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

Clips got waxed last night by Cleveland

124-91

 

Busy Bulls

 

Fair call. He injured his thumb in October and had surgery so he’ll be back soon.

Thybulle is an elite defender when healthy, and only 28 with two seasons of effectively no play, so he is a young 28. He’s also been above 36% from 3 since he was 24.

He’s a better shooting Vando.

 

They all hate Mark Walter.

 

this has been repeated a lot the past couple of days, but...there was no way to capitalize on this with two other maxes on the books during the entirety and zero picks to move during basically the entirety of reaves's contract. just be glad we conjured an allstar out of thin air. we wouldn't have the assets to trade for reaves had we not done so. we probably wouldn't have been able to sign him this summer.

the only trades available have been jerami grant type trades! all of them. we've been right not to do them, and we're right not to do one now.

i've been spamming since we got him in the g-league that he needs a contract. one of our two-ways should have already been cut for him, at least. can't stress enough what doomed him his first two years was poor shooting, and he seems to have basically turned that into a strength. so frustrating watching us trot gabe out there.

and there's the first trade that annoys me. of course, dalton's salary doesn't get us there. you'd have to add bronny, whom we're not allowed to trade. so it, too, was not possible.


finally, regarding the "they hate rob" stuff, it's probably true in some cases. i also agree that it's mostly a laker tax, but there probably is a rob tax here and there. like, the okc/philly trade was literally two guys doing each other a solid bc they have a good relationship, imo.

this is why i've been hoping we could add another guy to the FO who had relationships around the league.

but teams will still work against us because we're the lakers. that's just how it is. especially after we got luka.

anyway, the giannis trade not happening probably doomed our chances to get anything interesting done. but at least it didn't kill us as much as it killed gs.

 

Front office desperately needs a “good cop” schmoozer type with some charm and a deep Rolodex.

 

lol, was posting that while you did. i just don't think you can hire those midseason. i bet we hire one after the playoffs to go alongside rob or in place of him.

 

Right. It’s part of why I’m okay with us not doing anything right now. I think if you get a guy like that to either take the wheels or work with Rob then we can get things done with cap space and our picks.

 

i think the irony is that everyone wants to fire rob while at the same time basically daring him to make a big mistake today. job #1 right now is don't screw it up. look at how many of these moves the past couple days are teams trying to dig out from stuff they did (and everyone loved) just a few months ago.

my biggest concern with our team/FO right now, truly, is who's running all of our scouting operations. we've gone for space this summer (i'm on board) and we have a draft pick. we have to nail all that stuff. is anyone at the wheel? i'm told walter gets the best people--since the busses are gone, who is watching all the tape on college, international, and nba players we might be looking to add? who's finding us 4 laravias this summer?

 

Another problem with not having a real front office is you're limiting your relationship tree.

The GS - Hawks trade happened because Saleh came from GS, so there's that relationship. None of our 4 front office people are qualified to hold a position elsewhere.

Then people who have been elsewhere (Wests) or are qualified to at some point (Buss bros), those relationships are burned to the ground. Making them an enemy and not a friend.

 

I mean, allegedly, we have a shot at Giannis this offseason when more picks become available. I feel like that means we lose Reeves, which is fine but also still a bummer, but the after a Luke/Giannis team up (with LeBron? Maybe? Doesn’t fully matter), who else do you try and team up with them through Free Agency and what not?

 

i'm 100% on board with this. whether it's firing rob or supplementing, it's clear we need to beef up the operation.

my optimism says that jeanie finagling bonuses for the rambii and tim harris means they're out. but who's in and when will they be in?

i'm not sure we have a great shot at giannis. first, i don't see reaves agreeing to that s&t. so then you have to do it without him, which would require giannis telling the bucks and everyone else that his plan is to sign here...a full year later. we've gotten burned in two situations sharing different aspects of this gambit (PG and kawhi), so i feel like we should stay out of it.

i'm still on the 4-5 laravias summer plan (this is now sung to the tune of the wallflowers' 3 marlenas). i know this excites nobody, but i think luka's succeeded with less.

 

yeah, i suppose we could at least get the one-year honeymoon period before we fail to win a championship and everyone decides the new guy is the worst general manager in the history of sports.

 

Coward. I hate you and what you're doing to the league for the next 4 months.


Indy is in pursuit. IF they do this, do you try to then dump Kawhi in the 4th Q of today?



Cleveland rolling out the red carpet



What's with all the guards? Are you trying to lure Darvin Ham to come over and coach?

 

Trade deadline is at 2 am here, should I just sleep?

 

kings out here losing at home to the remnants of the grizzlies on the heels of their very smart trade.

 

we'll be lucky to see a dump or consolidation trade, tbh. i do think there will be one more surprise somewhere, though. you figure morant has to move, right?

 

The allegedly part is based on the hearsay that I am seeing online. Not one I confidently trust, but still……

 

Right. I have asked the same thing and I think it came across as a shot at the front office, but it's a real question. Who is running our scouting? It's very important particularly with figuring out exactly who fits with Luka and Reaves for the next 2 to 4 seasons.