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

Final in Vegas Oklahoma -Milwaukee definitely sucked,but Clippers- Lakers still regular season game

 

Really liked what Ayton had to say.

says he wants to play hard for Laker nation. Says he wants to win a championship. Says only thing that matters is winning. Wants to help Luka and LeBron. Wants to reestablish himself in the league.

had a very extensive interview with Getter. Says he will play hard and wants to play hard. Says he picked the Lakers because they are the best organization in sports.

happy to have Luka on his side.

 

Stupid nincompoop...
A judge sentenced Ben McLemore to more than eight years in Oregon state prison Wednesday after the former NBA guard was found guilty of raping and sexually assaulting a 21-year-old woman at a Lake Oswego house party in 2021.

A Clackamas County Circuit Court jury found the 32-year-old McLemore, who hasn't played in the NBA since 2022, guilty last week on one charge of first-degree rape, one charge of first-degree unlawful sexual penetration and one count of second-degree sexual abuse. The jury didn't convict McLemore on an additional count of second-degree sexual abuse.

 

Jokic not getting 98 millions per.
Jokic has three years remaining on a five-year, $276 million contract extension he signed in summer 2022. The three-time MVP has a player option in the final year of the deal worth $62.8 million in 2027-28
Since he declined extension
By waiting until the 2026 offseason to work on an extension, the Nuggets star is able to add a fourth year at an additional $77 million
He’s going to extend based on the salary cap figures projected two years from now, not the current cap, which is 15–20% lower. Jokic’s new salary won’t become higher if he signs the contract later—it’s already tied to the future cap.



The only thing that changes is the allowed contract length: right now, he can extend only through 2030; a year from now — through 2031; and as a free agent in 2027 or 2028, he could sign a five-year max.

 

Supermax contracts are 35% of the cap. So regardless of the top line figure, in general they won’t go over 1/3rd of the cap.

I have a strong feeling that super max contracts are going to be very hard to build around. They effectively take out your ability to have a strong 4th or 5th starter, or have two strong bench players at the 7th and 8th position.

It’s underrated that Luka won’t have a super max for the next 2-3 years. Really helps us compete in the short term. Almost as much as Reaves being on such a small contract.

 

This, always

Lakers fan first and foremost

 

Still a lot of cash. I'd go for the 2nd option too. Thought it was 298M for 3. Shrug

https://www.spotrac.com/news/_/id/2899/jokic-pausing-with-nuggets-extension

 

Totally agree

 

The money is escalating quickly. I thought Steph bagging a shade under 60M next season was insane.. I don't blame them for getting paid though. Jeanie applied for a PPP loan during Covid, and just sold the team for 10 Billion.

Buyouts of big contracts might become SOP moving forward. Idk

 

It irked a lot of people and me why she applied for that ppp loan??? During Covid. I’m a small business owner and didn’t apply for a ppp loan. Let the people who actually need it apply for it. Seemed rich and just disgusting.

especially then. Like the Lakers one of the most valued franchises you’re applying for a loan.

You were spot on with that applys for PPP loan and sales team for 10 billion. That says it right there.

 

For me, as long as the salary cap keeps going up, and contracts are a percentage of that salary cap - I don’t really mind if they get paid 30, 60 or 90m on a max deal. At the end of the day, it’s all just a percentage of the profit split the NBA makes.

We just have to adjust our expectations of it. That’s why I think Rui will get a 20-25m contract if we resign him. Reaves will get 30-35m and Ayton could also get 25m if he balls out. That’s the new middle ground contracts that use to be 10-15m when Kobe was playing.

 

Yeah. I think we want to try our luck with buyouts. I’m not mad at that given that Melton is coming off injury too and we’ve got limited money to spend. I’m not ruling out a trade though. At least not yet.

 

Apparently Barrett might be available. I’d keep an eye on him as our wing target. Toronto has a ton of money tied up in Barnes/Ingram/Barrett/Quickley/Poeltl so expirings + a young player like Knecht might be exactly what they’re looking for.

 

He’s Duffy, too…

 

I don't really like Barrett much, I feel like he cares about his stats too much. Hasn't shown enough desire to do the gritty stuff. I'd love a SG/SF guy that can guard 1-3, I don't need 20 points, but I do need hard nosed defense.

 

I feel like he was better about that stuff when he was in NY. Since he’s been in Toronto I think he’s been more focused on offense, which I can’t blame him for too much since they’ve been a pretty unserious team for a while now.

He also expires in 2027.

 

Agreed. I think the same can be said of Grimes, except at NY, Grimes showed some stellar defence at times. Those guys were literally calling him the second coming of Jrue.

 

We already have Vanderbilt for that, now that he’s healthy, we should start him and bring Rui off the bench. That balances out the starting 5, and gives some scoring punch to the 2nd unit.