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

whoa...if they were willing to go that far, i think they should just hammer something out. did ingram switch to klutch to try and get more than 50 million per? from whom?! the few teams with space next summer probably aren't imagining using it that way, right?

 

Maybe his representation advised him to turn that down, which seems insane. Hence why he's switching to Klutch.

 

i wonder how much medical staffs are to blame. don't the pelicans use the saints medical staff? that might have something to do with why their team is basically a hospital

 

Of course when Danny Ainge asked for millions 1st round pics

 

yeah, that's ok by me. didn't like the asking price. i think you can unearth these types.

 

This keeps reminding me of something Kevin Mchale said a couple of years ago. That these players today, spend too much time on strength and conditioning, and shooting drills in the offseason, and they aren't actually playing much basketball.

 

it's a fair point. nothing to condition you like doing the actual thing. i get the injury concern, but it becomes kind of paradoxical, right?

 

Lol..brings up Shaq, and his "getting hurt on company time".

 

again, this is the swing i'd take. will cost no draft capital--you'd probably get stuff back, tbh. dlo/rui/gabe or vando/wood gets you there salary wise and opens up some vet min slots.

run lavine at pg with the starters, sign dsj as backup pg to do gabe stuff. make separate move for jonas with either max or the remaining gabe/vando. move hayes and jhs for a backup 3/4.

lavine/dsj/olivari
reaves/christie
knecht/reddish
lebron/(secondary trade)
AD/valanciunas

spitballin', but all could happen without moving future firsts or taking on crazy salary (though i guess lavine runs through 27).

 

I'm not investing that much in LaVine after watching this team.

If you can, just build on the margins and go from there. As I've said before, it isn't worth it unless something significant becomes available.

LBJ isn't a max player anymore and AD struggles against quality opposition all of a sudden.

 

I wish they would run Olivari more because I agree I think this makes the most sense for the Lakers with the Buss family wishes of trying to maximize competitiveness without sacrificing anymore lottery picks

You probably hope someone like Ben Simmons gets bought out to add more athleticism and defense but you get back to at least a WCF finals type of team if not a title contender. Don't think they beat Boston, Cleveland but you pretty much can compete with any of West teams if you can find a placeholder PG and serviceable big to stick next to AD/Lebron/Lavine/Reaves. Reddish and Knecht fit their roles pretty well with this setup

 

If it's another tepid trade deadline I wouldn't be surprised if we see changes to at least the First Apron trade restrictions. The league overreacted to the Warriors' and Clippers' massive payrolls and the frustration with star players asking out and nerfed trade season. The thing is, basketball fans don't actually want the NBA to be like the NFL where half the league or more thinks it has a chance (which has always been kind of b*******, you need an elite QB to contend for more than like 2 seasons in a row). Basketball fans like the transaction side of following the league.

 

i actually think they needed to do something, as the salary discrepancies were getting wildly out of control. i'm not sure if the slowdown in trades is about parity as much as the wrong teams being bad right now, lol? like, the lakers can't sell stars and bottom out. and the other bad teams are starless--which sounds obvious but isn't always true--or have young proto-stars that they're not interested in moving.

also, we've had paul george move via FA and towns via trade just since the draft, so i wouldn't say there's nothing happening. and i think the nets, jazz, and raptors (and if they're smart, the bulls) will move useful veterans for draft picks as the deadline approaches.

anyway, i'm a fan of more team-building penalties for high payrolls than i am for the financial penalties. i'd almost do away with them entirely. just make it harder for you to make other moves. turn the vet min market into a waiver type situation so tyus jones doesn't get to join a suns team that is like, 50% over the cap already. create extra exceptions for teams below the tax or something. i realize these are just extensions of things they're already doing.

 

Houston,Oklahoma,Milwaukee and Hawks going to Vegas play for NBA Cup.
Night,night Curry and Draymond

 

I’m rooting for the Rockets and Hawks, I won’t watch it anyway but underdogs

 

Rooting for a team with Brooks on it?

I'm rooting for the obvious favorites - OKC. Not only do they play a brand of basketball I can truly enjoy watching, they also have the bald eagle, who will forever remain a Laker in my heart.

 

Oklahoma may be the first winner of the IST and the Chip in the same year.

 

Would be kind of funny if the Bucks win the IST and then suck the few weeks after like we did.

 

The Lakers seem to want to win now while simultaneously having an eye on a couple of seasons down the road when Lebron is retired (which means not trading the picks). It sounds like a reasonable plan, but the problem with this plan is that you might not be able to get players good enough to help win now without giving up the picks. They might be trying to split the difference by only giving up one pick, but even then, that might not be good enough to obtain the necessary impactful players to help win now. This leaves us in mediocre territory, which is not ideal for an NBA team. Another thing the Lakers could do is trade the picks for an impactful young player that could both help them win now and in the future. But, is there such a player out there that is attainable? The Lakers need to think outside the box if they want to successfully execute the plan of winning now, without mortgaging the future.

1. Trade our crap, and second-round picks for veteran players that could help us win now. The players that we get in these types of deals might not be good enough to help us get past the best teams in the NBA. Examples of these types of deals are:

• Dlo, JHS, 2nd round pick to Orlando for KCP
• Vincent, 2nd round pick to Washington for JV

Problem with a deal like this is, do KCP and JV move the needle enough for us to get past OKC, Memphis, Denver, etc. ? The benefit of a deal like this is trade like that does improve our team for the short term, while not mortgaging the future. But again, does it improve our team enough?

2. Trade our crap, one lightly protected 1st, and a 2nd (s) for veteran players that could help us win now. Example:

• Dlo, JHS, Vincent, 2029 1st (top 5 protected), 2025 Clippers 2nd, to Brooklyn for DFS, Shroeder, and Sharpe. There was a similar trade on Laker Nation with Rui and a 2029 unprotected pick going out instead.

Now we are stepping into the territory of trading our future 1sts. It could come back and bite us. Let's say Lebron retires after the 2025-2026 season. At the start of the 2026-2027, AD would be 33, Reaves 28, Rui 28, Vando 27, Knecht 25. Is that going to be good enough to win? For example, in this trade, DFS and Shroeder might be long gone by 2029, and lets say we get the 6th pick? Sure, we might have Sharpe at that time, but how impactful is he really? It might be worth it if we feel strongly enough about him, though. But in the short term, how impactful would these three actually be? DFS and Dennis could defend decently and shoot decently, but they are not the ideal point-of-attack defender for a championship team, IMO. Conversely, Sharpe could help solve some defense issues against big centers. He is now healthy, which is good. So he would solve the "burley" back up center problem. But you need to start him in order to defend huge bigs like Jokic, Eddy, and Hartenstein. This causes spacing issues, which may not be worth it. Overall, these three would be an upgrade, but not sure if trading a first is worth it, as they might not move the needle enough. Lakers might be offering three seconds for this package, which would be more reasonable.

Of the two trades above, if the priority is to improve point-of-attack defense, then the Orlando trade is better, since KCP > DFS and Shroeder on defense, and JV = Sharpe (similar players). Also, without having to give up at first, this trade may be better.

The two options above just might not be good enough to solve anything. Lakers might have to look at outside the box options.