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

Yeah, but would you be willing to to part with the 1st? Maybe Portland trades us three 2nds, and we send out a lottery protected 1st? If we had more 2nds to offer, the correct offer would probably be three 2nds.

 

Lakers could also take a flyer on Carter. They liked him in the draft. He is listed at 6-2, but plays a lot bigger. Could be duplication with Bronny though.

Lakers get: Carter

Kings get: Knecht, 2032 2nd, 2028 swap, 2030 swap

 

Thompson on Luka
DFS on Lebron
Durant on Rui
Sengun on Ayton
Jabari on Reaves

They still match up pretty good. Their issue won’t be defensively, it’s going to be their play making and who gets them into their sets. None of those 5 are playmakers.

 

yeah, i'd make a bigger offer for ellis, and if they say no, make that one for carter. i liked him in the draft, too (as did many around here).

but when's the last time we dealt with sac? i feel like they kind of don't want to work with us. same with portland--though some folks said rob and cronin talk a lot.

we've dealt with washington, utah, dallas (lol), brooklyn...who else? there's definitely relationships/comfort stuff. the other thing is look for duffy clients.

and carter is a duffy client....

 

just put sengun in the high pick and roll until they take him out of the game.

 

Yeah, they might want to fleece us. I saw somewhere that Ellis was rated poorly as a screen navigator. Forgot where I saw that. That could be hindering a point of attack. Nonetheless he was among the league leaders in deflections, deflections per game, and deflections per 36. He might have trouble with screens due to being so skinny, idk. I like Carter a lot, but feel that he just doesn't move the needle enough for the Lakers to trade Knecht + a 1st for him. Maybe the following trade?:

Lakers get: Carter, 2027 2nd, 2029 2nd, 2032 2nd

Kangs get: Knecht, 2031 1st (top-10 protected).

At least we replenish our 2nd round picks. They could be valuable in trades, especially with them being Kings picks. Kings might feel that got the next Peja in Dalton, and a protected 1st to boot.

 

yeah, that's fair. knecht showed stuff his first year, while carter missed most of it with an injury. there was a reason he was picked earlier, but i'm not sure it's worth a whole other 1st on top of it. getting a couple seconds back helps us for future DFS type moves and is face-saving for sac. top-10 protection would be a must for me, and it would turn into two seconds if it didn't convey, so it wouldn't hamper the ability to trade future firsts.

call 'em!

 

Is POA defender really our biggest need? I mean...Minnesota's perimeter guys, didn't really do jack against us, in the playoffs. The guys with size ate our lunch. TBH...we survived pretty well on that front, during the regular season too.

 

I actually thing that makes them tougher defensively against us.

Jabari on Reaves
Thompson on Luka
Tari on LeBron
DFS on Rui
Durant on Ayton

They’re a really good defensive team and the lineup can just about switch everything against us. Theyre going to be really good even with the loss of FVV.

We’re kind of desperately missing an athlete to compete with some of these younger teams. Keon Ellis would be perfect.

I’d actually trade Reaves, Knecht, a 1st and two swaps for Keon and Murray. I think that would improve us even with the loss of Reaves. Playoff rotation:

Luka (36) / Smart (12)
Ellis (32) / Smart (16)
Murray (32) / LaRavia (16)
Lebron (32) / Rui (16)
Ayton (36) / Rui (12)

With Kleber/Hayes, Gabe and Vando on the deep bench.

 

I don't really have any data readily available, but it seems pretty important. Rob stacked the roster with perimeter defenders. We have Smart, Vando, Gabe, Thierro, Manon, Bronny, and possibly Kaluma. That's 41% of the roster, if you include the three 2-way spots. But the common theme with the listed 7-players is their three-point shooting is either terrible, undeveloped, virtually non-existent, and unproven. Smart is the best shooter out of all these guys. He is a able to hit 1/3 of them with good volume to keep defenses from sagging off of him. Gabe is around that same category, but we knwo whe need a better defender than him, migh be a bit small an unathletic. The hope is at least one of Vando, Thieero,, Mano, or Kaluma could becoems a resoectable shooter, becasause thee guys could really defend. A trade for a ready-to-go 3 and D POA defender helps the Lakers ensure that htey have such a player.

 

This Keon Ellis kid is getting an awful lot of hype, for a 6'4 guard with some pretty pedestrian career numbers so far. IMO

https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/e/elliske01.html


Yeah..looks like he has some defensive potential, decent 3 ball...But is he any better than Smart right now?

 

That is one of the things Lakers really need to think about in terms of trading significant assets for a POA defender. Are they a better POA defender than Smart? Are they a better 3-point shooter than Smart? Ellis checks both boxes, but might have a middling sample size at best. But, he would instantly be our best combination of POA and three-point shooting on our team. I wouldn't trade Reaves for him though, and I have concerns about his slight built, playing next to a similar build in Austin. That's one of the thigns I really like about Smart.

For Ellis, I would consider this deal:

Lakers get: Ellis

Kings get: Knecht, 2031 1st (top-5 protected), 2028 swap, and 2030 swap.

Ellis is going to want to get paid in the off-season. He is a very good role player, and could start to gain recognition in the DPOY and All Defense coting, especially with the Lakers. Might be on sort of a similar trajectory as a Lou Dort. We should have got that guy before he blew up.

 

I think he is the best guard defender in the league and shoots 40% from 3. Other great defenders - that aren’t bigs - I’ve watched in recent years are Suggs, Camara, Herb Jones, Caruso, OG, Dyson Daniels, Jonathan Isaac, McDaniels, Derrick White.

Having one of these players really helps, having two gives you a real edge and makes you a top defensive team. Whenever you see 3 players like this, you end up with a defensive juggernaut: Bulls with Jordan, Pippen and Rodman.

It’s no shock that OKC is very good, they have Dort, Caruso, Wallace and SGA. Or that Boston was great with White, Jrue and Brown.

We don’t have a single one of those players in our team right now, so getting Ellis and Murray (who is almost that level) would be huge.

 

Yeah, Rob apparently know this. He stacked the team with defenders. It's just they all have question marks with their shooting, so he is probably banking on some improvement with these guys.

 

Did he though? Who do we have that defends at a really high level?

Luka - neutral on that end
Lebron - slight positive when trying
Reaves - neutral
Smart - to be seen but should be positive
Rui - neutral
Ayton - to be seen which Ayton shows up
Vando - specialist defender that can’t stay on the floor
Gabe - cardio specialist
LaRavia - we shall see, could surprise or could be only a slight positive

Compare that to teams that are putting out 5 two way players like OKC, Boston and Indy and we’re definitely missing some defensive power.

 

It seems Ellis and Thybulle might be the top realistic options for us.

 

I did acknowledge that our shooting is bad, and that Rob is banking on improvement. In terms of defense/shooting combo, yeah Smart is currently our best option there. Vando obviously defends at a very high level as well, but like you said he cant shoot. Gabe has shown hustle, and some pest-like qualities, but I don't think he is scaring anyone. LaRavia has shown defense, but not really POA defense. The rookies show a ton of promise as NBA defenders. As far as POA, the best one our roster might be the undrafted rookie 2-way, Chris Manon. He has drawn comparisons to Thybulle. Thierro also looks very good, but not sure yet if he could be a guy like Vando, who could chase around quick point guards. So, yeah there are a lot of question marks. But at the same time, we have players who are willing to do the hard/rare part, in playing defense. Shooting could be learned a lot easier than defense, which requires more than just practice. Players need to have the work ethic/motor to do so.

 

I'm still skeptical, OKC went 7 games with Denver, and were a Haliburton injury, away from losing to Indiana. They are a great regular season team, but I'm not expecting them, to repeat as Conference Champs tho. I like what we have right now honestly. Barring an injury, I'm expecting top 3 in the West by MLK day. We have the ingredients, I wouldn't mind another stretch 5, but I believe we are in the hunt.

 

I like what we have a lot, but I think if we were to nitpick at something, it should be that POA defender role. Hopefully Smart returns to form there, and is the starter. But there are question marks at the backup. We know Gabe isn't the answer. Vando doesn't shoot well enough to be on the floor with another non-shooter. Bronny might be the guy here, who knows? We probably wait to see how it plays out, and maybe we don't need to make a trade. The reason this area is so important is because we have Luka and Reaves playing big minutes at the wings, so they need some help when it comes to defense.

 

Idk....Minnesota didn't beat us because of our POA defense. We won 50 games last season, there is more than one way to win in this League. Ayton is going to be huge on this team IMO. Luka is on a revenge tour, Austin and Rui are in contract seasons. Vanderbilt and Smart have a chip on their shoulders, about proving that injuries were more of a problem than anything else. Then of course, Lebron is staring the final curtain call, squarely in the face. Those are the "intangibles " sometimes we overlook, that in hoops, intangibles, chemistry, and a fire in the belly, are enough to get over the top.

Back to the technical stuff tho. We present a problem, for everyone in the West too. We have two of the best shot creators, in the game. Then we have Austin, who is damn good in that regard too. Now we have a quality center, and Hayes is pretty good in his role in 15-20 minutes. Smart, Vando, Rui, and Gabe are specialists, they just need to be stars in their roles. They don't have to be stars, nobody has a perfect team, but this team has a legit shot.