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

The more I watch, it's a shame we didn't get lucky with injuries. I don't think the teams are that good. If the Lakers had healthy luka/lebron/AR and were in the eastern conference, we may have also been in the finals and won this thing lol.

Knicks have had god tier luck. Wemby with the dumb pass in game 2 and now Fox with his turnovers and not running the clock out in game 4. He saved Josh Hart from being the Joker of NYC. Ridiculous.

 

I'm right there with you, I think a healthy team and we beat OKC. Spurs would have struggled against Luka & Lebron - that level of size and playmaking is alot. Just get Ayton to set holding screens on Wemby to get mid range shots.

We outplayed the Knicks all year too. I've been in favour of running it back with some key improvements, but I'm not so certain that happens.

 

Dearen Fox dumb a** play and he’s supposed to be the point guard. Makes you wonder right. Like Camden Boozer Duke who threw the ball away and could’ve just dribbled.

He’s certainly got to get traded in the off season.

 

Fox is an idiot. Even if Foxs logic is to score that makes it a 3 point game which still makes it tied. Why isn’t he slowing down holding the ball and getting contact. Anouby fouls him if he just waits. Fox basketball IQ has been terrible in this series. You can’t come back how San Antonio imploded. Fox has been awful.

 

Fox out JR Smithing Jr Smith taking away from Wemby bricking 2 FT's - what a choke job

 

how are you not able to score every time when the other team has alvarod and brunson in the same lineup? f***ing bizarre

 

you know how Pioneer???? You take 8 threes in a row. And you miss them all.

 

Wemby post game looked like I can’t with these guys.

he had no answer. I think he’ll respond game 5 and put a huge game. But it might get ugly game 6 I could still see this going 7. If Wemby wins this he’s the man. But you can’t do it by yourself. He might need a couple 40 point games.

 

Fox ball watching Brunson. You gotta crash the boards.

 

Slick give your assessment. Make some sense of your boy Fox.

can he show his face in San Antonio?

 

Wemby looked like he wanted to put hands on Fox.

 

Great exercise and content, thanks!

But I think context REALLY matters. NOLA has been an awful team, losing a lot. It has injuries all the time so there's no continuity, no consistency on the role and no chemistry and synergies building. The years they had the pick they were playing to lose, playing g-leaguers. So data is a bit pointless.

Same with KCP, Smart, DJJ, Finney Smith, Monk, etc. So many guys that suck in bad teams and flourish in good teams with a set role.

Health is the same. If you're in a bad team you miss more games, team doesn't want to rush you back, you are also less eager to come back quickly because your team sucks, ending up missing much more games than you would in a different context.

Herb is not a sharpshooter. But he is a solid one. He has good volume, good enough for teams to respect him and will get the best looks of his life here. With his elite defense that's automatically a good fit. It may or may not work out, but he is definitely the prototype of player we need alongside Luka/AR.
He's also young, athletic and I imagine hungry to play in a contender where his defensive abilities can send him to another level.

 

You know I think there is a lot of truth to that and NOLA. For the life of me I can’t figure out why they’ve been such a bad team for so long. Even with AD they struggled to really make much of anything happen - at one point they had Rondo, Jrue, AD and Cousins (pre injuries).

During the recent half decade that had players like Ingram, Zion, Valancunias, CJ McColumn, NAW, Herb, Murphy, Poole. How are they so bad every year?

The only other piece of context we should look at is that Herb starts a new contract at 22m AAV the year after next. If you buy low on him, that contract is a steal at his best, if this is who he is, you’re basically chaining yourself to another Vando.

I think it’s fine to go for Herb, slotting him as a 5th starter who does what Smart does is a no brainer. But maybe I’m being a little greedy when I want to get Thybulle and Spencer Jones too. Really bolstering our perimeter defense with guys who have been hitting the 3 but are dogs who jsut be so helpful.

 

Wemby is why this team is good but also why they lost 2 games they should have won. Live and die by your stars. If anything he should be upset at himself. Missed two big free throws yesterday and also hit a man in the back of the head with the ball in game 2. Fox will get some flap but he did not blow a 30pt lead all by himself.

 

Not to sure about that if all teams are fully healthy. Not sure how the Lakers play when it get physical. The last time the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Oklahoma City Thunder was on April 6, 2025, when LA secured a decisive 126-99 victory. This season 0-4.

• Nov 12, 2025: OKC 121, LAL 92

• Feb 9, 2026: OKC 119, LAL 110

• Apr 2, 2026: OKC 139, LAL 96

• Apr 7, 2026: OKC 123, LAL 87

• Lakers Hustle, energy and toughness will be questioned and put to test.

 

yeah, two biggest plays down the stretch were missed boxouts. hart missed castle (how?!) after he blew a wide open layup!

relatedly, so many mental mistakes by both teams that it's hard for me to pick on fox like everyone else is. i mean, he and wemby are the only guys to actually make field goals during the last part of the meltdown (though his jump pass out near half court was freaking shocking...).

it takes a lot of guys working together to screw up like that.

or this.

basically the only guy out there on either team that shouldn't be a bit concerned about their play was anunoby, who was in god-mode. that block followed by that putback, had the huge three before that. 7-9 from three! 30+ points for your 4th option in a crucial finals game.

 

come on, we got swept by an OKC team missing their 2nd best player and it wasn't even close. We could have taken a couple of games with Luka but we're not beating full strength OKC

 

they weren't full strength, though. i think that may be what people mean--the knicks are full strength, some of their opponents haven't been (perhaps most importantly, okc wasn't).

if we were 100% and got to play okc minus williams and then SA with fox at 50% (he looks a little better now, but still not himself, imo), maybe we pull off an unexpected win. health remains underrated as the one of the primary determinants of nba champions.

anyway, i'm actually on your side here in that i'm probably 60/40 "blow the whole thing up save luka/reaves" (as opposed to "bring back the boys").