2024-25 Team Developments: Trades / Free Agents / News / Rumors / Ideas

I get that, but we are still a place many stars want to play (brought us Bron and AD) and we still have assets. At this point, we can be in the discussion for any superstars in the next 2/3 years. I think there's like 20 teams who are in a worse position than us.
As we've discussed in the past, Ant, Luka, Mitchell, Booker can all become available in that period and I would hate to not be able to get them because we went for Zion.

But yes, absolutely agree that we will need to hit really well in the next couple of power moves we do, otherwise we will suck for many years.

This is a clear case of opportunity cost.

 

Luka is morphing into the worst defender in the league - he's seriously threatening Dlo here for the title. I kid I kid

 

Zion has proven on and off the court that he doesn’t have the self-discipline to survive being in LA.

 

Full injury report for Friday's Suns vs. Thunder NBA Cup matchup

The Oklahoma City Thunder will host the Phoenix Suns on Friday. It'll be the first matchup between the two squads. It is also the first NBA Cup group game for OKC.

The Thunder (10-2) continue their season-long six-game homestand.

Both teams have lengthy injury reports. What could've been a matchup of two of the best teams was ruined with several injuries.

The Thunder have a lengthy report. Chet Holmgren (hip fracture) is out. Isaiah Hartenstein (hand fracture) is out. Alex Caruso (hip soreness) is out. Jaylin Williams (hamstring strain) is out. Nikola Topic (torn ACL) is out. Adam Flagler (two-way) is out. Alex Ducas (two-way) is out.

The same for the Suns. Kevin Durant (calf strain) is out. Bradley Beal (calf strain) is out. Grayson Allen (hamstring soreness) is questionable. Jusuf Nurkic (ankle sprain) is questionable. Collin Gillespie (ankle fracture) is out.

 

When did cp360 play with Peja

 

I believe NO Hornets

 

Meh...You just rinsed and repeated, the same stuff. And basically just proceeded to post another hit job on Williamson.

Wow..a guy that's injured, affects his team's chances at winning?

Who knew? We did, that's who...we just experienced Lebron and AD being injured, and we sucked. What's supposed to be enlightening about that?

We couldn't win with the players that we traded for AD, why is that supposed to be on Zion? He didn't have a Lebron to play with either. He didn't even have a Boogie Cousins.

You keep talking about the playoffs,
AD was an All-Star for 6 seasons in NO. 3x 1st Team All NBA, All Defense. Are those things diminished, because he only made the playoffs twice?

And why do you keep bringing Westbrook up? What does a 33 year old Westbrook, have to do with a 24 year old Zion Williamson? If we had acquired the 24 year old version of Westbrook, you wouldn't be yapping about " fit".

Hell yeah, I'd trade Rui and TB, for Nikola and Jonas. Damn Skippy. Vucevic can space the floor better than Rui, and has size, can score the ball, and boards in the double digits, for the last 9 seasons. It's a no brainer. I'm not worried about TB, he disappears routinely. I would expect Jonas to be who he is, a traditional 5 banger, who can rebound. I don't think he'd dissappear from being who he is, in his 20min as the backup 5.

Lakers fans also know, that putting stars together, wins Championships too. That's our MO This kid has to get his head right, and get in shape, I agree with that part. I disagree with automatically assuming it can't happen here. He's 24 years old.

 

I can’t stand CP3, but he’s had a really good career as a lead guard.

 

The Lakers picking up Zion would be like the Suns getting Barkley for trash from the 76ers.
Yeah he's been hurt but the dude is an MVP level caliber player who last time the Lakers played him basically took both AD and Lebron to the woodshed.
The dude is like a prime Chuck and Lebron you just can't guard him 1v1, he'll get you a ton of boards, get the other team in foul trouble and allow Lebron to permanently to off ball Draymond role. The only concern is injuries with the guy and what better then Lebron freakin James to mentor the dude. \

I honestly don't think folks can it around their heads how physically impossible it would be try to guard a frontcourt of Lebron/AD/Zion - remember AD and LeBron can shoot 3's. It's lob city on steroids as DeAndre Jordan sucked balls compare to AD/LEbron/Zion

I really doubt NO would trade him to the Lakers but hell the league owes the Lakers for the Chris paul trade veto lol. it would be insane not to make that move.

 

I dont see a path to get Zion without making our already paper thin roster even less deep

 

I don't know who started this rumor but it is BS

 

It’s the betting odds that started it

 

NBA All Star game this season gonna be a 4 team tournament? Kinda weird.

But I'd be interested in watching the Steph vs Sabrina vs Klay vs Caitlin Clark 3 pt shooutout.

 

https://x.com/BleacherReport/status/1857663724833878061

 

He should be suspended like Artest vs Detroit

 

Why are we talking about a Zion trade for three pages lol. The Pelicans aren’t trading him at all, let alone to us.

 

Interesting about Zion. Vegas is usually accurate about that sort of thing. Zion's skill set just does not fit. Kind of a Russ type fit. With that said, he is still only 24 and a superstar talent. If Lakers could get him on the cheap they should do it. I wouldn't want to include Reaves and Knecht though.

 

What position will he play? Not sure that’s the best fit for us

 

Well, he is 6-6 284, so probably power forward? Unfortunately, Lebron would have to stay at small forward. This would be more about acquiring the next star for the post-Lebron era, than helping win now imo. With that said, I do think his talent is high enough that he could be a "neutral" fit for the time being. He does kind of fill that big, burley type that could put a body on the Jokic types. I will say that at 24 years old, Zion's timeline matches up perfectly with Knecht, who is 23. The two could form a star dual for the future, sort of like a poor-mans (let me emphasize) poor-mans modern-day Kobe/Shaq combo. Zion does have some "Shaq" like qualities as a physical imposing, athletic big, scoring machine, who has already shown he could be a 25-27 ppg scorer. Knecht is a 6-6 shooting guard that could max out as a 25 ppg type at his peak, imo.