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

IDK..All I'm getting out of it is, this is the first year that it can be used in a trade, and I didn't see anything specifically forbidding it from being done. I'm sure the capologist in the NBA media world, are going to thoroughly lay out, what can and can't be done, by this evening.

 

dirk went from 22 per to 8 per. duncan from 22 to 9.5. think that 22 number was max or close to it at the time.

so, they took bigger cuts. both guys were useful for years after that, too, so it's not like they were washed.

 

Dirk took a 65% paycut for Chandler Parsons, bless his heart, but that was a dumb a** idea. IMO..he could have been a Laker. If I'm not mistaken, Dirk never had an agent, and was underpaid over his entire career. Cuban had to love him to death.

Duncan took paycuts twice, 2012 and 2015...bless his heart too...Pop had the whole damn team taking paycuts. Except the Hyena..he got his max.

I wouldn't have done it myself, what would Kobe say about taking paycuts? f*** that s***!!!!! LOL

To each his own, I don't know if Tim had an agent or not, but Dirk was definitely taken advantage of ...IMO

 

he wasn't taken advantage of. he prioritized competing over stacking up more money that he'll never spend in five lifetimes. and he's a hero in dallas and always will be.

and again, it's fine if lebron thinks adding to his already immense wealth is more important than competing for titles. that's his personal choice. he just doesn't get to complain about the team around him when he's hoarding cash that could help the team improve.

at his age, he should be taking a pay cut. kobe took one. not as big as dirk and duncan, but he took less than max.

and if he does take a cut that enables us to do something this offseason, he will have earned the right to complain later. he doesn't have it right now, though. sure as hell didn't have it last year.

 

Ok Bobby Marks is on Espn, saying that Lebron needs to give up 22M, in order to get us the MLE. No word on if the MLE can be folded into a trade or not.

 

Nah man. It shouldn't be on the players, to have take paycuts, that's some BS. Are the owners expected to take paycuts too? Do they say.."Hey..I made too much money..let me give some of it back?"

It's a business, that goes both ways IMO. As far as complaining and what not..shrug..The players complaints aren't about the money being spent, it's about who it's being spent on.

These teams don't give a damn, about your sacrifices IMO. They will put a statue up for you or something. If you were great, other than that, you are just another piece on the chess board.

 

yeah, the first apron is 179, and our current salary commitments are at 189. to have full mle, you have to get under by 13 million or so, hence the 22 million cut. same with accepting a S&T.

there could be three-way deals involving cap space teams that could make a S&T work, perhaps with lebron taking a smaller paycut, though.

 

i'm firmly pro-player and anti-owner, but...this is what the luxury tax is? they're giving back money (to the other owners).

his giant salary makes certain things completely impossible and lots of things very difficult.

and lebron wanted 50 million dollars spent on russell westbrook, so again, he needs to stop having opinions.

again, fine. if that's your world view, then cash grab all you want. just shut the f*** about front office moves. not your job. you could have walked in free agency if these guys suck so bad.

 

I think we might run into a similar problem with Harris that Philly did, that is miscasting him as a spot-up, 3&D type. When he was with the Pistons and the Clippers he actually did pretty well with the ball in his hands, even running some P&R. I think Harris has become underrated as a player, but I think he might be a 20ppg on a bad team guy that doesn’t really translate into high-end role player.

 

Here's the case for Lavine:
https://theswishtheory.com/nba/2024/06/zach-lavine-the-wages-of-perception/

Bulls going to have to add a FRP.for the Lakers to bite I imagine

 

Yeah I think Harris would be a solid MLE option, and I do think MLE will be his price range.

I just think he makes Rui redundant, so that would require trading Rui for another position IMO

 

Hmm, if we consider this the start of the 2024-2025 season, Lavine now has 2 years left on his deal plus a player option.

If we’re GETTING picks to take him off Chicago’s hands, that doesn’t look quite as much like an albatross contract

Getting greedy here, but if you could push Chicago into giving even more (maybe something like 1 unprotected FRP, 1 pick swap, and a few seconds) I might consider sending the DLo/Rui/Gabe package for Lavine.

This is assuming that based on his Klutch connection, we have intel and confidence that he’s healthy and maybe he was phoning it in with Chicago because he wanted out.

It’s a gamble but if you’ve consolidated some roster spots, get a bounce back year from Lavine, and ADDED draft assets, you could be setting yourself up nicely both for this current season and future flexibility.

Mostly just a thought experiment though, overall this would not be my preferred move

 

The front office isn't shutting the f*** up, if you fail to succeed. They are firing your a**,(coach) trading your a**, or cutting bait with you (players) If they had such a problem with the complaining..they didn't have to offer you a contract

Two sides to everything professor.

 

i like this piece. i agree that concerns about his defense are overblown.

i disagree that his injury history isn't concerning--particularly the recent part. the author thinks the foot injury isn't a big deal and that the knee injury is what concerns people (but shouldn't). i agree that the knee injuries are in the past, and a new one would be a new one. we don't know how he's recovered from foot surgery yet, though. you're gambling there.

overall, i love the deep dive here.

my thought is that if you can get lavine and a 1st for rui/dlo/reddish/wood or hayes, you have to think about it. would lebron take a much smaller paycut to keep us below the second apron in order to make such a thing happen (talking 3-5 million instead of 22)?

what i don't like is such a move forces AD to center and we lose some size options with rui. it's risky, but high upside. lavine's a dynamic scorer--the kind that could help unlock lebron and AD on offense.

edit: hj beat me to it. i'd want to keep gabe, though, as we'd be down to no pgs except jhs if dlo and gabe both go out in a trade.

 

the front office's job is to make personnel decisions. the player's job is to play. i don't understand what you're trying to argue.

they offered him a contract because they want him to play basketball here. they didn't offer him an assistant general manager role. he can buy into an assistant general manager role, imo, by sacrificing some of his compensation package (like i traded some amount of money for autonomy in my career choice). i view this as the same. you want all the cash, you get all the smoke. you want to work with me to create a roster involving casting a personal stake in it, then we're partners.

 

Lavine and Trae?
LeBron should be getting like 50% cut

 

i outlined above why i think trae's not a real option (atlanta not tanking AND now owns our 2025 pick).

IF the mavs really do get klay, pivoting to lavine makes some sense, tbh. like hj, not my first option, but those options are going to shrink dramatically over the next few hours...

 

It's not about money
https://x.com/NBATV/status/1807426947313442985
Klay to Lakers confirmed ?

Klay Thompson is ready to take MLE and join Lakers or Clippers (Jake Fisher)


The middle-level exclusion market promises to be interesting, especially considering the rumors that run among league employees that Klay Thompson ready to take this amount (12.8 million) and join Lakers or Clippers

 

1. where did the clippers come from?
2. still think all the smoke around dallas is real, and that they have a path to getting klay in a S&T so that he makes more money.

and now i'm thinking gs might get in on the bidding for lavine. not interested in a bidding war there.

 

Lol. Snake, Paulina, now Klay. That would be hilarious...