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

Fake gang banger Ja in LA. What could possibly go wrong?

 

had we not gotten luka, i think we'd be waging the elder war with the others, and i'd probably be fine with it. since we did, i'm not. let's look forward. we have a future hofer for what should be several prime years. the only other team in the west that can say that right now is okc (maybe denver if jokic resists the horses). maybe minnesota? and we're the only one located in los angeles.

we don't need to be scraping for the remnants of careers to get 5% better right now. we need to be looking for opportunities to bring in guys who can grow in the system.

 

Totally agree

I like the younger developing players with upside

 

And they have Scoot Henderson.

 

The key to this was Ayton. Luka 26 finding that Center to play with him. Shipping Davis out we lost so much our Center a controller of the paint. He could score. And we had nothing.

now we got that Center not Anthony Davis but Damn good 26 and can score can control the paint and get rebounds. The key is he’s just not going to be a non offensive Center he will make the other Centers work. and Jaxson Hayes didn’t do that. Other Centers didn’t pay attention to him because they knew he wasn’t going to score.

 

All important points

We now have a presence in the paint

We have to hope DA is motivated playing with his friend Luka

 

if the clips started cp3, harden, kawhi, batum, lopez the average age of their starting 5 would 36.4 years old. that's old

for comparison, the 01 jazz were one of the oldest teams in league history with old stockton and malone leading the way and that team's average age was 32.6

 

The Clippers are very old.

But if they all play they will be a problem.

at this point Kawaii and LeBron it’s just who can stay on the floor.

The Clippers will lean heavy on Derrick Jones Bogdanovic Collins. Use those younger legs to preserve the old guys. Beal gives them some of that scoring they lost in Paul George. I give them props having the balls to not give Paul George the max. Paul found a team stupid enough to pay him. Philly and Morrey.

We have to do the same thing. Lean on Hachimura Thiero LaRavia James Reaves. Luka Ayton.

those younger legs Knect to preserve LeBron for this playoff run it’s very important. Yall think im jiving. But having those guys play primary minutes against the Wizards and Hornets. I wouldn’t have Lebron playing in those games.

I’d save Lebron for Clippers Thunder Nuggets Warriors Rockets Twolves.

 

I was really impressed with Marcus Smart. What a dog. He says he’s motivated. Said Luka told him he wanted him to be here for what he’s cooking.

said guys have to be locked in. And says we can win a championship. Said sky’s the limit. said we can go as high as we want.

one things you guys didn’t mention Ayton!!!!!!! This guy is going to be huge motivating Ayton staying on his a**. Even Luka staying on him. This is gonna be the guy to light the fire.

Lebron ain’t doing that. He says it’s funny he could’ve been here 12 years ago. Lakers worked him out and now it comes full circle.

says he thinks we can beat anybody.

says injuries were tough but he’s ready to get after it. Says he wants to play tough defense. Says his job is just being a pest. Says he’s going to be himself.

 

Nice warm up for this season's DOOM when we are kicking butt. Very much appreciated Cookie.

 

I don't want to see him end up, with the Firecrackers one day either. We should always have a pipeline. The more the merrier IMO.

 

I find it interesting how the clippers became a retirement home, while we casually got a lot younger - we aren't really young, but we are a team entering our prime:

Starters
Luka - 26
Ayton - 26
Rui - 27
Reaves - 27

Bench Guys
LaRavia - 23
Knecht - 24
Hayes - 25
Vando - 26

Prospects
Adou - 21
Bronny - 20

Gabe at 29 is kind of in the middle of his prime and Smart at 31 is towards the back end of his prime (27-33), so it probably isn't fair to include those guys in the above. While only Kleber - 34 and Lebron - 40 are ageing out.

We could theoretically keep this team intact for the next 5-6 years and add 1-2 solid 20-25m pieces (Herb and Keon Ellis would be a dream duo) when Gabe, Kleber & Lebron leave. I think for the first time in a while, I'm optimistic about both our future and our present. Imagine in 2 years when Lebron retires:

Luka (28yo) / Bronny (22)
Reaves (29) / Ellis (27)
Herb (29) / LaRavia (25)
Rui (29) / Adou (23)
Ayton (28) / Hayes (27)

That's a championship contender with a strong 4 year window from Luka's 28-32 years.

 

After Smart's comments about the phone calls Luka received, I'd say we can safely say the Lakers are officially Doncic's team, no longer LeBron's.

I think this is the first time in LeBron's career that he's not the face of his franchise.
Perhaps in Miami he could have been put on the same level as Wade; at least from a salary standpoint, it was hard to say who was the top pick there.

I wonder if, at this point, Rich Paul's comments from a few weeks ago don't fit this context: are they the words of an agent who's seen his client sidelined?

 

Rich Paul works for LeBron and will always get out Lebrons message. Because if it wasn’t for LeBron Rich Paul would not be Rich Paul.

 

The crown has been passed

 

I like the part about motivating DA

So huge if Luka and Smart can unlock DA and get him focused to go all in

 

1 out of 2

You're getting better

 

Lol..The man is about to be 41 years old next season. The Lebron still wants to run stuff angle is a bit overblown IMO. I'm sure he wants to feel respected, but the face of the franchise? Nah

 

I really really like Goodwin, so it's a shame we had to cut him. But I like the decision because it's a big picture call and that's how you run a franchise.

Would be worse to make a desperate dump of any other guy just to keep Goodwin.

He was just in the wrong place/wrong time and was the fall guy.

Hopefully we can convince him to stay with our G-League team and sign him as soon as we have an opening.
I hope we continue to be active in the market and looking for opportunities to improve the roster and open roster spots while doing so. That Portland trade would be so perfect.

I think Goodwin can be the type of guy that can give you 10-15 solid minutes for years in a contending team

Also, yet another example of how giving an NBA contract to Bronny screwed us. So blame Bron before you blame Rob

 

In other news, the NBA really has to do something about these buyouts.

Dame, Beal, Smart, Ayton...the best FAs were buyouts and this changes completely the market dynamics. It's great for teams like us and the bigger markets, but doesn't make any sense from a sports perspective