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

We aren't far off..If Luka were healthy, we'd still be playing IMO.

 

I don’t think they would.Blown out the first 3 games that’s a gap even Luka can’t fill. I believe they may have gotten 2 maybe.

 

We got blown out, because we couldn't score in the 2nd halves IMO..Luka solves some of that. I honestly don't think OKC is as formidable without J Williams. I take the Spurs over them in 6. Maybe 5.

 

There's a difference between being realistic and wishful thinking.

Realistically, Reaves will be here. If I think we can win with him + Luka in the current NBA? Extremely unlikely.

And I'd add even less of a chance, if we run most of this roster back

 

That’s kind of first order analysis no? We got blown out so therefore we aren’t close. We had leads in the 4th quarter in 2 out of 4 games. In a third game we had a lead in the 3rd quarter. Somewhere along that, we couldn’t match one of their runs and they brought it home.

I also don’t buy that OKC has some infinite well of effort to draw upon, like if Luka was there, they all of a sudden play better. No. They had Chet having his best ever series, McCain did a Danny Green finals for the spurs impression from 3pt land, Ajay Mitchell played like the best player on OKC and both Hart and Wallace played amazingly well. They were better than us, we just kept SGA in check as per our game plan.

But surely a 37 points per game MVP level player evens things up when we couldn’t score. I think we would have been 2-2 instead of 4-0. After that, it’s anyone’s series.

 

To quote Vlade .... gloves off. Screw your wishful thinking vs reality. It's YOUR opinion. And no one is expecting us to run the same team back.

 

Just nonsense you can't do it with Reaves anywhere on this team, he's that bad that if we upgrade 4 spots with better all around players and defenders, in the variety of ways it might get done .... and go 11 deep .... he's just the anchor which means doom going forward. Talent be damned, and new ownership and resources and know how to build winning cultures and teams be damned. It's reality, not wishful thinking according to these guys piling on now.

 

I’m probably in a small minority where I believe we are the third best team in the league, and I believe the best team will get worse this offseason. (Don’t have an answer for the Spurs though)

I think if we bring back a team of

Luka / x
Reaves / Smart
x / Adou
Lebron / Rui
x / Hayes

We are in the mix with 7 rotation quality players. We have Kennard who I like as a premier shooter and high IQ there for the taking that I would bring back personally to make it 8 (but wouldn’t be opposed to an Ellis instead). Either way I want to lean into the shooting we have as a team.

We really need a starting SF and center. We have 3 draft picks and an MLE to make that happen. There will be good players this offseason being traded because of the cap situation and major moves being done where good parts could fall off.

 

I think they have a slight shot to win one but I won't bet on it. I think their room for error is so small everything would have to go right. It's the same over the past 3 years. It a team of hopes and wishes. For all the reasons I feared Lakers were not going to win became reality. I actually think Lakers were doomed from the start when Austin was challenged by JJ which I personally think messed with the teams chemistry that featured LeBron.

 

If Austin played 6th man like Manu who won 4 rings he would make a great addition to a championship team. However if the pay and role is to big then the odds of winning decreases quite a bit.

 

I see this Ginobili argument for Austin sometimes and don't think it makes sense. Sure Ginobili came off the bench most of the time, but his "role" wasn't any smaller on those 2000s Spurs teams than what Austin is being asked to do currently. He played 30+ minutes and closed every important playoff game. He was the 2nd best player on the team from like 04 to 2011. As a general matter, I don't like the Ginobili comparison for Austin because prime Ginobili was a well above average NBA athlete and a plus defender. He was just more talented, tbh.

 

Never going to win with the bench you’re showing.The starters are not the problem.The bench couldn’t sustain what the starters brought,not even a little bit

 

Colby White Gary Trent Jr.

I like Anfernee Simmons.

Lakers will be hunting for bigs that make impact.

1. Robert Williams
2. Mitchell Robinson

Robinson will be signed the Knicks can’t afford him.

Why would Ayton have any incentive to Opt out?????????

I’m pretty sure his agent is going to tell him there isn’t a lot of money out there.

I mean look at the Centers where would Ayton be signed?????

 

the market for Centers is thin, Turner who is not even very good is making almost 30M/y

 

i agree with all this, but i just think the FO doesn't share this opinion based on what's leaked so far (and based on the DFS stuff last year, actually).

i'm not sure they're wrong, either. we made almost no progress in turning this into a luka team last summer. now is the time.

 

Which even helps why Austin may be more suited off the bench on a championship team especially if playing next to another ball dominant grounded below avg defender. As a combo guard can ask to score and play make. Luka generally plays better at the beginning of games. Lakers bench was weak for most of the season and lacked a difference maker to help maintain or build leads.

 

I mean we were starting Smart and Rui for the playoffs. And Kennard started half the games. That’s 3 key pieces for the bench.

In this day and age, no one is throwing in a full bench unit. The question is, can a unit of Reaves, Smart, Adou, LeBron & Starting Center hold their own?

What about Luka, Kennard, Starting 3, Rui & Hayes.

For me, yes for sure. I think we have good bench pieces, as long as they’re not being used as starters and we gotta play 3rd stringers.

 

i actually really like the idea of reaves playing a bench role, even as a high salaried player (even the second-best player on the team). i think it's sort of sad that the league feels like such a thing is impossible. like, i think part of ginobili's tremendous advanced stats were his specific usage as a bench player. he played against second units, but still had the juice to compete with the best. reaves could do that. it's just become some sort of badge of shame to play off the bench. imo, if you're getting paid, playing 30+mpg, and finishing games for contending teams...who cares whether you start the games?!

i can actually foresee a future wherein we pay reaves the max, things go a bit sideways, and then we "rediscover" that staggering your offensive engines is actually...fine?

and maybe ginobili was the last of this kind--or was special in terms of ego or whatever. but it totally makes sense to me. you can your turn/my turn until the last five minutes of each half, where you overwhelm opposing defenses with both options.

 

Does Detroit trade Duren this offseason?

If we offer them Vando and Ayton + 2 firsts (or 3?). Does that get it done?

Luka / Kennard / Bronny
Reaves / Smart / Knecht
MLE / Adou / Jake
Lebron / Rui
Duren / Hayes / Kleber