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

Joined ClubLakers right after my dad died in November 2008. He was my best friend, and his death put a huge void in my life. I’ll never forget all the posts on CL when we traded for Pau Gasol. Such unspeakable joy brought me healing in an odd way. Till this day I’ve never laughed as much as the Kobe: White Hot thread on CL. Fun times!

 

i would have rater him in the Walker Kesler range in the 30s. I have seen Austin in the playoffs with Lebron. Here is the deal people are mad we did not run it back but Lebron/Austin failed in lopsided loses many times not just once. We added Luka instead of AD and still got waxed by Minny. excuses were Austin toe, no center. Luka out of shape. I think they would have been a little better last season but watching the rest of the playoffs i think highly unlikely to win it all. I think Lakers felt that way too thats why they blew it up and just committed to Luka/Austin/Walker and yield similar results less drama.

 

It's incredible how many fond memories of CL so many of us still hold, me included. A shame so many people left during the transition period, but this is still the best Lakers related place on the internet and I am extremely happy to be part of it, even if it's not as lively as the predecessor. This may be surprising to some folks, but the part I miss the most is the very active open duscission forum, we had soooo many great discussions there. Here it's basically a dead part of the site.

 

I was a prosportdaily guy then the site closed. A few of us moved to discord. Similar they were closed minded Lebron haters. The final straw was mad because i felt Lebron was going to lead Lakers past Houston.

 

Well Lebron/AD won back in 2020. We are closing in on 2027 so they were yesterday's news. Lebron/Austin made no noise so why stick with that as Lebron gets even older? Luka/Austin/Walker will have more potential. Even if they yield similar results to Lebron/Austin/Luka so no big deal. My guess is they will be around 6th to 4th seed.

 

I had the random thought that I wouldn’t be opposed to the Lakers signing Lonzo Ball to a vet minimum contract to come off the bench as a point of attack defender…. Considering we don’t have one. Nothing too crazy but can he play 15min per game in this position? It’s worth the risk to find out

 

I remember finding CL in 2003, but I can't remember how. Like, I know it was because I was trying to find Off-Season Rumors of who was coming to the team back then, but like...I swear it was more than that too. Anyways, joined and posted (got banned...over-excessive use of site emojis, got unbanned when I moved and rejoined) and then since about 2012 I just hang around here during the off-seasons and then disappear again. I remember eating, drinking, and sleeping CL, Lakersground, and RealGM back in the day...now I've mellowed out...........

I will say that things have DEFINITELY changed as far as expressions of things, but everyone's got the same passion as before, so it's all good.

 

Yeah. That seems to sum it up right.

on the plus side, Luka is really really really good and can carry a team. Austin is also a good player and was showing us next level ability before he got hurt. Kessler is another good piece and I think we will be happy with him if he can stay on the floor and turn around the injury history.

we currently lack defense though which has been our great weakness for several seasons. I think this group will be able to score a lot and could be entertaining to watch. We will be fine in the regular season absent long injuries.

Playoffs is again the worry.

 

This is a completely reasonable perspective but for whatever reason guys (or gals) sometimes exaggerate what is being said to make it seem overblown or unfairly harsh.

It is what it is.


I do think we will actually look okay and show flashes during the season and Luka gives us a punchers chance in any series.

But we don’t have a true 4, defensive wing, or a strong enough defense overall as of today to compete. Saying that out loud isn’t being unfair. Options to correct those things look limited but we all hope someone appears in the buyout market who can help with those issues.

 

Hopefully the teeth clinchers of yesterday are feeling better today and realizing what a great day it was for the Lakers. Going young with talented players and team chemistry vs just trying to keep one guy happy. This is going to be so much better.

 

You can’t compare Luka Austin to LeBron AD.

LeBron AD wrecked the league. LeBron AD we got AD in his prime and he was best player in the league. Do we have that now??? Literally best player in the league. He was a two way star. He was smoking Jokic. Watch the AD Jokic battle in the bubble. That s*** was hall of fame. Lebron was at the end of his prime but was still dominant. Lebron playing the number 2 role that he actually allowed AD to play. Saying AD this is your team.

I don’t care what anyone says. That team was fun to watch and one of the best Laker teams ever. We ran through Milwaukee and the Clippers on a weekend right before Covid.

it was put together perfectly.

Luka and Reaves is a different kind of team. More finesse more ball movement. More balance team. Two prolific scorers. But this would be more of a Curry Klay splash brothers. This team can win championships.

I keep pointing to team. If you build the right team with the right identity I can easily see this team winning a couple of championships. I’m looking forward to seeing how Luka is as the lead dog.

Guys like Thiero and Carr have to step up in those James Worthy Byron Scott roles. At the Lakers we have expectations and expect players to meet those.

For all the talk of yall in here. I want yall watching summer league. Because summer league is going to determine if we win a championship. I want to see and we’ll know it right away. What Thiero is doing and what Carr is doing. Are they making the plays that we need to see. I want to see Dalton even though I don’t expect him to play.

But if he does Dalton should look like Carmelo Anthony. I wanna see if he finds his shot.

I have a little coach in me. I still believe in players. If Dalton can find his shot find that joy. Then that can really save our bench play and bench scoring.

You gonna beat San Antonio or OKC it won’t come from 3 stars. It will come from balanced bench play. We’ve got to be a system be a team and a unit.

Kessler is gonna clean up alot of b******* but we need to make sure we got solid guys up front that don’t allow players to get to the second wall.

Kessler reminds me a little bit of Bynum before the Knee injury. Before that Memphis game. I remember teams just didn’t want to go inside. Players were scared cause Bynum was mean. He’d put a body on you and then just throw your s***. So I see that in Kessler. And then on the other end you saw Bynums offense coming to a solid 18-10. I can see that with Kessler.

my Shaq voice Kessler big fella. I wanna see Shaq like numbers. I want 20-10 from you.

When Kobe had Bynum he could be aggressive on defense because he was just funneling guys to Bynum I’m not sure whose role that is on this unit I’m guessing Carr. But guys are going to have to grow up real fast.

Carrs gonna have to be that guy. And Thiero it’s year two. Bronny will never be explosive but if we can get Anything that’s close to a Cason Wallace or poor man’s Cason Wallace that would be a bonus.

were aggressive. And with Luka no one’s settling. Rob was smart. The conference is loaded with Centers

Wemby Jokic Holmgren they all guard they all can space inside out. Kessler can defend we had to get it.

 

Our way forward is now nailing draft picks, 2-ways, exception FAs and vet mins. In the next 3 years we need to get 2 starters and 2 bench players through that.

For this year, developing Adou and Carr needs to be at the top of the list. They must see the floor every game they're available. I can't see any other way for this team to grow into a contender.
Even if we stop believing in any of them, we must play them to increase their capital and turn them into some sort of asset.

Next year we will have Vando, Sexton and LaRavia expirings, maybe we can get some useful wing through trade.

For the current roster, I'm expecting to sign 2/3 new guys at vet min. All should be playable guys. One of them may be a bit more expensive if we find a waive & stretch opportunity that is worth it.

I'd target wings only, a 3 and a 4, an additional 4 if Vando is stretched. There's a lot of interesting names, here's my rank:

Kuminga
Thybulle
Rui
Kenrich Williams
Ziaire Williams
Gary Trent Jr (he's more a guard but can play the 3 with Luka)
KCP if he gets bought out (same)
Agbaji

The above are guys I'm very confident can become at least top 7 guys, sliding down Jake. It would be awesome to get 2 of them.

Then the list gets worse and we get a few guys that are more for additional depth and backups instead of getting guaranteed playing time:
Olivier-Maxence Prosper
Tate
Kyle Anderson
Batum
Sochan
Yabusele
Nance Jr
Watford

 

If there's no buyouts then give me two out of this batch (no order): Matisse Thybulle, Rui, Jonathan Kuminga, Kenrich Williams, Bruce Brown Jr, Josh Okogie, GT Jr




How do you start there and get dogwalked down to that final package?

 

Tates intriguing. It can’t be Trent. You have so much guard play. It needs to be a 3-D or stretch 4. Kaminga or Rui simple as that. Stop playing. We bring one of those guys in we can talk championship. Because of the balance.

See Kesslers going to do things you won’t even see on stats. He’s gonna seal the middle. With his spacing. A Kaminga a Rui could feast. We should’ve been making those moves yesterday.

 

I like the take I'm seeing about the Lakers being rebuilt overnight. Pretty much true, with a little fine tuning to do. Great day to be a Laker.

 

Also Rob looked at players that perfectly suited Luka pick and roll. And Luka finds guys for Corner 3’s. So he got a top corner 3 guy. Grimes is one of the top guys for Corner 3’s. He hits those corner 3’s. Think Danny Green on steroids. Also Grimes can play off of Luka.

Hes got so many places to go with the ball. The Luka Kessler pick and roll is going to be special. If We get Kaminga that’s gonna add even more athletes to Luka’s and Kesslers pick and roll. more rollers. Alley oops.

I wanna see Thiero shooting 3’s in summer league. I really want to see if he’s been working on his 3 I’ll know it. Corner 3’s. If he figures that shot out we’re gonna be looking at another guy we gotta max.

I think Walter sees the prospect aspect with our guys from Baseball. We got two prospects in Carr and Thiero that do what we need. Let’s make sure we get them on the court with the guys.

 

Getting Carr and Thiero on the court to play through mistakes and learn with the players they will be playing with is a big key. Player development has been a weak spot for us for years. Time to fix it.

 

I know there were rumors the Nuggets want to salary dump either Cam Johnson or Christian Braun so they can re-sign Peyton Watson.

I think they should have no issue trading Johnson to a team with a traded player exception. Johnson is an expiring contract and can be a useful role player for a lot of teams.


However if the Nuggets want to salary dump Braun, who is signed until 2030, the Ayton/Knect/Lavaria expiring contracts can make that work.

Braun and Luka also share the same agent and we know little things like that can make an impact as well.


I mean, at this point we really should go all the way with the Snowtime Lakers lineup of Luka/Reaves/Braun/Mamu/Kessler

 

Brutal. But one thing I give them credit for. They traded a player like Brown and was not stalled on the only way we trade him is for a star.

Exactly. And all the same flaws that have been hanging around since 2020. Perimeter defense. Smart helped but was not the permanent answer.