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

Agreed, which is why I think we shouldn't just dumb down our search for the Center position here to a specific offensive archetype versus the overall better performer.

Rebounding, Free Throw shooting percentage and notably not just Rim Protection, but the regularly elusive statistic of Rim Deterrence are all insanely clutch margin-making differences that Krivas contributes to versus Missi that I just prefer. Krivas being able to make players less inclined to take shots outright because of his presence and size is such a difficult thing to qualify and it's worth its weight in gold IMO.

Plus, having a Center who is a reliable free throw shooter helps negate the old strategy of Hack-a-Shaq from other teams, but also is often a promising indicator of the Big's ability to eventually develop a 3 point shot and space the floor.

Again, Luka prefers lob catching bigs, but so much more of the game opens up for the Lakers by not just targeting that archetype. If we get a Center who can develop into a reliable enough lob threat for Luka to work with, but also brings more versatility to the table in terms of shot making and has the potential to develop into a floor spacer with time, I'm going to go that route every single time over just the basic lob threat.

 

Yeah, good point on rim-deterrence. I'm sure there is some kind of data for that. That is important, no question about it. I wonder what the data is on the two regarding that. In terms of free-throw percentage, I'm not too worried about that. We need the big to be a lob-threat, none of that stretch-5 nonsense (in our particular situation), unless we do something unorthodox, like get Giannis, or use Thiero as our Giannis, then a stretch 5 would probably help. But we will still have Lebron at the 4, hopefully. I don't know, we will see what happens. What do you think of Mitchell Robinson, if we don't draft a big? What other options?

 

really like it. his health concerns me, but when he's available, i really like his fit here. he's not the lob catcher some want (though he's not NOT a lob catcher), but he's a beast on the boards and the defense is consistently very, very good.



i really wonder how the knicks plan on keeping him. again, guessing they try to dump towns, but that might not be that easy.

 

Okay, I thought he was a lob-catcher for some reason. Better to go for a lob-catching rim-protector. I'm sure that's what Luka would prefer, it makes sense.

 

Being 2nd team all rookie isn’t anything special.

 

no, he is--he's just not as mobile and springy as most of the guys you think of as lob-catchers (like hayes or claxton or gafford). he's much stronger than all those guys, though.

 

LOL, come on man give me a break. I'm not saying the guy was MVP, he was what? 19 years old? What do you recommend, besides Giannis?

 

it's hard to get a read on him bc NO's a mess, imo. they're not sacramento, but you can see sacramento from there. his advanced numbers improved, but he saw the floor less last year. this is why i'd be willing to trade our first for him, but nothing more.

 

Luka needs screeners that are lob threats to help his offensive game open up. When he attacks the rim, if you send help, he has the option to throw it on up. When his step back 3 is falling, you can’t stop him scoring or assisting and offensively this combo is just tough to stop in the playoffs.

However the screener and lob threat doesnt need to be a big. DJJ was an excellent lob threat for him, as long as he has an outlet at the rim when he is doubled, that can be either from his PnR partner or someone cutting.

Like the rest of you, I’d like to develop players, but it hasn’t been the lakers way and until we see some tangible trend where we take that side of the game seriously - I’m just assuming we’re trading and singing together a team to compete with the occasional development piece.

 

I’m not trying to be snarky, there’s usually less than a handful of rookies that make a real impact on their team yearly. So calling someone 2nd team all rookie isn’t important.

Yves is a good athlete with a high motor. He is a good offensive rebounder because of this and has interesting defensive potential with his foot speed to stay with perimeter players while he has size and athleticism to protect the rim. He is a poor finisher and offensive player in general but should be able to use his athleticism as a rim runner.

At the moment he is a good backup, I’m not sure if he can develop into a good starter. He has only been playing basketball for like 5 years so his IQ isn’t smart and that’s why defensively the team is better with him off the floor. If he had a really good mentor to develop him defensively, Luka takes care of the offense.

 

Noted. Svtzr, who do yo recommend for that 5 spot? It's our most important need, imo.

 

Mane.....I don't know about pumping Luka full of something, being a good idea. Makes me wonder...has he been doing stuff like this in the past? Could that be contributing to reoccurring issues? IDK if the organization should be supporting that type of thing. Same with LeBron and the " Foot guru" thing.

On another note..is this Watson kid from Denver we want, cleared to play yet? Hamstrings are tricky injuries..if he's slowed or misses the playoffs. Will this situation bring his value down some? What if Keon Ellis looks mediocre in the playoffs..Will that ding his value any?

 

Ah yeah got it now, you were referring to the trade value of the pick, which is considerably higher before the pick conveys. Absolutely agree with that yeah and a very strong argument to trade it ahead of the draft

We shouldn't send a future first in that deal.
We go and propose Knecht + 2026 first for Missi. NOLA either accepts or negotiate same deal without Knecht. We can eat Missi's salary with cap space.
If we need to send any additional asset to dump Knecht we are better keeping him. Same with Vando. We need all the assets to go toward getting rotation players, we can't spend any just to dump a guy

I'm sure we can find deals out there where Knecht can be involved without requiring extra assets, even taking some additional salary. After AR re-signs and whatever FA(s) we get this year, pretty sure we don't have cap space for the foreseeable future, so any longer deal doesn't hurt us as much.

 

On Luka, pretty sure they won't risk anything that can jeopardize his career

He'll be entering his new contract extension and what is expected to be a minimum 3 year heavy title contention by this team.
There's 0,00000001% we can win a title this year vs maybe 10 to 20% after July. Everyone in the organization knows this, Luka knows this.

I imagine he will try to be ready and we will get the rumours circulating, it not only gives an added motivation boost to our team to try extend the playoff series and it puts added pressure in Houston to close the series with urgency.
But I'm pretty sure he will not play if there's any chance it can hurt is summer and next year's run

 

If the series is tied 1-1 Luka is playing game 3.

 

Most hopefully NOT. What for, to take the risk of wrecking him for next year with being injured this off season and losing all conditioning again …. just to get destroyed by OKC in the 2nd round?

 

yeah, don't like it at all. i wouldn't say this is all for show--i think luka definitely wants to play, and i actually think he thinks we could win it all this year. the front office can't say "hey, we're not going to win anyway, bro, shut it down", so they're fine with him seeking out the alternative treatment. also remember that some (a lot, actually?) of the friction with luka in dallas was about the team and his medical team being at odds.

i think maybe. and definitely on ellis. if he's bad in the playoffs, half the reason cleveland traded for him is gone, right? and cleveland's in a position to let him go because they dumped hunter's deal in that trade, which was sort of a magic trick, imo (and why i didn't like the idea of us trading for hunter). that said, it's hard to imagine a world where you can get ellis for less than mle money, even if he were terrible in the playoffs. there's too much data/scouting so far, imo. you could write it off as a fit/jitter issue or whatever.

one thing to keep in mind, though, is that while harden may take less than his PO, he won't take enough less that re-signing ellis won't put cleveland pretty far into the second apron. so they're someone to watch in the playoffs. if they get beat handily in one of the first two rounds, do you go into the second apron again for that team?

agree. i don't see why you dump knecht at all, really. he's set to make 4.2 million next year and is expiring (10/31 team option). nba vet min for experienced players is 3.6 per, and for rookies, it's 1.3 million. that three million isn't worth a first; it's not even really worth a second given the current rates for salary dumps. dumping vando is probably a "requires a 1st" situation just because he has that PO for the year after next and his salary is closer to mle. in our situation, i'd rather hold him and that pick as salary ballast for a bigger deal. like..imagine wiggins (or a wiggins type) comes available this summer--maybe you won't eat the whole contract into space, but you'll take him if they take vando, and maybe you throw a pick in there in exchange for some seconds like sk is wanting with knecht/missi. same concept, but the contract size and length changes the calculus for me.

 

Dumping Knecht and gaining the cap-room is not the only reason for trading the 1st. New Orleans might want more value than just the 24th pick (hopefully not). But, if so, dumping Knecht, gaining the cap room, and gaining the 2nd might help balance things out.