2025-26 Team Developments: Trades / Free Agents / News / Rumors / Ideas

That’s a horrible trade for Reaves. Murphy and Jones and Alvarado and all those pics.

Here are some facts. The only trade that would make any type of sense for the Lakers trading reaves is Gianiss.

He’s the only player where you are trying to really solidify a superstar.

 

Someone is getting fired if we get bounced early in the playoffs. I don't think waiting until next season, is really the mindset of the new owner.

 

Reaves ain’t getting traded and is not one of the many problems with this team.
I hope Klutch asks for a trade since this version of LeBron is embarrassing.

 

Lebron isn't the problem either.

 

Austin Reaves isn’t getting traded.

Austin isn’t the problem.

Austin was playing phenomenal. It’s amazing how people forget that.

we lose 3 in a row now everybody wants to trade.

that’s the problem people don’t let players team gell.

You see OKC trying to trade Shai because they are having problems with San Antonio!!!!!!!!!!!!!

you wanna know the elephant in the room. Cause no one has the balls to say it. In the media. Lebron looks old and cooked. And everybody gets around him. And he can’t guard anybody.

but hey you go tell him to take a reduced role. Good luck with that. He was never Larry bird as a shooter in his advanced age his shooting is not good as it’s not as good as it used to be.

Kevin Durant is a phenomenal shooter so he can score anywhere. This was always my Lebron Durant argument. Durant doesn’t need his strength to score. He can score anywhere. As you see the older players in their advanced age can still shoot Harden and Durant.

Lebron can still score at will. But just like Westbrook things are going to be an adventure because so much is predicated on athleticism.

Youth Youth Youth.

the Lakers have to feature it. And Reddick is a coach that doesn’t want to embrace it. Play Thiero!!!!!!!!! It might be hard because Ado can’t score but you need his athleticism defense and speed. He will get on somebody.

hes young and raw. But he has to learn.

see coaches like Reddick are thinking about their job and not thinking about development of this kid. They want sure things.

We have to see what we got. Do the player development. But you have to allow him to succeed. That’s your job. That’s what Popovich was so good at. And Carlislile. They bought guys along.

We have no f***ing team that wants to trade with us.

after Luka we are being froze out.

sure Sacramento would love to give us Ellis Monk and Lavine for Reaves.

f*** that!!!!!!!!!!!!

we gotta make our bed.

own who we are. Just hold onto that pick. Get to the playoffs and see what you can pick up.

Luka you gotta complete yourself. You can score 50. Or you can score 30 and make sure everybody touches the ball. This is what I’m talking about move that ball around. Make sure other guys touch it. You gotta get other guys involved.

I’ll say the quiet part out loud Houston had alot of athletic black guys getting rebounds over us and just jumping out the gym.

we had Vando and our other athletic black guy we refused to play.

I was with Reddick yeah it’s gonna get uncomfortable but don’t b**** about it. That’s your job. After the Boston Massacre Kareem said no let me see the tape. Lebron has got to accept accountability.

Ayton played like s***. I’m not gonna put anybody on blast. Yeah he had a bad game it happens. I blasted him. He did some dumb s***. I’m not tripping on that. It happens. What I can’t accept is dumb reads. That lead to players getting hurt. He had Reaves wide open for a three. Refused to pass it. Dribbled turned the ball over. Which led to a transition basket where Reaves had to take a charge and got hurt. It can’t happen.

Let’s get right against Sacramento and get our s*** together.

 

What big moves can we pull off over the summer? If Lebron and the rest of our expirings are off the books, we don't have any salary, to trade for an elite player. There aren't any big fish on the FA market this summer either. We need a trade THIS season.

 

The issue isn't Reaves in a vacuum. It's committing to a second sub-par athlete next to Luka long term. Doing so means we basically have to surround those two with three above average athletes that play both ends of the court well at all times. It's a team building restriction - we're creating a very narrow pathway for ourselves. And before anyone says "well the 2024 Mavs had Luka and Kyrie", that team was 50-32 and were blown out in the Finals in large part because Kyrie couldn't hold up against Holiday, White and Brown. There are probably 4 teams in the West (OKC, Spurs, Denver, Houston) that are better than the version of OKC that the Mavs beat in 2024.

Could we make it work? Yeah, we could. But it will require bringing in multiple of the most coveted role player archetype in the league with limited assets and probably also upgrading at center from Ayton. I think it's incredibly unlikely that Austin is traded, but the idea that it's crazy to even suggest trading Austin is ridiculous.

 

it's this. and it is an elephant in the room that nobody can address. it was there before the season, and then we got off to a good start without him, so it momentarily felt like it could be avoided. but it can't. we're all playing out the string (both him and the team/organization) and everyone is conscious of it but can't say it.

i think you chip away. you're right that it's unlikely any big names move into cap space this summer, but you can probably find ways to pick up useful players who fit with luka/reaves and maybe even replenish the draft pick stock in the process. i'm sure we'll try for trades at the deadline, but whatever it is has to be worth giving up that flexibility. we'll see who moves for what and whether we should be mad about it.

the past few years i haven't been too upset with our non-moves, as most of the guys i wanted (e.g., dejounte murray) went for more than they should have and the teams that got them might wish they hadn't.

i could see us making another DFS type move at the deadline, though we only have one second to trade right now, which complicates that sort of move.

 

Okay so here’s your list. Tell Rob to figure it out.

Trade the farm for Herbert Jones.

Trade the farm for Kywan Lewis

trade for Robert Williams III

figure out Miles Bridges

go get Zaire William

go get GG Jackson


Or Two nuclear options to trade Reaves.

1. Gianiss

2. Jarren Jackson Jr.


You have to have athletes around these two because they can’t guard anybody. I said it.

You have one Thiero use him. You have Vando. Wanna sign Ben Simmons or bring in Killean Hayes. ??????

Wanna go get Jerami Grant?????

it’s hard to get these guys when everybody knows what you want.

sure Cleveland would love to trade you Deandre Hunter for Austin Reaves. See 3 -D solved. But you’re going to get Reamed doing it.

s*** yall talk about the Laker tax. f*** that!!!! It’s the Luka Tax!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

the most coveted role player archetype ironically hasn't required much in the way of assets--if you get them early! dort was undrafted. caruso was undrafted. keon ellis was undrafted. herb jones was a second rounder.

need to repeat that the second we trade reaves is the second we begin searching for an elite secondary offensive option, which are basically always expensive, and the only ones ever available are generally subpar defenders themselves (e.g., zach lavine, etc.).

 

I also think that this is a transition year. So I think the new ownership group will be patient in making moves. Particularly given the realities of the salary cap.

 

what sucks is that we have to try to shift out of the lebron era and into the luka era all at once. everyone wants to be the spurs and thunder right now, but lakers fans would not have tolerated the years of suckitude it took for them to stock those cupboards.

for the last six years, the spurs finished with 34 wins or less. the thunder only had to bottom out (22 wins) for two years, but they also sold off their aging stars to get a lot of their rebuilding pieces. we don't have that option with lebron.

the pistons were one of the worst teams in nba history recently and had to have five straight years maxing out at 23 (!) wins to get all of their young, effective support players.

had the luka trade not happened, we might have pursued those strategies, but we have to be more creative. which is better, as getting a luka is the hardest part. but it's still an uphill climb when you start with a roster not at all suited to your best player.

 

story of this team for the past 3 years.

 

lol painfully true. guessing it will be the same this year, too. i can see us rallying again late around some tweaks only to show up in the playoffs still looking at teams with basically zero weak links in their top 7-8 players.

 

Yeah, I think this transition is going to difficult without tanking since we have Luka. OKC/Spurs (and Rockets to a lesser extent) tanked to get young stars. I think even if we got a DFS2 at the trade deadline, still probably a first round crash out.

I don't know who would be available in FA with Lebron's money (should just let him walk to go play in CLE or whatever), but a significant portion of that is going to tied up paying Reaves. Ultimately with a new owner, I think we will have someone other than Rob making the choices next offseason.

 

I don't see how this team becomes a championship team either. We're not 1 or 2 pieces away, there is lots of tinkering to be done. We don't have one single reliable two-way player.

And if it already doesn't look good, it's going to look much worse in the playoffs.

I'd be open to trading anyone that doesn't fit the long-term plan, including Reaves.

 

houston got to trade harden instead of him just walking. that's what killed us with kobe's career ending, and it's our current problem with lebron--when he leaves, we're screwed in that you can't just get the value back in some way. is what it is. but...

reaves's cap hold (21m) is half what his annual salary will end up being. this is why we didn't offer lebron the player option and why i don't think we'll take on salary past this year unless it's for someone we think is better than we can acquire with space this summer.

i've laid out how we could use the space. basically can re-sign ayton to something reasonable (15-20 per), sign keon ellis, sign rui or a better-fitting player at that same 15-20 rate, use the room exception to nab a veteran role player (like gs with horford last year). i think we'd still have room under the apron to sign reaves to whatever his number will be. there are a lot of moving parts but we can essentially use what would amount to lebron's salary slot to bring in two rotation players in addition to keeping luka, ayton, reaves, vando, laravia, and thiero in place.

will those two players be as good as our best version of lebron? hell no. if they fit well, could they be better than the lebron we've seen this year so far? definitely. and in this scenario, we've used none of our future picks, so we can start trying to get serious about finding younger players to surround luka/reaves.

 

For me the elephant in the room needs to go. We started the season with a bunch of guys that loved playing together and were having fun. We had energy and chemistry. We had a team that could be coached. The problem is LeBron is not coachable and never has been. Until the past few seasons he was good enough to win despite that. From what I've seen over the years guys tolerated him bc they wanted a chance to win. He isn't that anymore, the negatives remain while the positives have dwindled significantly. He just sucks the life and energy out of his teammates. He has never been a good teammate and likely doesn't know how to be, he might somehow believe he is. We need to cut him regardless of the fallout. No trade clause, plus who in their right mind would want him? Some team going nowhere to fill seats? He isn't going to waive his clause for that. Time to pull out the scissors to save our season and future. This is all common sense stuff and nothing over the top. Our team was better without him and will be better without him.

 

lol, not going as far as all that. i don't think he's a bad guy or bad teammate. i do think that both him and the team knowing he likely won't be here next year is a huge problem that hangs over everything, though. i wish we could just trade him where he wants to go, but his giant salary and the current cba makes that REALLY difficult. so this year is kinda lost. we need to be laying the foundation for the post-lebron team. all moves made with that in mind.