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

Luka can be a PF like Love but without that physical or athletic big next to him could be problems. I dont think he can fill in as a small ball center like Lebron. Even if they add Kuminga this will still be an issue.

 

Something Lakers need to work on IMO. "During the 2026 Western Conference playoff series between the San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder, the Spurs and their players focused heavily on adjusting to and matching OKC's rugged, physical style rather than backing down. Champagnie and Stephon Castle stressed that the Spurs had to "hit back" and elevate their own physical engagement to counter OKC's defensive pressure on Victor Wembanyam. It was an internal shift toward absorbing and returning that physical force rather than letting it dictate the outcome." After dropping 4 regular season games could a healthy Lakers adjust and play a more physical brand of basketball. IDK because what they did instead was " Lakers and the OKC Thunder, where Austin Reaves notably met with the officials following the loss.
The Lakers star was visibly upset throughout Thursday evening and was seen animated against crew chief John Goble at one point. Guard Austin Reaves confronted crew chief John Goble at center court, and head coach JJ Redick criticized OKC's physical defense. ..... I think the mental toughness is something they have to work on. They got more athletic and have a bigger big man. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/lbtCFBFHLe8

 

You don’t want Luka your superstar point guard banging around down there with power forwards. You want him handling the ball. At the top of the key. You don’t want him defending 4’s you just don’t. You want Luka guarding Bam??? Get a power forward.

 

I don't know what you guys are talking about. Spurs were playing Champagnie at the 4 last year, this year they'll have Tobias Harris. Luka is the same size as Tobias if not a bit heavier.

OKC played a bunch of small guards 1-3 and then had Chet at the 4. You probably don't want Luka guarding Chet on the inside, but having him guard Chet on the perimeter isn't an issue at all.

I'm really not seeing any scary 4's that will punish us. Minnesota has McDaniels, Denver has Gordon who is a similar size to Luka, maybe slightly heavier. Just not really worried about it.

 

I'd trade for Klay, send out Hardy and Knecht plus a second.

At the trade deadline we could flip Klay and Vando for someone. Maybe Derrick White becomes available or Jalen Suggs or Aaron Gordon?

I don't know... but its not bad to have that much expirings

 

Maybe the key to getting to the next level is Luka playing off the ball more picking his spots and letting the game come to him. We have Austin and Sexton who can serve as the point guard at times. When he played with Kyrie they shared the ball. Like Jokic he can play on the inside if his body type allows him to. He can play like James Harden or somewhat like Lebron. But Jokic is the prime example. Thing is with Luka maybe he shoots to much. Jokic and Lebron served as pgs. Jokic never avg over 30ppg and Lebron did just once at 30ppg and was said to run from big shots vs making the right play. So it all depends. Do we want Luka being the Luka of old scoring champ or a new improved Luka playing a more team focused style.

 

my concern isn't playing luka at 4 on defense; it's who's playing the 3 defensively. the version of jake that started last season might be passable. a breakout ziaire might be passable. but it would be better if we could trade two of our back end players for someone else.

to me, part of the reason luka and reaves got exposed a bit on defense last year is that it could be argued that they often weren't our worst defensive options, so our schemes didn't/couldn's/shouldn't protect them like similar players get protected in team defensive schemes.

again, dallas did well with this when luka was there, and denver has perfected protecting jokic to the point that he grades out analytically as like, bill russell, despite obviously being an issue on that end with his lack of speed.

anyway, luka should be the "4" defensively in the modern nba. this isn't like 1992, when kevin willis was a pf or something.

he would be near the very bottom of the list we've made in recent days and weeks. his defense is just so bad. he's essentially late career peja that won the ring with the mavs now. you can dust him off for a few minutes if you're really desperate for shooting, but people complain about luka and reaves and want to add klay thompson to that? my gooodness!

i do agree that a consolidation trade should happen ahead of just cutting someone or paying to get off salary (double ick). so if there's no shot at kuminga, washington, jalen smith, toppin, etc., then yes, hardy/knecht for thompson is something i'd consider.

 

Luka is at his best when defending 4s, or at minimum slower 3s, due to his size and strength and the fact that he's not fast enough to defend most guards consistently.

Luka is a Point Guard offensively, but defensively, he's a Helper. We need an athletic Power Forward of starting caliber who can be a quality Wing Stopper in order to bolster the perimeter defense and handle the better of the two Forwards on the other team. It's just like how Quentin Grimes will be acting as our starting Point of Attack defender on the other team's best guard, in order to allow Austin to slot into his best defensive role as a Chaser and handle the other off-ball guard on the court.

Ideally, the finalized starting lineup should be looking along the lines of this:

Luka Doncic - O: Point Guard/D: Helper
Austin Reaves - O: Shooting Guard/D: Chaser
Quentin Grimes - O: Small Forward/D: Point of Attack
Sir Not Currently On This Team - O: Power Forward/D: Wing Stopper
Walker Kessler - O: Center/D: Anchor Big+Mobile Big

 

Your a great poster, but it doesn't work that way. For example, Magic didn't guard the point-guards, players like Nixon, Scott or Cooper usually did that. That doesn't mean he wasn't handling the ball. We saw it again with Kobe as the initiator in the triangle offense, while DFish was essentially a shooting guard guarding point-guards. Then again in the bubble with Lebron the point-guard on offense, while combo guards like Bradley an KCP guarded the point-guards. We also have many outside examples with jumbo point-guards, like when Miami Lebron played point-guard with a Chalmers as the PG on defense. Also when Magic came out of retirement, he played power forward but still was tied for team lead with 6.9 assists per game. It's not that complicated. I could see a alot to of the kids on here not understanding it, but it's funny even some in the media don't get the concept or are slow to it. We need to clear up the confusion on here, it's making some conversations difficult.

 

On another note...who is going to be the 3rd option on this team..Grimes...Sexton...Kessler

 

That sounds like you are saying you would like Luka to play more of ball, which is a completely different argument. There is some merit to what your saying, I get that. Sort of like how Luka would be if we had Jokic. But I think the previous argument was about Luka having to play the 4 on defense. But the 4 nowadays, from an offensive standpoint, is basically just a spot-up shooter with a little more size than a 3. The power forward is not as clearly defined as it was back in the day. Before, you had to average 8+ rebounds and post-up some.

 

I like to feed the big guys inside to open that up early so Kessler in that sense

If they shut that down then it will be more of inside out and it would be someone else

I just don't like living at the 3 line all game

It's so 1 dimensional and if our shooting is off we can lose games we should win

 

Kessler 3, then Grimes 4 is my bet / preference

 

Kesler, Luka, LaRavia, grimes, Austin

 

Laravia though? Nobody likes Sexton as an option I see.

 

...... but of course. And why would that be .... Kessler over Luka and when AR is one of the most efficient scorers in the league?

 

I assumed we were talking about starters.

 

Sexton is an option if all else fails. Sexton, Austin, grimes, Luka, Walker. Thing is trying to get more defensive. I can see them going that way to generate their best offensive unit. Sexton comes in as 6th man.

 

Situational, right now it is going to be Kessler sometimes and Grimes at other times. Who ever is hot at the moment?