2024-25 Team Developments: Trades / Free Agents / News / Rumors / Ideas

Discussion in 'Lakers Discussion' started by TIME, May 22, 2024.

  1. sirronstuff

    sirronstuff - Lakers Legend -

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    seems unlikely, but gotta have goals.
     
  2. abeer3

    abeer3 - Lakers Legend -

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    nobody saw lebron coming until like, a couple months before at the earliest.
     
  3. LTLakerFan

    LTLakerFan - Lakers Legend -

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    They attempted to "Overpay" a rookie college coach too who was coming off back to back Division I championships. But Jeanie doesn't want to win .... only interested in ticket and merchandise sales ..... allegedly from some.

    :Jeanie Srsly:

    Seems to me that the pursuit of Thompson is what allowed other FAs we were also interested in apparently not quite as much to get away in the interim.
     
  4. PurpleAndGold88

    PurpleAndGold88 - Lakers 6th Man -

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    What else do you want Jeanie to do ? She is absolutely catering every LeBron’s needs to win him a title . She gets the HC that LeBron wants , she gets the players that LeBron wants, she drafts his son when we don’t even need him . Maybe just maybe Jeanie’s hands are tight until somebody goes away and take his talent somewhere else.

    it’s in our nature to hate a woman in charge :Brows:
     
    Last edited: Aug 25, 2024
  5. Weezy

    Weezy Moderator Staff Member

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    If Luka keeps trending this direction maybe we can get him. If someone can get him to lay off the beer though, I don’t see it, not sure why he’d want to leave a Mavs team that just made the Finals and were willing to make moves like trading for Kyrie, Washington and Gafford to get there. Mark Cuban isn’t getting any poorer.


     
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  6. FrontOfJersey22

    FrontOfJersey22 - Lakers All Star -

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    Last time I checked, Luka’s game wasn’t completely dependent upon his chiseled body.
     
  7. pika1708

    pika1708 - Lakers Starter -

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    Luka always returns fat from offseason. He and Jokic have a different approach to sports. It's a part of their life, not their entire life. They still manage to be the best so there's not really much it should be done
     
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  8. Weezy

    Weezy Moderator Staff Member

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    He can’t defend his shadow and usually breaks down in the playoffs, but sure, I’m sure conditioning has nothing to do with that. I’m sure taking care of his body more wouldn’t help that at all. It doesn’t really matter as we aren’t getting him anyway, not if he wants to win above all else. If he just wants to live in LA and add that fanbase and money, eh maybe I guess.
     
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  9. PurpleAndGold88

    PurpleAndGold88 - Lakers 6th Man -

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    Looks good to me F3F2F044-217B-45AE-873F-AB7C748859C1.jpeg
     
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  10. abeer3

    abeer3 - Lakers Legend -

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    yeah, they tried to move dlo and offer thompson more cash, but gs wasn't biting. not much you can do.

    he does look SUPER chonky there, lol. not great.

    i do think pika has a point, though--luka does this every year, and every year shows up and kicks everyone's a**. he's not the defensive liability he's billed to be, either, especially come playoff time. he was injured in this year's playoffs, and teams still had some trouble picking on him, imo.

    as far as wanting to win--like lebron, luka IS winning. he and 4 scrubs gives you a shot. he, one other star, and good role players, and you're a contender. he knows that. he doesn't have to pull a durant and walk into a ready-made environment. he needs to work in a place that excites him and that he believes can put pieces around him to win. we need to show we're that. we did that for lebron even coming off the worst period in franchise history. it's not too tall a task, imo.

    luka ain't lamarcus aldridge. he doesn't need a security blanket. he has all the confidence in the world.

    ...lol, this part of why he's fat right now.
     
  11. PurpleAndGold88

    PurpleAndGold88 - Lakers 6th Man -

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    Magic “ claps” back

     
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  12. Weezy

    Weezy Moderator Staff Member

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    Yeah, sorry, not seeing it. Dallas is willing to compete because they can, and he can make more there than anywhere else because of the incentives in place to keep stars where they were drafted. I don’t see the appeal of the Lakers if he’s doing what you said, already winning. Not sure what we can offer him if Dallas offers him the biggest contracts he can get plus a competitive team.

    I also don’t agree that how he operates now is fine just because it currently works. He’s 25, drinking beer and working into shape as the season starts won’t work like that in 5 years, his body will break down sooner if he doesn’t take care of it, it’s not a recipe for long term success. I don’t imagine carrying all that extra weight is great on your joints, and he had to play on that knee injury all playoffs, not great, just my take. Strongly disagree that he isn’t a defensive liability as well, Boston went at him and he barely even tried, it was a pretty bad look, that sort of stuff is the difference between titles and no titles.

    I’m not surprised that this is the FO outlook now though, post LeBron, it might even be smart. It does save time in telling some of us not to get too invested in the current team though, basically admitting their run is over, I can watch from a bit more of a distance and wait for the next guy I guess.
     
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  13. abeer3

    abeer3 - Lakers Legend -

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    lol, love the ring smack. wish we would have said...is making the right read on a perimeter double team "skill"?
     
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  14. pika1708

    pika1708 - Lakers Starter -

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    He was the best guard defender in the post last season and one of the best in the league. He plays a lot of minutes every season and is always in the MVP discussion.
    But sure, it's me and you who can't make 3 FTs in a row or run 20 miles that know how he should manage his shape lol
    He's not Zion, where it affects his output and I think fans can judge it and comment on it. But if the guy is one of the best in the world and is growing a legacy among the greats, I humbly take the approach of shut my mouth and just let him be him

    As on the more interesting conversation, I think if Dallas don't win a ring in the next couple of years, there's a very good shot Luka moves out. He was winning important European titles when he was 16, he's an elite talent since early age and he surely wants to win an NBA title. Giannis and Jokic already got it as Europeans in the NBA during his tenure, so there's really no excuse for him not to win. Dallas moved closer but it's reaching a time where being closer is not enough.

    His next contract runs during his peak prime and I'm sure he wants the best shot to get that ring (likely multiple because his talent is 'multiple title deserving'). I would also say that he looks like he won't play that long in the NBA and should retire early or even come to Europe, putting more pressure in his next window.

    AD is a great complement to Luka in both sides of the court. Just sayin'
     
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  15. abeer3

    abeer3 - Lakers Legend -

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    the salary differences at this point mean basically nothing, imo. luka's great grandchildren will already live well no matter what happens. and the european players seem to understand this moreso than the americans, tbh. he's already won there.

    what he's interested in is legacy. dirk already planted his flag in dallas in a way that only multiple championships could surpass. and even then, that's dirk, man! i could totally see luka wanting to be put on a rushmore with magic, lebron, kobe, and kareem. this is what we offer.

    my god, man. do you not think most of these guys are going out drinking (or much worse) a good chunk of the time? michael jordan was getting hammered and gambling all night before games.

    boston went after him because he was playing his third straight series on a knee injury and they had five ball-handler/shooters. nobody else could do s*** with it.

    i don't know how this became a front office conspiracy. of course we'd try to lure the nba's best player here. it's kind of what we do.

    hoping for luka has the same odds as tanking for lotto balls. actually, it has much, much better odds, given our franchise history. you think this is hopium--i think teams trying to sell their long, slow build through hitting singles and eventually the lotto when tim duncan is there is the ultimate hopium.

    you can bet against us getting luka (or luka staying upright, i guess). fine. safe bet. another safe bet is that 28 other teams that are employing strategies you prefer will also remain ringless. at least our formula has worked for us several times over.
     
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  16. Weezy

    Weezy Moderator Staff Member

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    Man, your mind-reading ability is really something. Also, don’t comment on players conditioning on a message board made for talking about sports becuause I’m not a pro myself, got it. Gonna go back to ignoring people who like to argue just to argue, I don’t know why I bother sometimes.
     
  17. abeer3

    abeer3 - Lakers Legend -

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    luka could be in better shape. he's like harden. it took until harden was 34 for it (sort of) catch up to him.

    i just can't decide if the argument is that luka isn't great or that he's not coming.

    he most certainly is great.

    he may not come, but it's a better plan than any other i can think of, tbh.
     
  18. Weezy

    Weezy Moderator Staff Member

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    So you think Luka will give up a potential 346 million dollar contract over 5 years to come here for whatever we can offer, which would be considerably less? In that case yeah, I will bet against us. Or are we doing a sign and trade for him at that point? The beer thing is funny to me though, I don’t think it’s serous enough to warrant a “my god, man”, but here we are, deep into the offseason, I imagine you are tired of defending this FO’s lack of activity, but like I said, for me personally at least I can match their commitment to the team and not get super invested, watch fewer games, probably better for my health.

    Anyway, never said Luka wasn’t great, he’s crazy great, all I said was maybe we can get him after all if he keeps getting fat on all the beer, it was a half-joke, a silly comment. I’m sure lots of NBA players do drink and do worse, but it doesn’t seem to show up on them in the form of a big gut, so… yeah. All I’m saying is I don’t see a long career for him if he keeps it up, half-a**ing the conditioning and getting by largely on his raw crazy talent, it’s part of what stopped Shaq from having a longer career and he’s admitted it. Man, you know we are deep into the offseason when discussing a star we likely will never get becomes this big a deal.
     
  19. ElginTheGreat

    ElginTheGreat - Lakers MVP -

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    Bit of a nuke there by Magic. Lol
     
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  20. Kenzo

    Kenzo - Lakers All Star -

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    I'll take fat, zero D Luka, over any player in the NBA. Im biassed though, i followed him in Europe and him wearing P&G would be a dream come true (not happening in the next 5-6 years though).
     
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