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

Laravia does a lot of good team things on the court but man does he have the yips.It’s now affecting his layups

 

This season, one of our biggest problems is we have three heavy minutes players who's best defensive position is power forward, and two of them, sometimes three of them are starters: Luka, Lebron, Rui.

So this slots Luka at his best defensive position. He's a big guy, he's hard to move. He gets 9-10 rebounds per game. It slots Dort as the small forward on defense. That's how is he used in OKC. They use the Wallace/Shai/Dort/JWill/Center line up a lot. Ellis slots in as the defensive point guard, and Reaves the defensive shooting guard. If its Watson/Eason, they are flexible, could defend 1,2, or 3. Grimes has that stocky build like Dort. Smith and Wade similar to Eason. So there are some options.

 

I really like the potential duo of Dort and either Eason or Watson. IMO that's a relatively gettable "Starting Foward/Wing duo" for us, especially Dort and Eason. Which just leaves the question mark for the starting Center position open, which is why I keep going back to the idea of us getting aggressive and creative on Draft Night to get an extra First or two in that class to secure someone like Aday Mara and/or Morez Johnson Jr.

If we pull that off, in addition to getting Dort and Eason/Watson, we'd ideally have our long term guys for a starting lineup around Luka and Austin. Maybe we have to go sign a backup Center like Mitchell Robinson or Robert Williams III in free agency with the MLE to have a more experienced 'starting' Center and do Center by Committee for a year or two to develop the drafted Big(s), but I think that could work with keeping Hayes onboard.

I do agree though with your last point; we need to hold onto LaRavia, Thiero, Bufkin and Manon and continue developing them for the long haul. Even with Jake's shot being so inconsistent, I still love his contributions to the team defensively.

 

Yeah, I'm getting more and more onboard with the idea of us getting Dort. I fully expect him to get his fouls called way more often by the refs once he dons the Purple & Gold, but once he readjusts his game, I think Dort would be a great addition to the team in a similar way to how Marcus has been this year. Or going back to the Kobe-Pau era, Dort could be our new Metta World Peace.

I think a starting four of Luka/Austin/Dort/Eason is very likely/doable for us this summer. The fact that there's a likelihood that we just remain stuck with Ayton and Hayes next year is a big reason why I'm hoping we draft another Big or two, so that even if they aren't fully ready to start next year, they can at least have a quick addition to the rotation and roster and develop into being ready to start in another year or two.

I definitely agree though that we need to re-sign Kennard. Dude's a game changer for us in generating offense off the bench.

 

Surround Luka/Reaves with defenders and shooters with a couple of lob dunkers on the cheap and this team will light it up and be super fun to watch.

I'd love to keep Smart as well. Not a fan of the Lakers tax on his 3P% but he's such a dog out there and still a very good defender and high IQ player. You can tell he loves playing alongside Luka+Reaves.

Not a huge fan of Ayton but at $8 million, it is what it is. He's still good value at that price.

Really not seeing a role for Rui on the Lakers anymore. His style of game just doesn't fit the pace that Luka+Reaves will want to play at. Too stiff and stationary out there. Rui would have been great for the 90's and 2000's style of basketball.

Kennard is a keeper.

LaRavia at $6 million is a keeper.

Only question is Vando and what to do with LeBron.

If you can find a team to trade Vando and Knecht for a $15 million dollar player range, give Knecht his team option and trade them both. Watching Vando hit the side of the backboard multiple times per week is not going to cut it.

 

Vando might end up getting waived and stretched, and Knecht just waived. Lakers would pay Vando around 5.4 million per year for 5 years, instead of his 12-13 mil or so next 2 years. This move might have to be done if the Lakers want to throw big money at a Watson or Eason. Lakers could easily eat Daltons dead money because they would likely be significantly under the 1st apron, even after using cap room, and signing Reaves, Hayes, and using room exception. Ayton could be bought out and stretched.

 

lakers needed all 81 of those pts by kobe too for the most part. i remember they were losing for most of that game

i'd still rank his 62 pt game against dallas over 81 though. that, and luka's 73 pt game are the two best single game offensive performances of the modern era in my opinion. if phil hadn't benched kobe for the entire 4th in that game, he might have reached 100 the way he was playing

 

Why did Phil Bench him??? What was the point of that?????

 

respect for the game? he had outscored dallas by himself after 3.

 

That's why he's the OG, not some gen z p****...

 

If Lakers trade for Dort + #12, they would have only about 15 million left in cap room. If Vando is waived and stretched, it would give us about 22.4 million in cap room. It would make sense to waive and stretch Vando because he is a huge liability on offense. He cant make threes, he has no touch around the basket, and he's not a lob-threat either. As we have seen, Vando is virtually unplayable, due to his offense. We already have other virtually unplayable players, such as Knecht and Bronny. We cant have 20% of our roster being unplayable. Vando is owed around 12.4 m this season, and 13.3 m next season. If stretched over 5 years, his cap number would be around 5.14 m of dead money. To me, that is worth it. I's 3% of the cap, this season, and we decrease over 5 years i terms of % of cap. So, I feel that Vando is a viable candidate to be waived and stretched. So, Lakers could use that 22.4 m in room to sign Keon Ellis. He would be the Cason Wallace for Lou Dort. If unable to obtain Ellis, Lakers could also look to sign players such as Grimes or Wade. Grimes is in the same price range as Ellis, and Wade probably around 16 million. If Lakers want to go after Watson or Eason, its a bit more complicated. Since they are RFA's they would require a poison pill contract. Meaning, the contract would have to be front-loaded as much as possible. Also, offer-sheets are not smart, so it would have to be a sign-and-trade. 22.4 m is not enough for Watson or Eason. If Lakers also waive and stretch Ayton and Knecht, it would open up bout 29.6 m. Might be enough to pry away Watson or Eason. Lakers would also likely have to give up something like the 2033 1st. Personally, I rather just spend the 22.4 m on Ellis, pay Vando the 5.14 m for 5 years in dead money and be done with it. Watson or Eason would cost 9.24 m in dead money for next 3 years, and 5.14 m for 2 more years after that, and probably the 2033 1st. Lakers still have plenty of "traditional power forward" sized players in Luka (6-8 250), Thiero (6-7 235, 7-1 wingspan), LaRavia (6-8 235). If Lakers feel they need another such player, they could still grab one with the 23rd pick, or sign a vet minimum player like Tobias Harris.

 

yeah, when he was asked if he wanted to go back in he apparently said something like "i'll save it for when we need it" according to shaw. and they needed it a month later

 

i don't think the thunder will have to add the 12 to move dort. us, chicago, or brooklyn would just take him for free, imo. presti and his crew have had plenty of time to think about this, and i'm guessing they have a plan to accrue and not lose assets.

i also don't think we'd go through a couple stretch waives just to try RFA. that's a huge gamble that could really blow up on you (end up having a bunch of dead money and no acquisition to show for it).

and RFA would mean no outgoing pick, too, as you can't trade after the RFA offer is signed.

 

I suppose Dort is worth the 2031 1st in a vacuum. Although there are a lot of fans on here that would disagree. He's kind of polarizing. But at the end of the day, he is a 1st team all defense guy, and was an important part of OKC's success. And his contract is very good,albeit expiring. With that said, I would gladly trade the 2031 1st for Dort, because of tge flexibility if his 18.2 m salary. Lakers could still get a decent lob-threat big with #23. Keep in mind though, that OKC does have three 1st round picks, and does not have the roster room to hold them. So Lakers could ad additional assets like the 2032 swap I proposed, for one of those picks. Even the 18th pick would be good.

An RFA would likely require the 2033 1st or some other assets in a sign-and-trade. Very unlikely that the Lakers will mess around with offer sheets imo.

So with that in mind, I would still be in favor of basically getting Dort and Ellis for the 2031 1st.

 

Yeah, something of that sort. Using the 1st-round pick(s) for a big, and waive and stretch + cap room + future draft capital to fill the two open perimeter defender/shooter roles. And the room-exception to fill the 6th man role sounds like a good blueprint to work with.

 

I still have horrible taste in mouth with that waive / stretch dead money we owed Deng for years.

 

Can’t elaborate my thoughts too much right now since I’m still at the ACC games, but I completely agree with these posts. Trade for Dort on Draft Night, do a S&T for Eason, draft a center, re-sign Kennard and figure out the rest of the bench as best as you can.

That’s the sort of All In move I can support the team doing to maximize Luka and AR’s chances at winning a championship together, not something like going after Giannis.

Granted, I’d still want to try and get one of OKC’s Firsts in the hypothetical Dort trade too, even if it costs us a pick swap or two in addition to the ‘31 First. The better we can make our chances at drafting Aday Mara and/or Morez Johnson Jr., the better we’ll be off in the end IMO.