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

I had concerns offering +$30M to a guy who just broke out last year and played only 54 games, but...what? His 3 point shooting numbers the past 3 years went from 29 -> 35 -> 41%, averaging almost 4 attempts per game last year. He's progressed every year and shot a great % on a reasonable amount of attempts last year.

There's absolutely no comparison to Ben Simmons.

 

Honestly, this is the time of the year when this site sees the most doom and gloom. I tend to ignore it all. Nothing you can do but bide your time. Things are changing and only time will tell. Everyone thinks they are a genius and can do everything and anything better than Rob. OKAY, whatever. I still hope that Rob has one more card up his sleave.

 

That would freaking suck for me personally …. losing a glass half full wingman.

 

If he will sign with Lakers he's 3 points shots is going back to 20 % UCLA stats lol

 

No, I know....and because I don't LIVE on these forums much anymore, as much as I did for the CL Days, it's hard to remember that sometimes.

I just also feel like it is funny that everything is SO dire. You know how actually excited and curious I am right now? I am not thinking THE WORLD, but like.....when has the team felt this new and young last? When has it felt like things are changing like they haven't in a long time? Will it work, I hope so....same as you're saying. Am I guaranteeing it? Never. Just funny that people want to say "Well this is the end of us......." so much.

 

How did this thread turn into us vs. the Wizards lol. They could be decent, I'm hoping AD has a bounce-back season and plays well with Trae. But we're pretty clearly better IMO and the East is now lowkey pretty tough. Pistons, C Bags, Knicks, Cavs (maybe with LeBron), Raptors (now with Kawhi), Sixers (now with Brown), Heat (now with Giannis), all should be good. The doesn't even mention the Magic or the Hawks, who made the playoffs last year, or Indiana coming back. A play-in appearance would be a perfectly fine outcome for the Wizards but a relative disaster for us.

After the Spurs and Thunder, the West isn't looking all that daunting. Nuggets we'll see, they'll still be good but tapped out as an actual contender. Wolves we'll see, I appreciate the boldness of the LaMelo trade. But I think it may take another year to re-orient around the Ant/LaMelo pairing. Rockets who knows, I don't think 32 year old FVV coming off an ACL solves everything like they apparently do. Jazz should be good, but more of a solid 6/7-ish seed unless or until Peterson really pops. Blazers, Suns, Warriors, Clippers, those are 45 win teams at best.

 

Don't worry, I only make bets I know I won't lose.

 

Ric Bucher claims that Rich Paul and LeBron James are struggling with a new reality: "LeBron simply isn't valued the way he once was"

I agree. For people thinking Rob drop the ball read to much headlines and not events that took place. Everyone can tell Lakers were done with Lebron AD years ago and was just riding them out Until Luka fell in. There was a very slight chance Lebron would have been back. All signs were pointed to a break up which it should.

 

Okay what the actual f***??? I had no idea he was that bad on defense the way you point that out. I thought he was like this incredible goalie who could cover the floor and guard the point guard and then guard the Center. You’re calling him slow??? This is very concerning. I don’t like this. Why would they trade 4 picks for him and give him 134 million if he was that bad??? Sounds like you just described jursif Nurik. Really I thought this guy was like all nba level Gobert. How come you don’t like him? And why has everybody been obsessed about him on this board for the last 4 years. I just wanna know cause everybody talk Kessler Kessler. So I’m trying to warm up to it. And see it. Seems like this was our guy and target.

 

at the end of the day, it doesn't matter if people think we'll be good or won't be good, no one in the Lakers organization reads the forum as far as we know, so our opinions won't have the slightest influence.

the negativity annoys you? It also annoys me that people flip flop on their opinions all the time, and ditch all logic to defend Rob's moves. It annoys me you imply you think you're better fans because you're bullish about our chances in the season. It is what is.

We're all here just to vent. As long as people don't start with personal attacks, I think everyone is entitled to their opinion.

 

i want you to imagine that maybe, just maybe...slick is wrong and everyone else who watches basketball is right.

 

maybe not, tbh. kuminga is option 1 for me, but i could easily imagine a world in which we're outbid for kuminga and end up with williams or spencer jones and are actually quite glad it played out that way.

 

I think Cam Carr is getting a raw deal and people forget about him.

Cam Carr is our 3-D he’s gonna play a big role in what we do with Kessler and Luka. He can penetrate get to the basket. Is athletic. And can shoot the 3. He’s long.

personally I see what the Lakers are doing. Having LeBron Smart and Kennard would’ve just stopped the development of these young guys.

so basically Rob and Walters knew these guys have to get on the court and play. Development is playing.

slick you’re right absolutely right. I think 6 seed to 3rd seed is right. It might be uncomfortable because we might not win a championship. But with Luka you have to be going for championships.

Walker Kessler was Luka’s guys. And I’m pretty sure when they went down that list of Centers including Ayton Luka said that’s the guy he wanted. So we gotta see how he reacts. And what happens. The free throw thing is concerning. We might have baby Gobert.

But I think for one season the team collectively said we have to develop young guys Carr and Adou Thiero.

with LeBron James that wasn’t happening. This will allow these players to play develop and contribute to Luka.

that’s the only way I make sense of it. Kaminga will contribute to the youth movement also. And play and develop here. This will be one of the top young teams in the nba on par with San Antonio and Oklahoma City. The Lakers were smart to do this now. Better a year too early than a year too late.

I think they looked at LeBron and said we won our championship with AD that was our window and now we have to embrace the Luka era.

 

What flip flopping are you speaking of? Pretty sure those you have disagreed with have been fairly consistent, or sometimes new information becomes available and the reasonable thing to do is adjust your perspective based on said info.

What logic are we ditching to defend Rob? There were people calling free agency a failure and calling for Rob's head 4 hours into free agency. Or suggesting the FO had no plan, only to see a slew of moves in a 35 minute period once the S&T for Kessler was agreed to.

Really feels like the pot calling the kettle black here.

 

I mean, it would be rad if they read these forums, but yeah....we know.

Also, I am trying to be real like everyone else with their opinions...I guess I don't know what others are seeing that I am not but also....the irony is that we are mad about this team from when Reaves signed, and I guess it keeps getting worse? I am just not sure how or where and why Looney was the straw that broke the camel's back in this situation. For those unhappy, you were unhappy about 2-3 weeks ago at this rate......

Also also, I won't attack anyone, and I really give the space to let people stay true to hating things...I don't want to silence people's opinions so......

Lastly, if I have defended Pelinka's decisions then that is my own folly. I do NOT believe he did a great off-season of moves, but we kind of figured this would back fire on him and everything else. I believe with everyone else, that at some point...unless things go AMAZINGLY well, that he's out of here at some point this season. Maybe that was a waste of so much cap? But again, there's plenty of modern people that aren't stuck to the traditions of "We are the Lakers of LA" that can come in and readjust and fix everything. I can't imagine them picking someone worse at this rate.

So yeah, what I have said since the Off-Season started, I hope has been consistent, but maybe that is up to the eyes of the beholder so......

 

Yes, I don't want anyone banning themselves, it is too much fun to remind them of their foolishness. Face your public humiliation as an adult...lol.

 

I don't really want to dwell on this too much. At the end of the day, we just disagree. I think this team is probably going to struggle. You seem more optimistic. That's fine. I don't see why different opinions should be treated like some kind of problem.

Honestly, if everyone here just had the same exact view on every move, what would even be the point of the forum?

As far as flip-flopping, the LeBron situation alone is a pretty obvious example. Plenty of people went from “retaining him at a lower number should be the priority” to “good, we’re better off without him” pretty quickly. I’m not going to dig through old posts to call people out by name, because that’s not really the point, but let’s not pretend that hasn’t happened.

And on Rob, my issue isn’t that every single move is terrible in isolation. It’s that the overall roster construction is obviously very flawed. We’re sitting here trying to talk ourselves into backup-level players as starters, 4 year deals with player options as great moves, young guys as immediate rotation answers, and a team around Luka that still lacks the kind of two-way wing talent you usually need to seriously compete.

Maybe there’s another move coming. Maybe Kessler looks great next to Luka. Maybe some of the young guys pop. I hope that happens. But I don’t think it’s unreasonable to look at the roster right now and say the front office has not clearly built a contender yet.

That doesn’t mean I hate the team, or that I am a worse fan.

 

the whole thing is dumb because we're obviously not finished with the offseason moves. like, the kessler deal still isn't even official, much less whatever else we're trying to do.

we're not counting on backups to be starters...because we don't know what the full roster is yet.

also, we spent the last couple years playing at least two backups as starters almost all the time!

 

I see Williams potentially being what we wanted from Vando - a good defender with a solid enough offense that he can be kept on the floor. I like Kuminga, but I’m growing more worried about him being ok in a third /fourth wheel role.