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

Yeah, rfa needs to end. Extension rules have already largely taken care of what it was supposed to do for teams. Now it’s just hostage holding.

 

The Denver situation is exactly what the Lakers are trying to avoid. They need to hold a strict line on their offer for Kuminga.

 

Surprised Denver matched on Jones at 6m, he is a great player, check out these highlights:

https://www.reddit.com/r/denvernuggets/s/c5yhhVc84N

Thankfully they kept him from OKC who would have really improved on the wing with that move.

I do wonder what happens there next? Watson seems to be dangling in the wind at the moment for someone to pick him up. Or does Denver trade Braun or Cam Johnson?

 

still think there's a lot of smoke to them S&Ting watson for draft capital and no incoming salary. they could then trade braun or johnson for lower money longer-term salary to duck back under the apron, i think.

if they're going to keep watson, they basically have to unload the full contract of braun or johnson to get back to the second apron territory. and maybe they're not hemmed in by that, but everyone else pretty much has been...

 

We don't really need Kuminga. It's more of help us and let us help you type of short-term situation. We are probably offering around 3 years / 45 million with only the first year guarenteed, but Kuminga is proabably saying if you are going to do that I want at least the 24 mil or so i made last year. They could meet more in the middle.

Next Summer, there should be some cleaner wing options avaialble with the MLE. Cam Johnson, Miles Bridges, Bey, Hunter, Brooks, DJJ, etc.

 

my issue with FA these days is all the extensions. like, anyone who trades for any of these guys is going to want to retain them unless they suck. that team will have their bird rights and may even extend them prior to FA even opening.

almost nobody good hits UFA at all unless it's a weird situation. so you need to just trade for who you want, imo. especially if you only have the mle to offer.

like, cam johnson's incumbent team just has to offer a bit more than that, and it's over.

 

Okay, well apparently they are trying to keep that slot open. Even if we trade for Kuminga, we would proabably still be in position for the MLE. Not sure if the plan would be to sign him with it, would we have his bird rights?

 

Yes. Atlanta got them from GS.

 

yeah, i can't figure out those salary dips; they must have some very specific plan.

same with the fact that we have 16 players signed. offseason isn't done, and i don't think we're just going to like, cut knecht or pay someone to take him or something.

 

Like... say... Kuminga? Hehehe just messing with you, couldn't let the opportunity go by

 

This Kuminga saga reeks of Christian Wood a few years ago with the waiting game. He’s set himself up to be public enemy #1 unless he just absolutely kills it here.

 

Sounds like cucamonga agent is using the lakers as leverage

 

at this point it's pretty obvious that silver's goal here is to make this drag on long enough so people forget about it

 

That was the plan from the very beginning. You would have to be very naive to think otherwise.

 

Kuminga frustrates me in the same way Ayton did. If he plays his role, he is a perfect fit for us. DJJ was excellent next to Luka, Kuminga is better than him in every way - larger, stronger, faster, jumps higher, better shooter pre Luka etc.

If he just defended with aggression, rebounded hard for 30 mins and played within the offense, he’d be perfect with the tools and athleticism he has. We’d have a hard defending 18/8 starting PF. If we signed someone like Christie next year, our starting unit would have three plus defenders around Luka and Reaves and our bench would be potent with Sexton, Carr, Grimes, Adou, Ziaire and Mamu.

I just don’t believe Kuminga is going to come here and play a role, he’ll want the offensive touches and not the hustle duty.

 

These are my worries too. I don't explicitly trust him to play the right way. He wants what he wants and he ain't Kobe or MJ.

I can see a possible future where he works out too. But ......

 

i'm just not super worried about it. if we get him, i think it's a coup. if we don't, i hope that ziaire williams is ready to grab the bull by the horns like djj did in dallas.

my concern is that i don't understand the hardy trade or signing more players than we have spots for without a plan.

i don't think rob's that dumb, so i'm letting it play out.

 

OK I’m your very naive huckleberry.

 

I know this is the common sentiment, and sure Silver probably IS in Balmer’s pocket and would like to have this blow over.

But I also just assume this is much more complex from a legal standpoint than we can realize from the outside looking in.

There are probably real life legal ramifications beyond any NBA punishments. And then even within the NBA side of things I’m sure there are complexities being navigated between the Players Association vs ownership