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

So strange that as big as he is he doesn't get many rebounds

Out of place, lack of effort or something else?

 

With that pick being a young rim defender that can play defense and I can see it working

 

Lack of springs and not quite great lateral quickness. Vando suffers from the lack of springs too. If those two guys had maybe an extra 2-3 inches on the vertical...they'd be entirely different animals. Or Banshees

 

I'm greedy..I'm trying to keep Ayton. But if he gets a better deal somewhere, that Missi and a FRP trade works for me.

 

i've been wondering how many picks it would take to get missi and herb jones for vando and knecht. negligible impact on cap space/aprons, potentially big impact. NO may ask for everything we've got, though.

 

Maybe two?

 

I will say these last 2 performances have really got me thinking what would happen if at some point you did get off of Austin and just surrounded Luka with A++ role players. Maybe 1 being a fringe all star level player though.

 

Can't combine players in the S&T

 

Give me Herb, Messi + Bey while taking Vando + DK and I'm willing to give them two firsts and swap.

Herb = 1
Salary dump = 1
Messi + Bey = multiple 2nds (which is the swap that either won't convert or downgrades to 2nds)

That addresses our baseline needs and then whatever we go out and spend after that solidifies the team and we're operating from more of a position of power at that point.

 

This might actually be one of the lower hanging fruits. The Pelican might want a firs-round pick, and we might wan't to cash our pick in for players that Redick is more likely to use.

Missi obviously provides both rim-protection and lob-catching. His contract is only about 3.5 million. and next year will be his age 22 season.

Herb provides that "second" Marcus Smart archetype that I feel is the priority for this team, although his 3-pt shooting is not ideal. He has shot around 30% from 3 in two consecutive seasons, but he has recently brought his volume up to 6 attempts per game. He has also been dealing with injuries. I think between recovery from injury, playing with Luka, and a lot of practice, Herb could stabilize as a 35% 3-pt shooter, on about 6 attempts per game, which is all we would need him to do. We just need him to make 2+/6. Next year he makes only 14.9 million, but his extension kicks in the year after that, which is part of what maybe makes him expendable to New Orleans.

I would offer Vanderbilt, Knecht, #25, the 2031 1st, and the 2033 2nd and take it from there.

As of right now, Missi alone is probably worth #25 and the 2033 2nd.

It probably costs at least the 2031 1st just to get off of the combination of Vando and Knecht. And we absorb Jones in the process. It might cost a little more, but this is a good baseline offer. A lot of addition by subtraction in there, which is great. The trade arguably sets us up to be "too deep", which is arguably not a problem anymore in today's NBA, where players play about 65 games.

 

You can as longer as they aren't getting a max deal. We are a cap space team now..that apron restriction doesn't apply.

 

If you really want to maximize this roster for Luka you trade Reaves for two players.3-D wing and a ball handler. Unpopular for sure but truthful nonetheless

 

Like who do you have in mind?

 

Haven’t combed through the league yet but hey I’m open to suggestions.I’m really just pointing out a hard truth

 

I'm not... I've been very vocal on not re-signing LeBron earlier in the season when he was playing very lackluster at sharing the ball and effectively turned Reaves into a bystander. There are many posts of me on the LeBron thread stating as such. I said he had to play more like Draymond for the team to work or he should be removed from the team and traded... I was at that point, advocating to trade LeBron for Jimmy Butler because Butler would have no issues playing an off-ball role with fewer possessions and playing defense.

It all changed when LeBron came back from his injury and you could see he understood what had to be done because Luka+Reaves were winning without him.

I'm in complete agreement with you about him possibly being overpaid (if that's what will happen) but I don't see a combination of players worth $20 million, which I am expecting Bron to get paid, that will give you the same results or better.

There are already talks of Luke Kennard being worth $15 million right now and he is worth it based on how he's playing. Are we seriously suggesting LeBron isn't worth $5 million more than that? We all know he is so he isn't the problem here. We're seeing that right now how he's shouldering the huge load without Reaves and Luka. The Lakers should have zero chance at beating this Rockets team but LeBron has masterfully played into his role.

My point is simply, LeBron has become the Lakers 'Draymond Green'. And that's worth $20 million. It's on the Lakers coaching and front office to try and make it work with other players... and that includes the draft where they need to start picking guys off who are ready to contribute on the court so they can lock these younger role players into rookie contracts. Trying to scapegoat LeBron here as the reason is just ridiculous. He's doing everything the Lakers are asking him to do to help the team. Has he not?