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

Ayton, Lebron and understandable Van was the most unhappy with roles. Ayton was not going to be satisfied with a bench role.

 

No.

 

Rob gets a C so far this season for me. The only way I would give him an A is:
- IF had made the Sando/Grimes contracts 2 years + team option for year 3
- Gave Grimes half of what he actually got on a per year avearge ($6mil x 3 years)
- Re-signed Smart instead of Sexton for the same deal
- Re-signed Hayes for the minimum
- Uses the 2nds we just received to package to salary dump Knect+Hardy combo and uses the money saved to sign either Kuminga/Rui back

 

Spencer Jones is better than Kuminga.

Kuminga wants to be Kobe but is OJ Mayo.

Spencer Jones wants to be a Shane Battier.

 

Rob Lost points for Austin, Walker contracts Plus Van, Dalton still on the team. Lebron had to go gain points, Ayton was going to be unhappy after Walker signing but much cheaper than Walker neutral. Smart is a mix bag. Defensive difference maker but older and injury prone plus gets in the way of younger guys. Got away with a low risk high reward season but keep moving. previous 3 years played less than 30 games neutral. No back up center and PF so incomplete. C+ as of today with a potential of an B+

 

I feel like if we really wanted Kuminga shouldn’t we have just forked the money we had for either Sexton/Grimes for him?

One could argue it’s a bigger need for a wing like him than more 1-2 guards.

like Ayton and most recently Jaylen brown, the idea of the player is better than what he is. Certainly there are times where he does what you dream of in a wing, but he gets addicted into jacking mid range shots and so many brain dead plays.

There’s a high chance he ends up in JJ and Luka’s dog house for his Kobe iso ways and not listening since he didn’t listen to Kerr.

 

I'd get a reserve C for the vet min, try to get a solid wing via trade for Vando or Knecht + the two 2nds we have, sign Rui for whatever we have left.

 

Pelinka does these things. Trades for Luka we don’t have a Center. We get a Center we don’t have LeBron we don’t have a wing. We need to fix That.

it’s incomplete. Now this team is a 7 seed. M

you have to balance out the roster. Now we gotta do two backup Center and Wing.

Who’s guarding AJ Debanysta?

who’s guarding Kevin Durant?

who’s guarding Jalen Williams? I wanna know.

Thieros still a kid. I remember Bynum guarding Shaq and playing like that against him. He can get his feet wet. But you need a vet in front of him. So Pelinka needs to sign either Kaminga or Hachimura. Then I can see a championship team. We need the depth.

Kaminga/Carr/Thiero see??? That’s athletic wings.


Even if you had Hachimura


Luka Grimes/Hardy/Sexton/Reaves/Carr


Knect
Balance

Kessler /Mamu

the team is balanced and has a little bit of everything. Athleticism shooting rim protection ball handling bench.

you gotta be able to have the athletes Thiero Kaminga Carr look at thier jumping. LaRavia.

to support the non athletes Luka Reaves Grimes falls into both.

Kessler cleans up so much and is a true center. He’s not Gasol but Bynum pre knee injury. Protects the paint and can finish at the rim and athletic. With limited post moves but figuring it out.

We’re not OKC but we’re close. Just in terms of depth. See everything in OKC supports Shai


Everything here supports Luka. And I’m in the minority. We’ve fixed our depth. Once we sign Kaminga or Hachimura. Cause now you’re throwing different looks at coaches.

And Rich Paul is this LeBron or is it Rich Paul with his beef with the Lakers rich explaining what teams has a shot at LeBron making this the decision part II for a guy who really isn’t that sought after. It’s sad and the king shouldn’t be going out like this. My boy is the biggest Lebron fan and even he thinks Rich Paul is trolling us.

Rich Paul Barbara Streisand. For yall old cats yall know what I’m talking about. Like hey look over here I’m hot I just got my hair done. Like what the f*** it’s LeBron.

Hey LeBron fire Rich and come back. This team gives you the best shot to win anyway.

 

We aren’t a Kuminga or Rui away from competing. And that’s fine…

We need a good starting 3&4 to give the defense and size we need on this team. We either get some internal development or trade for a player in a year or two.

It is what it is

 

No one's mentioning the elephant in the room --- both Rui and Lebron are still free agents, and we are the only team that can execute a S&T. Specifically Lebron, we still retain his full bird rights.

 

It's weird that Lebron still hasn't signed.
It's also weird that the Lakers haven't signed a wing.
Despite what Lebron said (happiness over money) it's clear that he wants to get paid $30M+. (otherwise he would have signed already)
I can't imagine him wanting to play anywhere else but Golden State, if we wants to be happy. Curry + Lebron is a match made in heaven. He also gets to play golf with Curry and stay relatively close to his family.
I suspect he is waiting for Porzingis' contract to get fully guaranteed on July 7th.

So here it is... Lakers sign-and-trade Lebron to the Warriors, with the Pelicans as the 3rd team.

Lakers sign Lebron to $30M+ and trade him to the Warriors
Warriors send out Porzingis to the Pelicans, Moody to the Lakers, receive Lebron
Pelicans send out Herb Jones to the Lakers
Lakers receive Herb Jones and Moses Moody

Why the Warriors would do it --- Pairing Lebron with Curry. While it hurts to lose Moody, his injury makes him expendable to maximize Curry's final championship timeline.
Why the Pelicans would do it --- They have been looking for a rim-protecting big man who can shoot out to the perimeter (ie Porzingis) opening up driving lanes for Zion. They also fix their logjam of wings.
Why the Lakers would do it --- need I explain?

We could also include Vando in the deal, to theoretically maximize Lebron's salary up to $38.1M.

 

He may indeed just sit back and wait awhile for the dust to settle everywhere and then figure where he most wants to ring chase. Your theory about using us, and we him though, could may be correct?

 

If LeBron is ring chasing just go to the Spurs. That’s his closest shot to a championship.

I don’t see a championship in Cleveland. Who’s guarding between Harden Mitchell and LeBron???

at least with the Spurs you have Harper Castle and Wemby. So you can protect him. You ain’t protecting him on the Cavs.

Philly is intriguing but Embiid ain’t dependable.

the clippers makes sense stay in L.A. you play for your coach Lue again. You don’t have to have a long term deal so the Clippers like it. And they can prop him out there for a farewell tour. Kawhi is gone. His Klutch brethren Garland is there.


And Denver he can ring chase.

most likely the Warriors but we’ll still run them off the court. Draymond sucks he’s trash now.


Luka finally has his team. Shooters. Rollers. Put up or shut up. No more I need.

it’s gonna be funny when we finally find out what happened this season it’s going to be how much LeBron hated being here.

if yall ever saw Boogie Nights. Lebron was Dirk Diggler when he got on drugs and was being replaced. Jeanie Buss was Juliane Moore.

and Luka was the new guy. Just watch it and it will make sense.

 

He mentioned that his priority is happiness, and at his age, it has to be a multitude of factors. I'm sure another ring and money would be nice, but those are secondary, if we are to take him literally. The Warriors are the obvious choice. As for playing with Curry, here's a quote from just a couple of months ago... ""Steph Curry is the one that I wanna play with for sure, in today's game... I love everything about that guy." And off the court he has access to the coastal resorts for his newfound hobby of golf. As a bonus he gets to be relatively close to his family. I just don't see how other places can provide that sort of "happiness."

 

So strange that they aren't team options

What was Rob thinking?

Or was it panic, poor planning or something else?

 

Let’s talk about this. California classic.

I want to say something. And I want to share something with yall. This is the thing that I look at asap. Summer league is good. But I know right away. I watched Hood Schefino and I knew after the first game that he wasn’t an NBA player and that he wouldn’t be playing for us. And that his jump shot was broken.

I knew Jamie Jacques was a stud and it was glaring. That sad part of that was we saw how bad the Lakers got it.

I could tell Bronny wasn’t that much offensively but you could see his hard effort. And Dalton


Now tonight shame on yall not talking about this kid. Cameron Carr shined he had 19 points you could tell yeah Lakers got a good one. Hard effort and good skilled shooter and scorer.

Thiero is what he is. Hes not gong to be a Reggie Miler. Just a junk player. A little bit of everything. And that’s what I saw 8 points 4 rebounds 2 Steals. Just balance. I was impressed. He’s going to be an everything. All around player. He’ll fill up the stat sheet.

But that’s summer league you figure stuff out and see. Now that Ludenberg for the Warriors he looks nice. That jump shot looks wet. And smooth.

 

only thing i can figure is that he just thinks it's not that big of a deal--he treats them as if they're just the full length of the contract and feels he hasn't been burned by it yet. has he? i guess malik monk, but people in his situation don't do it without the PO for anyone. maybe he he thinks it's part of his brand and gets people to the table. my issue is that you should win other parts of the negotiation, though. like, we're paying market value for mamu/grimes/sexton, but the POs aren't what the rest of the market did.

i don't know.


re: tada's plan: it's not cap legal.

yes, we can S&T both lebron and rui before we execute all of our other moves, but we can't bring back any salary in those trades (unless our FA signings somehow get folded into a massive multi-team S&T (which has happened a couple times recently, but not at the scale this would take). the simpler premise is that we operated below the cap, and if there's a situation where someone will give us a pick or picks back for a bron or rui S&T, we'll do it. problem is that if they're signing into a full mle, there's no incentive for S&T unless the team wants to retain bird rights (only matters if you plan on signing or keeping the player long-term), so that limits you to teams using trade exceptions to absorb the money, and the only big TEs left are boston and memphis, i think?

anyway, moody/herb for lebron is not possible.