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

yeah, we all know that, and it's well deserved, but to what extent?

Max, $35 million, etc? idk, nobody else does either. There's been a few supporters in the minority that have put him at $35 million. He might even take a little less so we can add an FA wing if one becomes available Just depends.

 

He could have been fully healthy and shot like sh** and you'd still be making excuses for him.

And I really don't care about rust personally. It's the PO's Do or die. Every game matters. Time to get his injured a** out there and perform. Excuses are out the window with me.

 

Silver lining of this fall back to earth is that recency bias won't impact our summer plans.
I think we could overrate this unsustainable performance from this team and the chatter about bringing the team back was high around here and among Laker fans.
I was against it and I think it shows. We gotta get younger, stronger and faster. We need the best 2/3 defenders in the market, via trade/FA or draft. And from any position, we need to buckle up our defense, that will unlock the offense together with 2 top players at creating shots

 

It's going to be an eventful but tough summer to pull off. It's still hard for me to see a scenario where we're a legitimate contender in the 2027 playoffs (which should be the goal, when you have 28 year old Luka and Austin) without LeBron on the team, but it's also getting hard for me to envision him ever making it through multiple playoff rounds playing at the level we'd need him to.

 

No, we could pull it off with Lebron on the team. When he goes back to that off-ball role. With Luka, Reaves, and Lebron as starter, we need to make sure that we have a rim-protector at the 5 and a 3 and D player at the other perimeter spot. Although, it would be nice if he shot better from 3, Smart is much closer to a 3 and D player than Ayton is a rim-protector. So, it leaves the 5 as the weakest link. If we are unable to obtain a rim-protector, then we need to stack as many 3 and D's as possible.

 

Knicks 75 Atl 25 - the Knicks are going to be title winners based on that point differential lol
Don't think I've ever seen anything like that score

 

Never seen such a blow out in the playoffs

 

this is what i was saying pre-playoffs when people got mad at me. the only way it makes sense for lebron to stay on is at a huge discount in a tertiary role. houston's daring him to take sengun off the dribble, and he can't. that's ok. he's 41. but this "less than X amount is an insult" stuff never made sense to me. we've got holes to fill around him and luka/reaves. someone has to sacrifice.

was posting about this in the nba forum--i didn't think it was real when i first saw the score. wow.

 

yeah but i probably upset the ayton fans by saying that. hard to balance and make all the player fans happy.

 

Our team is good, really good. We’re probably a 60 win team on a healthy year. But we don’t have enough to get by OKC or Spurs and I think when it comes to the playoffs, we’ll struggle against a healthy Minnesota too.

We probably need 2 two way players to compete. Bringing in a Dosunmu and Watson instantly catapults us into the upper echelon.

The issue is, if we bring in players, we’re going to lose some of ours; LeBron (still playing at top 20 level), Rui (has been very good in the playoffs), Smart (game changing defensive playmaker) or Kennard (a real luxury offensive player)

Tough times in LA

 

+51 from the Knicks made NBA history

the top 5 playoff wins


+58 | Denver Nuggets - New Orleans Hornets | 121:63 | 2009
+58 | Minneapolis Lakers - St. Louis Hawks | 133:75 | 1956

+56 | Los Angeles Lakers - Golden State Warriors | 126:70 | 1973

+54 | Chicago Bulls - Milwaukee Bucks | 120:66 | 2015

+50 | Milwaukee Bucks - San Francisco Warriors | 136:86 | 1971

 

Philly needs to win in Boston from down 3-1 lol a gargantuan task but maybe Playoff P might make an appearance

 

f*** Boston. I don’t know why so many of you think they’re coming out of the East. I’ve been saying since the beginning, you can’t trade Jrue, Horford and KP and replace them with spare parts off the shelf and expect results.

Them playing hard during the regular season is a great compliment to them. But in the playoffs they’re going to be outed. If it’s not by Philly, it’ll be by the Knicks, Magic or Cleveland.

 

I been there. JJ was the one that caused them to get injured in meaningless games on heavy minutes. Luka gunning for MVP and Austin to get paid. An old school coach like POP and Austin is a 6th man. Phil Jackson would of had Luka playing more team ball.

 

been a great first round - NBA needs to fix the flopping and tanking issues but damn their is a lot of talent in this league right now

sixers pushing celtrics to the brink, lakers leftovers fighitng a young rockets who look better with durant, twolves fighining injuries vs Denver which looks liek trash without Gordon, portland was fun for a bit

gordon maybe the most underrated part of a big 3 in NBA history

 

Gordon is just as important as Murray to the Nuggets. Watson is also their 4th best player. Those two guys are so key to their defense and rim protection. They’re just a completely different team with those guys healthy.

 

True but my point is these are teams with little playoff success. Do i think he is worth 40mil? no i do think around 27 -30mil. We have guys getting paid max but not true max players. So i would rather cash in than pay them that much. Lets say you build Around Austin and Markannen top tier team in the West?

 

Minnesota is a tough team. They’re playing Conley, McDaniels, Reid, Randle and Gobert. That’s just so much size 2-5 and everyone can protect the rim. If they only had Antman healthy, they’d be a force in the playoffs.

You mix in Ayo and DDV and they were set for a big run.

DVV / Dosunmu
Antman / Dosunmu
McDaniels
Randle / Reid
Gobert / Reid

 

I would trade Reaves for McDaniels straight up.