2026-27 Team Developments: Trades / Free Agents / News / Rumors / Ideas

C+/B- seems reasonable to me. Trading Ayton for Jaden Hardy was just downright dumb. At least get a guy 6’7 or taller in that deal. And taking a washed Looney instead of an athletic rim running big was equally dumb. If we land Washington or Kuminga I would bump it up to a B+

 

This pretty much says it, nice post!

 

Lol Looney is washed since UCLA days
He always was so slow,but still can get 10-12 offensive rebounds every game

 

I agree with ESPN C+ Kaminga you have an A+ championship team. Basketball is about system Splash brothers Curry Klay who you gonna guard? Can’t double team. Durant impossible cover championships.

Kobe Shaq can’t double Shaq Kobe will destroy you going to the basket can’t double Kobe Shaq at the rim that’s a bucket.


I look at Kaminga that way. The athleticism is off the charts. But the mid range is incredible. The way the team is constructed. If you blitz Luka or Reaves. Kaminga is probably 1 on 1 at the Rim that’s a basket or free throws. Wide open mid range spots. Puts everyone in their spots Kessler for a lob at the rim or an easy two points. Grimes wide open 3 ball movement.

Now Thiero posses those skills but he’s not the handler ball handler or shooter that Kaminga is.

Kaminga is an advanced scorer. He’s really good at it. It’s comical that people don’t want to add that to Luka and Reaves.

it’s not Durant with Curry and Klay but it’s pretty damn Close.

everybody talked about LeBron how’s he gonna fit in he wants to handle the ball. Draymond role. You’re essentially getting a guy who doesn’t need the ball. Doesn’t need the ball to score. Doesn’t have to handle the ball. Has two guys who can force feed him the ball and get him the ball at great spots to score. He’s a younger Kawhi Leonard without all the baggage.

if yall follow basketball some s*** doesn’t change Worthy was worthy because he complimented Magic perfectly showtime. You blitz Magic Worthy is finishing at the rim or on the break.

Luka is the conductor. What yall miss is teams will blitz Luka and Reaves. Who do they respect??? There’s no LeBron there. s*** there’s no Ayton there.

Kessler great defender. But he’s not a great offensive player. You’re putting all this in Kessler and Luka. You better get some guys that can score.

I emphasized balance. You need balance to win championships. You aren’t winning a championship with Luka scoring 40. Did Kobe win a championship when he scored averaged like 35????

so team is important. The Lakers did everything right this off season. I don’t care about money. So you’re gonna give Mamu and Grimes 4 year 50 million dollar contracts. And your nickel and diming Jonathan Kaminga for 5 million???????????? 20 -25 million???? Come on Mark Walters I thought the penny pinching was over when Jeanie sold the team. Come on Rob.

when we’re sitting in May getting swept by OKC you’ll see why. With Luka getting swarmed. I’ve seen it with Curry they just blitz these guys. You gotta make em pay. When Kaminga came in he made the defense more honest and Curry could sit.

Reddick needs to take some load off of Luka that’s how hamstrings get torn.

but hey we’re just fans.

so definitely C+ you get A+ for Kaminga. I need guys to finish at the rim and who can score. Even Rui could do that.

I’ve watched Zaire since he was in Memphis he ain’t that. Thybulle ain’t that. Definitely ain’t that. Thiero ain’t that yet.

Antonio Daniels was laughing at us for our off-season what are they doing?? Kessler is one of the best defensive Centers in the league. Lob threat, Utah is still bummed he’s gone. That was a great trade. We acquired a great Center and didn’t know what Center we could get. We got the best on the market. So Daniels is being an idiot. And I’ll tell him and call his show on Sirius. These guys don’t watch basketball they talk out the side of thier a**. And he actually does.


I get Pissed at Rob for the trading of Ayton. Giving up depth for no assurances of Kaminga. So don’t d*** this guy around. We want a championship. We want Kaminga. And we want him a part of what we’re building here. Luka only has so much of a championship window. We gotta make it happen now.

 

perfectly said.

 

LOL ..... wow!, if Rob pulls either of those guys off with the near total rebuild and as good a break up with James as possibly could have been imagined, with NO farewell tour and NO PO for this off season, plus maybe having an even stronger and deeper team than last season ..... tough crowd.



He gets one of the levels of A for sure, unless you're Vash or one of his happy clan of Rob haters IMO.

 

yeah, it sounds weird, but the difference between C+/B- and A+ is a kuminga/washington type pickup.

if lebron left, i wanted two young bona fide starters that fit with luka/reaves.

kessler is one.

grimes is a maybe.

but starting the season with an acknowledged hole in the starting lineup is an issue. plug that and i'm actually thrilled.

i'm ok right now.

 

Did you see him play last season?

 

Short term we're probably worse than last year just because of the top line talent we lost. But it's no guarantee that Smart and Lebron could make it through a season healthy anyway.

Long term, we had to do a mini rebuild when the old guys aged out - so we're doing it now rather than in 2-3 years. That's probably a much better plan for the long term to be honest.

San Antonio got better, Tobias Harris helps them at the 4. But they don't need anything apart from internal growth really.

OKC did amazing in my opinion - A+ for me. We can joke that they gained 7 second rounders, but analysts were hypothesising (and fans on this forum too) that they would have to attach capital to dump guys, they didn't and got a lot of draft capital instead. They re-signed Hartenstein too and now Cason Wallace is probably starting. They're really navigating this CBA at a much higher level than anyone else. They're going to have to trade Jalen Williams sooner or later though and that will determine alot moving forward in my opinion.

Houston and Denver - we don't know yet, they're still waiting to make some moves.

Minnesota is going to be a completely different team so hard to judge for me.

I think our off season is a B even with no other moves. Adding a starting 4 puts it at a B+ for me. It's just hard for me to judge until things play out.

 

Compare to Zion he is slow .
But Looney was injured at UCLA and he always played like that, even GSW fans didn't like him at first too

 

maaaann...this is what i was telling you all last year!

i didn't think they'd have to attach anything, and i actually thought they might get a first for dort, tbh.

disagree that they're ahead of anyone. agree that there will be a choice going forward about jalen williams, and presti has screwed that kind of choice up royally once already...

 

Part of the off-season grade is Cam Carr. Solid pickup.

 

And I still maintain that we could have competed for the next two years with the band back and some small additions. But thats water under the bridge now.

Yeah, I just think they are. They're replacing mid rotation guys for draft capital while developing first round picks - if any of Stirtz, Topic, Sorber or Mara pop, they're laughing. On top of that, they're navigating the tax so well.

SGA / McCain / Stirtz
Wallace / Ajay / Topic
Jalen / Caruso
Chet / Jay Will / Kenrich
iHart / Sorber / Mara

Then look at their future draft picks:

2027
- 3 firsts
- 1 second

2028
- 1 first
- 1 second

2029
- 1 first
- 3 seconds

2030
- 1 first
- 6 seconds

2031
- 1 first
- 4 seconds

2032
- 1 first
- 4 seconds

That's a total of 8 firsts and 19 seconds in 5 years. You assume Jalen Williams probably gets them 3 firsts worth of value as well. They should be able to fill out their team around SGA, Ajay, Wallace, Chet & iHart with really good role-players easily with the amount of draft capital they have. Wouldn't shock me if they win another 1-2 championships in the next 7 years.

For example next year, do they trade Jalen Williams for a top 5 pick and get a wing? Do they consolidate next year's 3 draft picks for a top 10 pick? Do they then trade a bunch of seconds for a stop gap wing for the short term. They have so much optionality - who else is close?

 

why would teams trade assets for broken down players on the wrong side of 30 just for one season of lebron?

 

Haha Lebron trying to get teams to trade for Kevin Durant. Hey why not get Jokic to while you’re at it. lol. Comedy.

 

ajay and wallace are getting paydays soon, and they will be large raises. they were supposed to consolidate this year's picks for a higher pick but couldn't (don't tell me they wanted mara and stirtz as plan A, not buying it at all). three firsts next year?! one from denver (top 5 protected), one from san antonio (last pick in draft), and one from the clips (ballmer/lue won't let them finish at the bottom, for pride reasons). they've been spotty at best in the draft (have you seen topic play? it's like what if peyton pritchard couldn't shoot), tbh, so i've never been in awe of the draft stash. and three firsts in one year is something to avoid. though i'm sure presti will trade two for four future inferior firsts and be declared supreme victor by the same dude who rates offseasons by who hemhorrhaged the most current talent (except us, of course--because losing a 41 year old literal graybeard is impossible to overcome).

so no, i don't think presti is playing chess while everyone's playing checkers. i think he benefited from all-timer bad trade by the clips and the fact that he works for a fanbase that expects absolutely nothing. this is how you can sell stars in their prime and tank and sell future dominance. try that here. try being congratulated for finishing eighth and then trading your star. run out of town on a rail, no time to see if it shakes out.

anyway, re-reading my statement does make me want to amend it a bit. i said they "weren't ahead", and they are most definitely "ahead". what i meant was i don't know that i believe they'll continue to be ahead. i don't think they're ahead because they're brilliant. they got lucky and are competently managed. their current roster can be (and has been) beaten. i don't see a superstar in waiting, and once SGA's supermax kicks in, i don't see them cashing in assets to supplement in a way that's insurmountable for competition.

 

We couldn’t say what if with LeBron. He was never coming back. When we didn’t pick up his option and made him a free agent that was it. His ego couldn’t handle it. His ego couldn’t take it. So he said all the right things. Made sure Bronny got his fully guranteed contract and that was it.

then you pour the gasoline on the fire with the Jeanie Buss he should’ve been grateful comments and he was gone.

prioritizing the center that was it.


He’s a funny guy though I can see yeah Silver allow Miami to get Kyrie for peanuts. And they’ll spin it as a pick swap.

and we’re looking at Kyrie LeBron Gianiss Hardaway jr. And Bam!!!!!!! But I don’t think they have the draft capital.

Maybe Lebron can go sign with OKC lol. But yeah he’s already saying trade for the vets Kyrie and AD. So who’s being shipped out in Golden State???? Ledenborg?????

I can guarantee Lacob and Dunleavy are like please don’t pick us. I just thought there had to be a wink wink with Draymond giving that money up like they knew. And still seeing if Golden state can trade for AD.

player empowerment is over. Player empowerment is played out like Bell Bottoms.

but this is the s*** that got the Clippers f***ed trade for Paul George and I’ll come.

okay Shai MVP NBA champion hall of famer gone for Paul George but hey at least the Clippers got Kawhi and a business partnership with aspiration. lol. But really 6 number 1 picks 2 being Jalen Williams and Cason Wallace. A bit steep.

sorry Lebron no owners doing that anymore. Even for a 41 year old ego maniac.

 

Kuminga deal is dead until it isn't, but we do need another player that can eat PF minutes.