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

gotta admit i'm now thoroughly confused on the opening day of FA.

-we signed none of our guys (that we were unsure we were re-signing) during the pre-agency bonanza and have agreed to no trades.
-we're supposedly meeting with both kessler and duren (who are each meeting with at least one other team that's not theirs).
-meanwhile, the FAs we're tied to most frequently by the rumor mill are mamu and dean wade. to me, the last part is simplest to follow--both guys are room mle-level players (wade may go for slightly more, but my guess is that's what we're offering), and both guys are basically rui replacements.

so it's clear we're operating under the cap, and that smart and rui are in the wind. that leaves lebron (who may have already agreed to gs's mle) and kennard and a pretty bare FA market. the RFAs aren't coming here unless via trade. so what are the meetings for? are they just a show so silver can pretend the FA period is a real thing? or are kessler and duren really choosing between contracts? wouldn't they all have to just be the max to even get the ball rolling?

even if we were to somehow manage to pull that off, we've lost our most reliable guard from last year.

long story short, i'm missing something rather large, i think.

what the hell is portland doing, btw? they now have morant, lillard, holiday, and henderson all essentially playing the same spot (yes, holiday can play the 2, but you have sharpe there, too).

anyway, i expect to be quite surprised by the end of the day. not sure in a positive way, but surprised.

 

Guys, we already signed the most exciting player in College Basketball. We HAVE our backup center. Or maybe third string if we can pull off a Gafford trade.

 

btw, the blazers not being expected to retain williams is interesting. i just thought they'd give him a two-year deal at just over the mle to keep him off the market.

assuming we've got 51m to spend, you could spend like 16 on williams, 25 on lebron, 10 on mamu, and 10 (room mle) on smart (who i guess is gone) or kennard or keon ellis. obviously not plan A, lol, but probably not as bad as it seems.

 

At this stage, there are like 2 billion scenarios that are possible with new options appearing every day. Hope Rob has an entire department tracking all of this. Too big of an offseason to blow chunks or come up empty.

 

lol, i assume you're joking, but every time i watch clips of this guy i'm still in disbelief. not that he could have success in college, but that anyone would imagine this translating. maybe i'm just being shallow/stupid/stereotypical, but those drives just aren't happening against nba size and athleticism. and on the other end...yikes.

 

I'm terrified on the defense side of things lol, but not being able to dunk in game at 6'10" is kind of hilarious.

That being said, I will absolutely be tuning in to Summer league just to watch this cat.

 

I don’t think Avila is an NBA player, but he could do alright in SL. High IQ and good passer, so it probably has more to do with putting the other young guys in position to succeed instead of asking Adou and Carr to create offense.

 

What about Ben Simmons on a minimum make good contract? Length. Defense. Don't need his offense. Can make layups. Might be the right fit.

 

everybody except OKC.

 

All star South Bay Laker.

 

Honestly I don’t want to do an overpay to Duran or Kessler. I can’t do it.

Next year’s class might be Jokic. And you’d be kicking yourself that you didn’t have a shot to sign him with Luka.

we gotta make sure from Luka that we can sign him or it might be 1 year deals for everybody.

im fine just going with Robert Williams Deandre Ayton and Jaxson Hayes. That’s more than enough.

for all the Kessler stuff he’s 14 and 10 that’s worth 35 million a year??? Think about it.

Deandre Ayton is 12 and 8 for 8 million a year for 1 season when you’re going to make a run at Jokic. Basketball wise it doesn’t make sense. And Mark Walters the Dodgers Andrew Friedman they crunch numbers. Logically this isn’t a smart basketball move. Essentially it’s paying Hunter Goodman 200 million Dollars when you pay Ohtani 700 million dollars cause he’s a sure superstar.

Mark Walters wants the superstar whale that’s why he bought the Lakers. You buy the Lakers for Kareem Magic Kobe Shaq Luka Jokic. I can’t see Mark Walters not wanting a seat at the table.

and honestly I can see this as a hold up. As I stated the Lakers aren’t trading any of those picks. Or giving away any of that money until they know what’s up with Jokic.

and I can see Rob saying we want to preserve our money for 2027. Luka’s on board with the same page. Doesn’t mean you’re not competitive it just means you’re smart.

so we go Ayton Williams Hayes Lebron Hachimura Kennard Williams or instead of Williams Miklova whatever his name is.

and you round it out with young guys Zaire Williams Marvin Bagley. That’s a much better smarter plan. And if you’re a real Laker fan. And a real knowledgeable Laker fan you know that’s a better smarter plan.

you’re younger and quicker and more explosive on the wings.

Ayton Williams Hayes

Lebron Bagley Hachimura

Zaire Williams Cameron Carr Adou Thiero

Luke Kennard Austin Reaves Bronny James Knect

Luka Doncic Austin Reaves Bronny James Keon Ellis.

I like that team with an opportunity to sign Jokic in the next free agent cycle.

 

Free agency officially starts when? Like, not the just "we can sign people" but even the "We can talk to people".

I know they are talking to people tonight, but WHEN is set time for tonight?

 

i know you're on this, kobenluka, but i really don't think jokic is in play. he has repeatedly said he wants to stay in denver. he's already got a ring and mvps. i just don't think he's motivated by the same things others are.

further, if jokic were coming here, the most likely path would be via trade or s&t, as just signing him as a FA is difficult with luka and reaves on the books at their numbers next year. reaves would have to be outgoing in some form or fashion to make it happen, imo, so you might as well just build a competitive team without worrying about jokic. now, if you truly believe he could become available, it's a reason not to spend your firsts, but i don't know if it's a reason to maintain the level of cap flexibility that we did for this year. that was all about reaves's hold being so low relative to his market value. we won't have that situation again.

 

3pm pacific time today.

 

One thing you know Mark Walters Rob and Luka are on board with this plan.

and I don’t think LeBron leaves. Today you’ll see LeBron Lakers agree to 1 yr. Deal 25 million with a player option for year two.

the Smart stuff and the money left over will leave money for Lebron.

 

What if no one is offering any of the 4 RFA’s the max? And what if their teams are actually reluctant to do so…

Super strange FA start.

I’m expecting some strange things happening across the league.

 

I mean, if the "LIST" now is Duran, Kessler, Williams III, and Robinson for us....sign 2 of them and then re-sign everyone else as best as possible and sign some vets too and call it a day.

I feel like just 2 of those 4 with Ayton back on board is fine. I imagine Hayes comes back. Anyone know how to play Forward? Because like IF we could get 2 of them, Hayes on the floor with one and Ayton on the floor with the other might be nice. I feel like between Rui and Smart, I would be okay losing one, but it would suck......

Not sure what little vet minimum options are out there to be had, but there's gotta be SOME people that would do it. Or if we have an MLE somewhere, shoot for someone with that.

 

Spending 40 million on a guy who’ll be lucky to get 8 shots a game just doesn’t make sense to me.