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

Gianiss is needed because of the bad defense of Luka and Reaves. We need that guy to come in and cover all of that.

the perimeter defense. A force at the rim.

 

Anthony Edwards best player in the league????? No!

I go.

1. Wembyana

2. Jokic

3. Luka

4. Edwards

5. Shai

 

Kyrie would be a nice fit here with Luka. Kyrie get loud get disruptive.

get to L.A. !!!!!

 

I don't think a lob threat is as important, as you do. I'm not convinced the Luka/AR taking turns going 1 on1 strategy, is the best look either. I'm not stuck on style of play right now, there is more than one way to get it done.

I don't know the Kings financial situation, but talking a S&T with Rui and something, I'd be interested in picking him up.

 

Rich Paul is a racist slap stick like Lebron. Rich Paul banging a white lady allows him even more immunity. Or he's just a f***ing moron which is what I know he is. AE over Jokic?! Seriously?

 

I'm going to continue to pray and try to manifest that we somehow manage to build up a starting lineup this summer that looks something along the lines of

• Luka Doncic
• Austin Reaves
• Herb Jones
• Peyton Watson
• Isaiah Hartenstein

Getting the math to work would be tricky and IDK exactly what the bench would look like, but this is the general direction I really think the team needs to build towards. The winning philosophy here for the Lakers in building a championship winning roster around Luka is to emulate the 2020 Lakers and the 2024 Mavericks. Size, athleticism, defense and shooting. Surround Luka and Austin with quality role players at the wing and at the rim.

That to me is a far more complete and competitive starting lineup than Luka, AR, Giannis and then the remaining two starting slots and the rest of the bench being made up by five dollars and a dream. And I'm being charitable here in saying that we somehow get Giannis and keep Austin.

 

same. and i don't think you even need a hartenstein-level (or priced) big. and people will keep telling me that the 2024 mavericks were a fluke, and i'll keep insisting they are wrong. that was clear proof of concept.

 

Yeah if we pull that off would be amazing. But that's absolutely the direction we have to go for and progress towards having those kind of profiles in our team during the summer

As for this year, assuming we are a top 6 team. We aren't favourites against OKC and Spurs. Denver, Minny and Houston are more tight, I think we can beat those teams on a 7 game series with this group, but it's for sure a tough series, just trust our clutch play

We are 24-0 when ahead at the Q3. That's huge. I think we only lost one in the clutch. That matters in postseason
Then OKC and Spurs are young powerhouses. Can we lean on our experience to beat them? Thing is we need to beat both to make the Finals and that's a stretch for me.
So winning a playoff series would be a good season for me this year

 

I heave seriously no idea how to assess this team's chances in the playoffs. As of now, I could easily see them lose in the first round again, but there seems to be so much untapped potential. If they could just stay relatively healthy, build some chemistry and improve the shooting, who knows how far this team could go?

As of now I expect them to win one PO series and then go home, but looking forward to this last stretch of the RS.

 

Nope. Hope this is not what they are waiting for. Big 3 and nobody else doesnt work anymore.

 

yeah, i think i said it the other day--it would be nice to get to at least see this year's theory actually tested. we have almost no data points 50 games in.

 

Reaves would be considered a Big in a Big 3? Hmmm. More like a 2. Unless you pay him the max, than your jacked.

 

Giannis is a great player, no question about that. My concerns with that scenario (If Reaves is not traded).

(1) You end up having to try and get a stretch-5 some where. Similar situation when we had AD. Free-agent market is weak. Players like Vucavic, Olynek, and Collins are the UFA stretch-5s. C Bags likely use bird-rights to sign Vuc. Having Olynek or Collins in our starting line-up is not ideal.

(2) Severely weakens our depth. His 58 million dollar contract makes it hard to fill out the rest of the roster, especially if some of those roster spots are going to his brothers. This severely weakens our depth.

(3) High usage rate. Try and see if he could fit with two other high usage players? It might work, or it might not work. I hate to use this as a comp, because Giannis is so much better and well-rounded, but in terms of usage, Westbrook caused this exact same problem with Lebron and AD.

(4) Spacing issues. We gutted our roster and flexibility at this point, and Giannis needs shooters around him. Might be harder to obtain.

If Reaves is the focal point of the deal, then Lakers might be able to ad more of the pieces that they would need at that point. For example, Bucks could include Turner or Portis in the deal. But we don't know if he would agree to a sign-and-trade. And/or including Reaves allows us to keep at least one first, so we shop that pick for pieces that fit. A lot of moving parts though.

In regard to Giannis, Lakers would be better off brokering a multi-team deal.

For example, get some combination of:

-McDaniels/Gobert

-Anunoby/Robinson (sign and trade)/ McBride

-Bridges/Hart

Wolves and Knicks each only have their 26 and 33 first-round picks to trade, and have players who don't fit a rebuild timeline, so we could help with cap-room and picks.

Miami has three tradable picks, and players that Milwaukee might want, so that option is less likely.

With that said, I still like the Missi/Herb/Watson plan better then those Wolves and Knicks trades. Younger, and more efficient use of salaries. But again, these all could be potential options, which are great to have.

 

I completely agree with all of your points here.

If we have to be involved in the inevitable Giannis trade at all, the smartest move for the Lakers isn't to be the ones receiving Giannis himself, but instead the various other players involved too. Guys like Jaden McDaniels, OG Anunoby, Mikal Bridges or Josh Hart all fit the bill to various degrees for the athletic 3&D wings we need to be stockpiling moving forward.

We probably don't need a Hartenstein-level big, no, but I think it'd probably be better to have him than not have him. Besides there aren't exactly a whole lot of centers out there in the league these days who fit the Lakers' exact needs right now who are true starter caliber players and can protect the rim really well.

 

He does make 28 million though, and OKC wouldn't want any salaries in return. At that point, we would have only about 17-18 million to get a wing and/or POA. So Hartenstein not the best fit both in terms of salary and style of play.

 

In one of the podcastu they said 11, and Austin and Luka left one of thise early each. We've also had a LOT of injuries to other rotation players and the squad doesn't have a lot of experience together as is. Far from perfect.

 

Exactly. Not that I have some huge hopes for this current router, but it would be nice to at least get a glimpse of what this offense could look like if optimized properly.

 

Yeah, we might find out that Reaves is not proper fit with Luka, you never know. But assuming they do fit, we have a ton of potentt off season options.

Giannis
Watson/Herb/Missi
Watson/Herb/Dort
Murphey/Herb
Murphey/Ellis
Dort/IHeart
McDaniels/Gobert
Anunoby/Robinson
Bridges/Hart
Kessler/Herb
Eason/Herb/Missi
Allen/Ellis
Harris/Grimes