2019/20 Players' Transactions: Breaking News , Trades, Free Agents, And Rumors

Vegas must know something because Vegas is not in the business of losing money.

 

Oddly though, they still have the Lakers 4th in the LeBron sweepstakes.

I wonder if they're pushing Houston and Cleveland because of the media narrative.

 

That is weird, cause I don't see any avenue to us winning a ring next year without Lebron. Even if we wrestle Kawhi away from SA to pair with Paul George, those two along with whatever is left of our kids after the Spurs go shopping isn't enough to win it all. I think Kawhi is a top 5 player in this league, but the gap between Lebron and even the number two player (whoever he is) is huge.

 

Scrolled through that thread quickly.

Houston fans accusing CyberX of being a Laker fan now. Wasn't he the one they were worshiping when he was right about Dwight leaving LA?

I tend to agree with most of his takes. He's not saying LeBron is a lock, but downplaying LA is a big mistake that outside fans have been doing all year long. The advantages we've been talking about are legitimate: money is available, Magic is in place, LA is perfect for all of their brands, and most importantly the team has talent again. It's there, but people really don't want it to be and there's a lot of fans that still think the Lakers are the same guys who wouldn't put calls into other FAs until 12:01 because that's what the rules said to do.

Other teams are preparing for the Lakers to make moves (we've gotten told on TWICE for tampering when we didn't even tamper a single time). Vegas is preparing for big moves (5th best odds at a title behind only Philadelphia, Boston, GS, and Houston). Something is changing and other fans should prepare themselves for it.

I believe the Lakers sign George Day One. Then go to LeBron and say: we've got George, we've got the young kids, we can compete TODAY, but what else do you want? George has suggested ____, _____, and _____. We can bring back some of these guys for cheap as well, they're on board if you are.

It's a hell of a pitch. CyberX brings it up, but tell LeBron you've got:

Lonzo/
George/
Ingram/
Randle/Kuzma

In the bag right now with the ability to maneuver around it? Honestly, if we attach 6 picks to Deng to move him (exaggeration, but still) we can have a roster of something like:

Lonzo Ball/Isaiah Thomas
Paul George/Josh Hart
Brandon Ingram/
LeBron James/Kyle Kuzma
Julius Randle/Mitchell Robinson/Thomas Bryant

What other team is offering him that depth, with the ability to get something like:

Lonzo/Thomas
George/Hart
Kawhi/
James/Kuzma
Vet/Robinson/Bryant

What team is offering anything close to that? Those are legitimate possibilities and there's nobody giving him that sort of versatility tomorrow.

 

If LeBron turns us down, that'd be a pretty hysterical move. Max out Capela and force them to match on it and pay 500 million dollars collectively to two guys over 33 and a role player.

But if we got him, that'd be interesting. Lonzo/George/Ingram/Randle/Capela with Kuzma and Hart and maybe that 25th pick would be really fascinating. They'd officially be that "young team you don't want to see in Round One".

 

Some of the fans in that thread are delusional. Like this one

We aren’t good enough to make the playoffs? We won 35 games without a star, and with Ingram and Ball missing extended time. You add LeBron or Paul George to our roster as is, and we make the playoffs. You add both of them and we’re immediately arguably the 3rd best team in the West. Do some fans seriously not even watch one single NBA game that doesn’t involve their team? That’s the only way I could explain such a comment.

 

Seriously. I never spend time on NBA forums outside of here, so reading that was eye opening in terms of what other fans think of us. They're going to be in for a rude surprise next season.

And if we signed LeBron and George, I'm fairly confident we'd be the 2nd best team in the West. I still think Houston is just the same old Phoenix team in a shiny new wrapper.

 

Well, I threw in “arguably”, because aside from LeBron and George we’re talking about a roster with zero playoff experience. You don’t often see a roster that inexperienced go super far in the playoffs year one. But, with those 2 players, it’s entirely possible our young guys would learn how to win very quickly.

 

True. I think it's very telling that Rob Pelinka has been pointing to the C Bags' success this post-season with their youngsters. I think he envisions a team where we bring in vets, but keep most of our kids.