2026-27 Team Developments: Trades / Free Agents / News / Rumors / Ideas

Idk what you're referring to.

Lakers could have signed Caruso as well as THT. They prioritized THT and didn't offer Caruso a deal because they didn't want to pay the luxury tax.

 

Luka must be thrilled...

 

That's your opinion of it. My opinion is the front office gets paid to make sure moves are made in the best interest of the team with a clear plan going forward.

It's obvious that the Lakers front office never had a plan going forward and every season was just a patch job to correct previous mistakes.

Again, don't really care about the DFS situation that much. It's just an example of how picks were just being given for few month rentals. Most of us assumed DFS would be retained for 2-3 years after the trade.

Rephrase your question: If we knew DFS would only be on the team for a few months, would we still approve of that trade? No. So how that does fall into our reaction on that post when most of us assumed DFS would be a part of the Lakers future years

 

disagree if it buys us 20-30m in space that can be used on said two-way wing (e.g., kuminga).

i think that roster is one luka would be happy to go to war with, tbh. shooters (reaves, grimes, mamu), secondary creators (reaves, grimes), guys who defend (kuminga, kessler), and a lob threat who's one of the league's best back line defenders. that's the formula. much better fit than this year. it's not all about talent.

edit: mitchell robinson still hasn't signed. i wonder if he's waiting on the kessler outcome. we could do a poor man's version of the above with him. not ideal, but not tear-worthy.

 

this is what I'm saying. I get people wanting to make changes in order to contend, but this is starting to look really rough. I don't see how the guys we're being linked with improve us.

2 possibly overpay contracts in Kessler and Reaves, and no assets left to get out of them or improve the team.

this a recipe for Luka to ask out if things go wrong and the new roster sucks.

 

It’s clear Walker Kessler is our number 1 option. We’ll just have to see how it plays out.

 

running it back and having everyone age out on you was probably more dangerous in this regard.

 

you are overestimating guys like Grimes or Kuminga, and underestimating the psychological side. This last roster performed better than expected in the playoffs. It's probably not enough to beat SA or OKC but we'd be in the mix. If we get a whole new roster and they suck, it's a very bad look for the franchise and front office. Kind of what we did in the 2020/2021 off-season and it backfired really hard. Rob will surely get fired, but with no assets left, there's a good chance of Luka asking out.

 

I am not watching a lot of Toronto games and don't care about stats.
But in series vs Cleveland that I watched a little,he made exactly 2 3 points shots and I don't remember him attempting them

 

have to disagree there, as explained above.

just ask yourself, what are the odds of next year's roster having a better chance of contending at this point? I'd say very slim.

 

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/articles/lakers-reportedly-anticipated-obtain-two-025940919.html

 

How are you going to do that when Lakers put Austin over Lebron? Lebron was not happy in La anymore. dont get caught up in one month. Once Lebron got that taste in the Playoffs that was going to pop back up as an issue.

 

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/articles/marc-stein-walker-kessler-lakers-033507092.html

 

the easiest path to contending next year was selling Lebron on the idea of staying at a reduced rate and that we'd make the necessary moves to be competitive. Apparently that wasn't even attempted.

 

yeah, i think part of where i differ from folks is that i put zero stock in the houston series. i view it as a weird one-off. if we played a full year with that team, we miss the playoffs. if we play a non-dysfunctional opponent, we lose the series. i just don't believe in it. it was fun, but it wasn't real.

 

One key component in winning a ring is sacrifice. Lakers did not show a willingness to do that. Lebron was not happy how is that better?

 

My prediction is we choose not to sign Kessler to an offer sheet because Utah would match, so we fill out the roster with:
Mitchell Robinson, Kuminga, John Collins, De’Anthony Melton, Grimes, Sandro, Gary Trent Jr, re-sign Hayes

Our lineup on opening night would be:

Luka/Melton/Bronny
Reaves/Grimes/Trent
Kuminga/Laravia/Theiro
Collins/Sandro/Vando
Ayton/Robinson/Hayes

Knect gets waived.

All on one year deals or so with the false hope that we will have cap space in the summer of 2027 to potentially sign Jokic.

…. did I mention I also think Pelinka gets fired by the trade deadline?