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

Yeah, I agree. Very unique play style. He racks up assists yet is low usage at the same time. Doesnt dribble the ball much but keeps it moving. Probably gets a lot of hoky assists. Pushes the ball forward. He almost plays like a quarterback at times. Some of his passes remind me of Charlie Ward, back when he played basketball in college. Excellent defender and rebounder. He is also athletic, but doesn't necessarily need it for longevity in the league, especially with a much improved three-point shot. He would be a great fit next to any of our guards. His intangibles were so strong he was a great fit with Lebron and Ingram, even though he was a non-shooter at that time. Also seems to have a calm and humble demeanor.

 

I really hope he doesn’t have to endure anymore major injuries. I can’t imagine how frustrating these past two years have been for him.

 

Sources: Lakers involved in offseason trade pursuit of coveted Hornets center
The Lakers are among many teams that have inquired about Nick Richards

 

Noice

 

this has always driven me bonkers. they have to cook embiid's books to make him look as available as AD has been in his worst stretches, but AD is the fragile one. why don't facts matter to anyone?

i actually loved his game on the rare occasion he was healthy, for the reasons you suggest. a true connector and team player on both ends. big play maker on both ends. doesn't do anything to get in the way of others' game/success.

the main reason i wasn't broken up about trading him was that we got first-team all nba-er in his prime, which is worth...whatever you have that's not that times 1000.

well, that and he was already obviously fragile here, missing like, 40% of his games in the first two years.

feel like he'll go down as a "what could have been" type player. really unusual profile that could have been a difference maker in the modern game as a jrue holiday type "over the top" piece.

glad we were trying; this is one of the specific names i mentioned, too.

 

Paul George was diagnosed with a left knee hyperextension after exiting Monday's preseason game against the Hawks, Gina Mizell of The Philadelphia Inquirer reports.
ANALYSIS

George appeared to tweak something in his lower body during the first half, and he's since been ruled out with a knee injury. This certainly isn't the news the 76ers were looking for with less than 10 days until the start of the regular season

 

If Bron or AD either said such a thing...ESPN would have their daily headline for the entire season.

Not a great day for Philly. First that then the PG1.3 injury. He didn't sound worried in the post-game. Could be 6 days. Could (unlikely) be the season.

 

Irwin mentioned a few things about this in his show tonight...
1) Talks were cordial enough and ended on good enough terms they could pick back up at anytime, if need be.
2) We're not including a 1st for Richards if we revisit a deal.
3) Has heard the team is riding with what they have for now (like Rob said during the presser...wants to give it 30 games or so). That could change depending on news on Wood, Vando, or Kokomelon. Or if Hayes regresses significantly out there.

 

i think the 30 game mark roughly coincides with the ability to move those minimum deals together and for summer FAs to be traded.

again, moreso than "seeing what we have" (i think we mostly know), we're kind of in survival mode early this year. i just hope we start better than we have recently. if we're in ok position in december, there will be a lot of potential sensible upgrade possibilites, imo. at least a lot more than there were this summer.

 

Interesting. I'd be curious to hear more about the Riley trying to comeback nugget mentioned in there.

Yeah, we really need a good start. On the trade front it'll allow us to negotiate from a position of power. If we're sinking, teams will be trying to fleece us.

 

i remember dallas pursuing hard and me feeling like their package was better than miami's (can't remember specifics of who it might have been then). we limited ourselves a bit by wanting to move out of conference. i'm still not a fan of that general approach with trades--why cut out half the bidders? especially if you're moving a superstar. wherever that guy lands, they're going to be a contender and thus a problem for you. might as well just find the best return and not worry about where they go.

this really killed us last year, imo. we had that bad losing streak right when trade season opened in december and hovered around .500 for two months while teams sniffed out our desperation. we then won at a clip that had we done so earlier, we might have been able to make something happen. boo.

 

That’s why Ham was fired

 

With a strong NBA Draft on the horizon, Charlotte might as well tank since they are not going anywhere anyway. Trade JHS, Hayes, the lesser of our 2025 2nd round picks (We have the Clippers pick), and a 2030 2nd round pick for Richards. Charlotte may go for this because they might still view JHS as a good prospect with similar attributes to Ball, but it is really the 2nd round-pick assets (and getting worse) that could be enticing to them. The Clippers pick may be like a mid to low first in a deep draft. Wood could be traded instead of JHS if we want to wait until December 15. Still, Charlotte has three combo guards 6-3 or under in Curry, Smith, and Mann. So at 6-5/6-6, they may view JHS as a guard that could offset that. But it's really about them stockpiling assets. Also, the pick might be pretty valuable because next year's draft is supposed to be deep, and the 2030 pick also has a chance to be valuable, with the Lakers possibly in a down cycle at that time. However, the Lakers might be able to negotiate for only one 2nd round pick.

• Richards is similar to Hayes in terms of his rim-running but is much more playable. Richards averaged 18.6 mpg in 2022-2023 and 26.3 mpg in 2023-2024. He is also 25 ponds heavier than Hayes. His additional weight allows him to bang better on the inside, which shows in his rebounding. 11.1 rebounds per 36 compared to 8.6 for Hayes. Also, Richards fouls less than Hayes, with 4.1 fouls per 36, compared to 4.4 for Hayes.
• I like the idea of getting a similar arch-type player as AD at the 5, to back him up, or start in place of him if he misses his 15-20 games. Same with Koloko. Richards is more of AD's arch type offensively, while Koloko is defensively. Neither Richards nor Koloko are ideal fits with AD on the offensive end, but they could be pretty good on the defensive end. From a political standpoint, it also benefits the team by keeping the whiny AD happy. Reddick will have to see if the defensive benefits outweigh the reduced floor-spacing on the offensive end when they play AD with one of the two bigs.
• I think this is one of the better benefits of this trade, because we would have to relinquish a 2nd to get some team to absorb one of our minimum players anyway. The Lakers open up a roster spot with this trade, allowing them to upgrade the third-string point guard/combo guard position with Quincy Olveri, who fits much better alongside Reaves than JHS does.
• Lakers also save a few dollars with this trade. They are currently only 45k under the apron.

 

this is similar to suggestions i made over the summer, i think. i actually don't think we should have to add much beyond jhs and one 2nd, either. i know everyone hates jhs, but he's very young and still has plenty of upside.

i'd hope we could get some help from richards's agent, as spending a couple years here has the potential to boost his future earning substantially compared to charlotte, imo, where they have mark williams and also nobody cares about them.

 

LAKERS Are not serious franchise anymore https://x.com/RunItBackFDTV/status/1846197267213987922

 

Good to hear that. I don't like that JHS seems to prefer shooting middies a lot. I don't think Reddick really wants players to do that. I mean he basically said AD, Lebron, etc. could do it some times, but idk about an proven 2nd year player. Reddick said explicitly he doesn't want the team taking 10-15 floaters a game because we don't have a Jalen Brunson. Those are the exact shots JHS likes to take.

 

I didn't bother to watch the video. But, I don't think that is an accurate statement. Lakers mostly always were willing to think outside the box and go the extra mile for their players. Examples are the 25 year/25 million contract given to Magic and the post-achilles contract given to Kobe. Finding a way to get DFish back after he had a serious health situation with his son. Bringing BScott and A.C, Green back to end their careers with the Lakers. Generally hiring people in the Lakers family. These are just examples that I could think of at the top of my head. I'm sure there are more examples. The Lakers seem to be understanding and family-oriented. Although I do not like the way they have treated Jerry West, I think the Lakers mostly get it.

 

I am not sure I agree with your comparison of legends like AC/ Magic/ Byron / D fish in the same sentence as Lebrons kid

 

It's a comparison to Lebron, though, not Bronny. With that being said, I get what you are saying. The Lakers gladly added DFish to their roster, as he was in the prime of his career with Golden State. Green was in his twilight but was a key member of a championship team. I think he might of even started. BScott was still fairly productive and was brought in to help mentor Kobe, so he was worth the roster spot. So, I get that Bronny is more of the Lakers taking a concession for their star player than any of the other examples that I mentioned. I forgot to mention the Lakers signing Giannis's brother. That was just as bad IMO. Another comparison is the Lakers promoting Ireland to a radio broadcaster, even though he doesn't necessarily have a great play-by-play announcer voice. He was the sideline reporter, so he was next in line. There were probably higher qualified candidates, but they were already familiar with Ireland.