williams who is out indefinitely with a Hamstring injury.

 

i think all that would put us in the top group for sure.

 

Things are going really well in Houston.

If the Lakers kick our a** and Sengun is partially why, we want to trade him for a real star.

 

3nD is the priority but I really would like to get Portis on this team.He is the big man Marcus Smart in attitude and team chemistry.

 

It's just a random and odd fit. He's a power forward. We already have too many of those. He could play some stretch 5, which is also an odd fit with Luka. He prefers rim runners. Portis is not that. I mean, he's a much better rebounder than Rui, I give him that.

 

So trade jake and Vando for him.If his name was Naz Reid would you feel the same because they are basically the same player.You can play 5 out with him because he was the second best 3point shooter in the league not to mention the intangibles he brings to championship contenders

 

I wouldn't mind that trade at all. Lakers upgrade the backup power-forward position. Portis is much better than Vando and LaRavia.

 

I like Portis. I like Reid also. If we could simply add either to the bench, then sure. The issue is that they are not the priorities. Our priorities need to be a starter level POA 3&D player and a starter level wing 3&D player. Then upgrading the starting C. After that would come upgrading the bench, which is where Portis and Reid would go. If you can do those 1st 3 things and still be able to bring in Portis or Reid, then great, but that seems unlikely.

It's just about roster construction. Right now, Jake and Vando are more useful than Portis or Reid. If we had Portis, sure, he would be a great backup for 20 min, but without Jake and Vando, we have nobody backing up the G slots on defense. Can't play Smart and Kennard 48 min, and don't want to play Bronny more than 4.

 

I agree about our priorities. It's looking like Lebron, Smart, and Kennard will take up the majority of our cap room, if not all our cap room. So, the trade ballast (Vando, LaRavia, Knecht, Smith, #25) along with our future draft capital might be very important for meeting our priorities.

I also agree with you regarding Vando and LaRavias utility as perimeter defenders. We need all the help we could get there because Luka, Reaves, Lebron, and Kennard are not plus defenders.

But if simply comparing Portis to Rui, Portis is a huge upgrade due to better rebounding, higher volume 3-pt shooting, and ability to play the 5. So if Lakers some how manage to get comparable players with the vet minimums for example, maybe Jevonte Green and Jeremy Socham, then the move for Portis would be more feasible. Green and Sochan are lateral upgrades from LaRavia and Vando. But Portis is an upgrade over Rui, so it's a net positive. Not ideal, because you would like to get better 2-way players, which the lack of them has been a major problem for us, hence it being the priority. But I would also argue that the vet min is good value for Green and Sochan, and that they are more playable than LaRavia and Vando. Portis makes about 14.5 m in 26-27 and 15.6 in 27-28. That's also solid value.

Portis ability to stretch the floor from the 4 or 5, opens things up for non shooters that need open lanes like Hayes, Thiero, and Sochan. Green is actually a solid 3 and D player, who could be passable as the back up POA behind Smart. A lot of moving parts, but if Portis type deal is supported with trh proper perimeter players I wouldn't rule it out.

 

Let’s just hope the Giannis fiasco doesn’t drag on because a lot of teams are going to be waiting on the fallout of that trade.

 

35G Booker gets for OKC comments. Worth it IMO … hell most all of our opinions to start shining a brighter light on this BS to the League’s attention. They claim they saw “No” bias but again …. on line this situation is heating up.

https://twitter.com/afinotakingsley/status/2047668926373363907?s=46&t=VpASWooOp-c0BfbMzXjnIw

 

I like this kid even more now.

 

Can anyone explain what has happened to Mikal Bridges? This guy’s offense has fallen off a cliff.

 

They gave up 4-5 first rounders for him too.

What a huge mistake.

I never liked Bridges. He was always a 3rd or 4th option type player. They vastly overpaid for him to get the Vanderbilt Knicks squad and it's going to end up hurting them badly now.

Towns was also a huge mistake, IMO. Dude is so frickin soft and overrated. A lot of bad contracts and soft players on that team. They keep trying to build the team with Brunson as their first option and that's not getting them anywhere.

 

The Knicks are in a tough situation, they’re too good to blow it up, but they’re not good enough to get over the hump. So they’ll just waste half a decade on 2nd round or conference final exits if they’re lucky.

KAT is super hard to win with, you’d need to pair him with an elite rim protector PF like AD. Brunson also lacks matchup resiliency due to being so small. They’ve got a lot of parts but they need a true top dog.