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

i don't think there's room for ellis if they're developing carter and clifford unless they get rid of monk and let lavine walk. and that might be what they do.

and yes, the likelihood of them working with us is low, which is why i've said rob should just plant the seed that we'll have a contract offer in the summer should he not be extended.

 

not sure how (the currently employed and starting) dlo figures into this conversation other than to further undercut your argument. if dlo could defend, we probably beat denver, yes.


Nah..if Tinkerbell hadn't wet his panties, and simply turned in an average offensive performance, we win that series. He could have turned in, his same level of non D effort as usual. No problem.

 

Lol..so what are we to do, let Rui walk so we could pay Ellis 25M?I'm guessing that means, we move Austin to 3, to make it work too?

 

Yeah, we probably won't get Ellis. The Kings just traded a bunch of draft picks for LaVine, so I don't think they will find Knecht + our 2031 1st that intriguing. This is the exact type of player that we should target though. Problem is, there are just not that many of these players that would be available for what we got. Imo, ideally, we get a POA defender, under 30 years old, who hits at least 2 threes per 3 minutes, and has a DBPM of -1.0 or greater. Grimes would be a great fit, but there are complications with his free agency status. DiVecenzo and Podzinski also fit this, but I don't think their teams are looking for a future 1st/salary dump, yet.

 

Luka is better at the 3, defensively. Austin is at the 2. Ellis would be the 1. But, I agree we are probably not getting Ellis. Whoever we do get though would be the 1, defensively that is. Of course, Luka is the 1 on offense. Sort of like how Byron Scott guarded the quick 1s, while Magic guarded the 2's.

 

not accurate is in accurate

if nothing happened then nothing happened. I met Kawhi wasn’t like that before. So he goes and said that it was click bait that’s what it is.

he said Steve Ballmer did nothing wrong.

and if you want to really know it from Owners who have been in the league. Cap Circumvention is illegal. What is being described and alleged if true Steve Ballmer shouldn’t be in the league and kicked out the league. You can’t cheat. So let the facts come out.


But the main person in this said nothing was done.

 

If the Kings are desperate to shed salary, another thing we could do is something like this:

Lakers get: Malik Monk and 2031 1st (top-4 protected)

Kings get: Rui Hachimura and 2032 2nd

The pick is a trade chip. For example, you could turn around and swap Knecht, 2031 LAL 1st (unprotected), 2031 SAC 1st (top-4 protected), and 2027 LAL 1st (1-4) for Walker Kessler. You could also reroute Kessler to another team, in exchange for a 3 and D wing, if you wanted to. I think Kings do this deal in order to free up salary and playing time for their glut of guards, and they also have three 1sts in 2031, so they could afford to loose a pick. They might negotiate to make it the 2nd best pick coming our way, which I would be okay with. Other teams just want to stock pile 1sts. I think this is a smart way of getting an asset in exchange for Rui, while at the same time, bolstering our bench.

 

The way you put it is not How he said it or how it was said. I’m not mister gullible. Done this before.

People steal money from their charities all the time. Doesn’t mean the people who are running them or the people who rely on them should be affected.

Kawhi corroborated what was said. That never happened. He never issued a statement. He said he was paid by Aspiration. He said he was paid a lot by them.

We know a check was made to him. But he says the Clippers did no wrong. He said there was no cap circumvention. Said it was a normal endorsement deal.

I said it looks suspicious that Ballmer kept making payment after. And who knows why he did that. I said to maybe cover employees who weren’t getting their checks.

or maybe it was to pay Kawhi.

But why the f*** would you keep paying a company that’s bankrupt when theirs public knowledge that they aren’t a viable company?

that’s why Adam Silver is going to interview Steve Ballmer.

 

Charities are a scam

 

depending on what lebron does, we could have money for both guys and more. if it came to a choice between them, i'm picking ellis due to better fit with luka and reaves. post-lebron, rui fits ok, but ellis still fits better.

you have to at least force teams to use screens to get penetration.

 

Ellis is a better fit with Luka and Reaves because he is a much better defender than Rui, defends the point guard, and is a higher volume 3-py shooter than Rui. The emphasis is on defense for this player because Luka and Reaves are not great defenders, especially against the point-guards. If one of them were a good defender, and able to defend point-guards, we probably could get away with somebody like Rui in the starting 5.

 

Restricted free agent Quentin Grimes has signed a one-year, $8.7 million qualifying offer to return to the Philadelphia 76ers, agent David Bauman told ESPN on Wednesday.

Grimes, who averaged career highs in points (14.6), rebounds (4.3), assists (3) and steals (1) last season, will now have the ability to veto all trades during the 2025-26 season and will enter unrestricted free agency next summer when at least 10 teams are slated to have significant salary cap space.

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/46451477/quentin-grimes-signs-87-million-qualifying-offer-76ers

 

another morey quagmire.

 

So how is the team looking so far to you guys?

In terms of lineups, depth, positions, and what you're expecting from the players:

PG: Luka, Gabe, Bronny, Smart
SG: Reaves, Nick Smith Jr., Knecht
SF: LeBron, LaRavia, Thiero
PF: Rui, Vando, Kleber
C: Ayton, Hayes

• Feels like we could use another backup center but other than that, I'm liking the roster. Al Horford would have been good to have to play backup to Ayton.

• Curious as to what Thiero, Knecht, and LaRavia can provide. If they can be solid rotational players, the Lakers have a lot of depth.

• Not really seeing a spot for Gabe here. I think if there is a trade to be had, his name will pop up first. Gabe + Kleber are expiring salaries worth $22 million. Good enough to get a solid player to contribute if a team wants to clear cap. I know Dillon Brooks isn't a fan-favorite for us Lakers fans but I like his skillset for this team. Him and Smart could be a very nasty defensive duo and fit right in with Luka+Reaves in bad defensive lineups. Suns are likely to suck this upcoming season and might take 2nd rounders for Brooks. Brooks only has one year remaining after this season so wouldn't play a role for the 2027 free agency that teams are waiting for.

• We know Luka, Reaves, and Bron are going to be able to give you 70 points guaranteed every game so I don't think offense will be an issue. Need these dudes to play defense. If they're top 10 in defense, it would be good enough.

 

Surely he’s available for multiple seconds at the deadlines now. They’ll lose him for nothing next offseason.

 

Agreed with everything you’ve mentioned. I’d definitely appreciate Brooks on the team skillset wise, he was a great shooter and defender last year. One of the premier 3&D SF’s. He’d be great next to Luka and Reaves.

Really any of Brooks, Grimes or Ellis would be a great piece to add and something we’re missing.

 

i'll push back on the brooks fit, his despicable persona aside. he's not quick laterally. this is our problem on defense, imo. teams don't even have to work to find an iso mismatch for their best ballhandling scoring threat. they can just walk it up and work. brooks doesn't help there.

 

Brooks seems like the lease point guard defender out of those three guys. But, it is unlikely we get the latter two.