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

WLM!!!!

 

You tell 'em.

--Caitlyn Clark (Probably)

 

another one we've known forever. if they're ever healthy, they'll be an absolute bear to deal with. but i think okc is pure cryptonite for them, so they'd have to pray for injuries for them and (miraculous) health for their side.

again, if we'd signed beal, lopez, and cp3, we'd be a laughing stock--and i like all three players!

 

that roster is just far too old for them to be seen as title contenders

 

Oh he just got pissy no fight because Pau tapped top of his head.

 

Good post. I'd give the summer a B or B+ myself. I like Ayton and think the impact he could have on our offense is underrated. With a healthier Luka and a legit roll-man that can punish some switches, I think we could have a Top 5 offense on our hands. I like the Smart acquisition too and think the MWP comparison is a good one. Stein is saying today that Smart is re-dedicating himself to conditioning, which he let slip a bit after the C Bags shipped him out. I get that. He was there before Tatum or Brown and was the heart and soul of those earlier C Bags teams. It sucks to be the guy shipped out right before the team gets over the top. Not going to pretend like a know a lot about Laravia, but he seems like a solid young player that, compared to Dalton, may be less explosive but is better equipped to play within a system/winning environment right now.

The only thing keeping me below an A level is the inability to turn Gabe/Kleber/Dalton/2031 FRP into another starting caliber/fringe starting caliber player as of yet. I know the response from some will be "well what move was out there that they could have made", but that's a strawman. Obviously I am not privy to conversations between front office personnel and know which moves are on the table and which are not. The folks making that argument also don't know if there are moves that could have helped the team that were passed on. The part that frustrates me a bit is that for a few years now this front office has let perfect be the enemy of the good and has no confidence in it's ability to pivot. They wait and wait hoping a great trade comes along at the expense of intermediate moves that can help now. They declare openly that they're prioritizing "flexibility" when they have a 26 year old Luka Doncic, LeBron James still playing very well and another Top 40-50ish guy in Reaves. Look at the Clippers, in contrast. I thought they were stuck like 3 years ago, but they manage to bring in guys like Harden, Powell and Collins for just about nothing. They make the uncomfortable decision to let PG walk, but because of it they've been able to bring in Dunn/Batum/DJJ/Lopez/Collins/Beal. I don't think they're winning the title, and we may very well be a better team than them this year, but I admire their willingness to actually try s*** and then pivot if it doesn't work out. That's a front office that is confident in its overall vision for the team and doesn't let media/fan perception color their decision making.

 

I agree Denver is in a higher tier than us, but even with their additions I think we're a bad matchup for them. With Ayton, we're set up to P&R Jokic to death. I also love Smart as the guy taking on Murray and navigating their two-man game with Jokic. He brings an element of physical toughness to that matchup that we haven't had. I've also said in the past that the Luka/LeBron combo might be the kryptonite to OKC's defense. Houston worries me, though. They're just so big and athletic now. You just have to hope their halfcourt offense is shaky enough that we can win a battle of attrition.

 

i don't think this is a straw man at all. we can only work with observable facts, and the facts aren't showing anyone moving for what we had to offer that would have done much.

again, this all rests on the idea that there were upgrades to be had at the price you named. and again, that's not a strawman--a strawman is when you make an argument for the other side that is easy to take down.

this argument is one the other side is making that is not at all easy to take down. i find if fascinating that we can admit that we don't know what conversations are had but then confidently conclude that the wrong ones were/weren't had or whatever.

this is why i limit myself to what actually occurred. which players were traded and for what. looking at that, there wasn't a move to be made.

and if the clippers switched jerseys with us, our fans would be ABSOLUTELY IRATE at their current state, imo (despite it being fine). can you imagine if rob had traded the league mvp and 7 first rounders for a guy they let walk in FA after 4 injury-plagued years? holy s***.

 

That is truth!! Horrible optics there!! Who made that call over there?

 

Jerry West partially I’m sure heavy with the consulting in their Clipper ears. He’s responsible I bet for them drafting SGA in the first place though. But they wanted Snake BAD and we never will hear about the under the table dirty deeds promised as well. Eff em all!

 

A strawman is an argument that misrepresents the other side's argument to make it easier to knock down. My argument is being misrepresented when you point to players that were actually traded and asking which ones we could have gotten for the price Gabe/Kleber/Dalton/FRP price. My actual argument is that I don't think we're making offers at that price. I think the front office has decided to tie one arm behind its back and say we're not interested in acquiring long term money for the sake of "flexibility". I think they want to have their cake and eat it too by saying they'd move all of that for the right trade, but then undermine that by drastically limiting the scope of what constitutes the right trade. I said yesterday - when the only contracts you really have to trade are expiring, it makes no sense to say we're unwilling to take back long-term money. Teams only want expirings to get off long term money. I think they take an entire category of players, guys on longer term deals that for whatever reason aren't working out in their current situation, completely out of the equation because (1) they want to preserve "flexibility" and (2) they have no confidence in their ability to pivot. They have no confidence in their ability to bring in someone on a longer-term contract and then move him again if it doesn't work out.

I think my interpretation is a reasonable one because it's the same thing they did the last couple of LeBron/AD years. Didn't want to make a trade at the 2024 deadline that could help the team because on 2024 draft night they'd have three picks to trade on draft night (spoiler, they didn't make a trade and selected Dalton, who now is worth less than his draft slot). Probably could have outbid the Mavs for Washington or Gafford, btw. Unwilling to commit long-term to Kyrie in the 2022 offseason, partly because of him being weird but also in part because they were losing faith in a LeBron/AD core. You could say these were all the right decisions in hindsight, and I might even agree. But that's not the point; the point is that this front office has become extremely risk averse and establishes self-defeating criteria.

I think teambuilding has become so difficult these days with the new CBA and fit mattering more than ever that you need to elevate your risk profile to win at the highest level. I've said before that Rui/Dalton/FRP for Wiggins doesn't work for me. But say it came out tomorrow that Miami relented a bit and offered Wiggins for Gabe/Kleber/Dalton/FRP, maybe a swap. I feel like this front office, based on prior behavior, would still say no because Wiggins is 30 and not enough of a needle mover to justify trading Dalton and FRP. After all, that FRP could be one of three we're eligible to trade on 2026 draft night (spoiler, nothing is going to happen on 2026 draft night). That would be a huge mistake to me. Speaking of Wiggins, when the Warriors traded for him in 2020 he was a disappointing former 1st overall pick on the 2nd year of a 5 year max. They traded DLo for Wiggins on that contract + picks because they had a vision of how Wiggins could look in their system. I don't think our front office would ever make a trade like that. They'd say they needed to be patient and keep the ammo dry for the right trade, then probably never make one.

 

Kyrie Irving isn’t in L.A. because of Jeanie Buss.

Your post was great. The Lakers refused to give him a long term deal and could’ve kept him. I think they should’ve.

that team would’ve won a championship.

We got Luka. But I’ll stick with that and Kyrie LeBron and AD win and win easily. Nobody is dealing with a Kyrie AD pick and roll with LeBron coming wide open for layups and dunks.

ADs defense we win. And you have Reaves.

here are facts!!!!!!! Brooklyn did not want to trade with us and refused to trade with us.

they thought we were tampering with Kyrie with Lebron when they were posting all that stuff.

that’s why Brooklyn said F u and traded him to Dallas NBA Siberia thought Kyrie would be nuts going to Dallas but he liked it.

Ironically he enjoyed playing with Luka.

after the Jewish comments nobody wanted to touch Kyrie. And thought he was crazy. Basically he would ruin your franchise. And there was a narrative don’t give him a max.

And Jeanie was front and center. How can we bring that guy in sign him to a long term deal with our fanbase???

And it was such a lowball like well we’ll sign him for cheap and let him prove himself.

probably one of the last good things Cuban did for the mavericks.

 

I’ve been saying the same two things that Pete has all summer.

 

100% this

Preach it @Cookie

Lol, we need to remember this line

Classic for sure

 

Irwin noted GP2 switched agents to Bill Duffy the Luka whisperer. Wonder if they're a shot for the Lakers there to get a vet min surprise signing.

 

The Paul George thing is the same situation as DFS. Had they re-signed or signed and traded George, they would have been an apron team. They wouldn't have had the partial MLE to give to Beal, a TPE to absorb Collins, the partial MLE for Lopez, the MLE for DJJ last summer, the BAE for Batum or the sign and trade for Dunn. So no, I would not be rioting if our front office had done this. I would be happy with it, just as we are in reality because we let DFS walk for nothing.

 

Well yeah no s***, but that has no relevance to the decision on whether to let him walk. Which is what I'm talking about. No one thinks trading all that for PG was a good trade in hindsight. But it happened and most think it was defensible at the time. Letting that color your decision on whether to let him leave in free agency 5 years later would just be chasing a sunk cost. Letting him walk was unequivocally the right decision.