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

i think we can still sign someone provided the buyout is less than the amount owed the player, which, why would the player do that now unless they knew they were getting picked up?

i'm also not sure middleton moves the needle for me. as i mentioned, i liked jevon carter, but he was snapped up immediately. i like dalen terry, but i don't think he cracks the rotation this year, so i'm happy getting the chance to look at bufkin AND creating a situation where if we like him he's on a vet min next year and we gain early bird rights.

yeah, i posted at length a while back about timme just not looking like he takes the weights seriously. and he'll never be jacked or whatever, but if he wants to stick in the league, he's going to have to be strong because he'll never be fast or a leaper. btw, folks who didn't see maxi earlier in his career probably don't appreciate his athleticism, which is mostly gone now.

lol, already cost us goodwin, so pretty safe to say he's not going out for a buyout guy.

 

I've seen zero indication he's willing to adapt his game to fit what's around him. Only thing he screened when Dame was there was his calls. Plus he wants to be the point forward with the ball in his hands, that's fine as like the 3rd option for the set but that's it.

Then there's the report at the deadline that he didn't want to go to GS cause it was Steph's team. That's why a team like Miami or NY makes sense (other than geographically), he can alpha dog it there. The Minny report conflicts that report, so maybe there's exceptions if he's cool with the star.

Then there's the injury history and fact his game solely relies on athleticism. He hasn't done nearly enough skill based improvement for me to be confident in his ability to pivot as his athleticism wanes.

NOW there's the wishy/washy cowardice way he's handled this trade soft demand. That has made me really hate him and want nothing to do with the headache at all. I was out before that, but now I'm


The red flags and b******* > the talent. Didn't even get into acquisition cost and navigating a bare bones roster of misfit minimums.

 

Completely agreed. I was already skeptical and against the idea of trading for Giannis for us before this latest incident, but now? Definitely not worth the cost it'd take to get him. Especially considering how we're already in need of a long term starting 3, 4 and 5 each, as well as fixing our bench. In other words, it's al Given how limited we'll still be asset-wise this summer, I still only see us getting two of those three long term starters this summer and the margin of error for the bench players is going to be narrow imo.

IMO the best path forward is to use our cap space and draft capital to go one of the RFA wings like Watson or Eason in either a S&T or an aggressive bid, then also trade for a young starting Center- someone still on their rookie contract and won't immediately take up a lot of cap space right away, like maybe Yves Missi. Or, if Miami win the Giannis Bowl this summer, then we could maybe approach Milwaukee for a trade for Kel'el Ware.

From there, either use the rest of the cap space in FA for addressing our bench with roleplayers like Josh Okogie, Precious Achiuwa or Haywood Highsmith... or make trades with good teams trying to get under the apron by taking on harder contracts for good roleplayers and get draft compensation for it too to be able to later flip those pieces as needed.

 

I have such irrational hate of Brick - such a d****** player

 

The dumbest HoF in all sports, once enshrined.

 

I did get that from you and then started taking a hard look at him and thinking the same thing.

 

The greatest empty stater of all time.

 

I was so dumbfounded when we traded for him. It made no sense whatsoever.

 

Man yall still yapping about Westbrook? Russ is attempting six 3's a game, and shooting a higher pct from deep than Luka, Lebron, Smart or Laravia. Or Tinkerbell!

 

I had to talk myself into it, like some of us fans tend to do sometimes. I gave Lakers management the benefit of the doubt, figuring they knew what they were doing. Supposedly, Lebron wanted to play more off ball, so this was supposed to provide that. But even back then, I was thinking it would create spacing and defensive issues, which it did. I feel like we are late to the party in terms of realizing the importance of spacing. I mean, we got a chip in 2020 with Lebron at the 3, AD at the 4, and McGee/Dwight at the 5, but AD's decent 3-point shooting that season was an outlier for him. AD never had that shooting again, and idk if we were waiting for it to come back or what, but we were slow to adjust to game's increased emphasis on spacing. Look, Lebron and AD alone were enough to clog the paint, let alone taking away your best shooters and injecting a poor shooting, ball dominant player who likes to attack the basket. Also, seems like Lebron would never be able to fully commit to being mostly off ball. Yeah, it made no sense.

 

Lebron didn't want Westbrook, AD did. Lebron wanted Dame or Derozan. Rob made that call.

 

Who knows: I do agree Lebron hated Westbrook pretty quickly, but everyone including Lebron clearly signed off on it.
Maybe it was AD who was the bigger push? It will be interesting when everyone retired to get a fuller picture.

I do think everyone was freaked out about the nets - they had a lot of star power and before Durant/Irving got involved a good coach and a lot of good roleplayers. They looked like another GS in the making. Add in the injury history and I'm pretty sure Lebron was thinking this guy can carry us for big minutes while I'm getting older.

 

You can tell by the way AD stood up for Russ after he got traded. He was also the one that seemed excited about picking up Russ. Lebron was rather meh on Russ the whole time.

 

wait what!!!
How it's even possible for Dame

 

DeRozen wouldn't have been a good fit either.

 

Uhm, I remember a dinner (or something like that) between AD, LeBron and Westbrook... Am I remembering wrong?

 

Nobody but Lebron, AD, Jeannie and Rob knows exactly what went down and anyone here who pretends they do, is just blowing smoke.

Maybe someday we will hear, but even then, we will only hear one side of it.

 

For the Love of God. Where do people like you come from?