2024-25 Team Developments: Trades / Free Agents / News / Rumors / Ideas

the Lakers are usually favorite to land everyone when it comes to odds

 

“Reeves” …. again

https://www.google.com/search?q=Bryant+Reeves&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-us&client=safari#ebo=0

They’re split up now but both Mom and Pops were college ballers.

https://www.google.com/search?q=Austin+Reaves+Mom+and+Dad&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-us&client=safari

 

Both from Arkansas and both play basketball. In fact, both played some basketball at Oklahoma. So I dont think its outlandish to ask the question.

 

i laughed three separate times here.

thoughts on NO's players: i'm actually a little concerned about all of them.

murphy is, on paper, a bigger, younger mikal bridges. but has he been that yet? his defense took a nose dive into VERY bad territory this past year. was that just a bad situation? he's interestingly never graded out statistically as good as he looks to the eye. i might stay away from this one, tbh.

jones is also kind of trending in the wrong direction. he's likely way more expensive than thybulle--is he really much better in that role? his d is great; his offense--despite the uptick in the threeball over time (small sample size last year excepted) hasn't come around.

murray tore his achilles, and his game is heavily predicated on athleticism. VERY concerned here.

missi is young. super raw. will he catch up in time? if NO thinks so, why would they move him? it's not out of the realm of possibility that he's koloko, imo.

so hard to judge their players with all the injuries and upheaval, but i'm wary of dealing with them.

perfect fit, imo. reaves to bench as ginobili--same minutes, even more on-ball time. NAW as glue guy perimeter defender. add a back line guy with verticality/mobility, and opponents are doomed. the trick is...making this happen financially. particularly with a lebron opt-in. you'd have to let DFS just walk.

tbh...i'm not against it. i like DFS, but he's clearly on the downslide. if he wasn't luka's pal (and he is), i'd advocate for this (essentially DFS for NAW trade).

if rob was a true snake, he'd sweet talk DFS into signing the tmple with a PO, sign NAW with the mle, and make DFS whole next year using his renewed bird rights (i think i'm right on the cap rules here).

then the expirings and knecht and picks could all go toward the center spot.

 

Bryant Reaves. That is a bad a** basketball name if I ever saw one.

 

I'm trying my best with the recent Raves misspelling debacle haha.

Trey's defense is ok, but it's shown flashes. He is athletic and if we got improvement out of Rui, I feel like in a better situation we could galvanise Trey into an above average wing defender, but an elite shooter. That's valuable.

Basil Jones is a better defender than Thybulle, he can do the POA or wing thing from 1-4. I'd also argue he is better shooting wise than Thybulle. Last year wasn't such a small sample size, he hit 40% on 3.6 attempts over 76 games. I'd argue this season is the small sample size, he only had 20 games and graded at 30.6% - but his shoulder was giving him problems all season, they tried to rest him for all of November before they made the decision in early January just to shut him down for the season and get it fixed. So the verdict is still out on whether he added a 3 shot or whether it was a fluke season. Either way he is an ELITE defender.

Murray, Zion - I stay away from. Missi, I don't know that I have much of an opinion on right now. But we need a lob threat, so why not expand the Rooves trade?

As for DFS, I want him to resign for 10m per for 3 years. He's a really valuable piece as a 7th or 8th guy now. He can defend well and hits some shots. Plus the whole Fat Luka connection.

 

…. and coincidentally his dad’s name Bryan Reaves vs Bryant Reeves.

 

Dang, that's unfortunate about Murray. Yeah, that contract with that injury is negative value. That is a tough contract to swallow. If we could also send them Vando in the process, then maybe we could work something out? Something like AR + Vando + Rui for Murray + Jones, or something like that?

 

more lulz.

i was referring to herb's bad shooting last year with the small sample size comment, so i agree there--jury's out on whether he can shoot or not. we've had such bad luck there, though. i'd almost rather get a guy i'm not expecting to shoot well and be pleasantly surprised.

anyway, now that griffin's fired, dealing with NO seems possible to me. and they should be sellers, imo.

i'm not sure what it would take for me to eat murray's contract, tbh. again, torn achilles on a guy whose game is about being a great athlete. even if he came back 100%--which is doubtful--he's likely to miss most or all of next year. and he's under contract for two more after that at about 30 per.

so replace AR with kleber in your proposed deal, and even then i'm like....probably not.

that murray injury was just really bad news for them. even worse than the kyrie injury for dallas, which really blew up their whole deal, too, imo. at least they got the flagg consolation prize. NO is in trouble.

 

Dang I didn't know that. Murray is definitely a no-go then.

 

In one of the Locked on Lakers podcast episodes this week, AK suggested a mock trade where we were basically sending everything, including AR, for Claxton, Jabari Smith and Dillon Brooks.

Basically, it gives us a 7-man rotation with Luka, Brooks, Bron, Jabari, Claxton with DFS and Goodwin off the bench. We would then have the TPMLE and vet mins to round out the roster.

I love AR, but just like in the Trey/Herb trade, we just get a roster that makes sense when we trade him. I'm more and more getting convinced that the best route is indeed trading him. Not for anyone but basically a fair trade for Reaves solves 1 or 2 gaps in the team and sets a foundation for the next years

 

This is where I’m at too. Fit is more important than ever. This idea that Reaves should only be traded for an All-Star is outdated. It’s not 2007 anymore, talent no longer trumps everything.

 

Only lineup with Brooks that I support is a prison one.

 

I get where the Lakers are coming from, but you also make a good point. From the Lakers perspective, they might feel if they trade AR, he turns around and puts up Harden/SGA type numbers. He is in that same mold of players, but more of a light version. He could be a 25-5-5 guy. It sounds absurd to trade such a player. But I could see the argument for trading him too. AR isn't the ideal complement to Luka, and vice versa. Basically, Luka and Austin have some similar strengths. But Luka is also high usage, and basically relegates AR to a spot up shooter. You would ideally also want your spot u shooter to be able to have a positive impact on defense. Although AR has developed into a solid spot up shooter, I feel like he is the type that should be setting up other spot up shooters. Also, if AR is relegated to such a role, it would also be helpful if he defended better. Now, Luka has played with other sort of ball dominant players that were not plus defenders, but Kyrie and Brunson were a different prototype. There offense is so overwhelmingly good that he helps make up for their sub-par defense, but at the same time, they are small and quick enough to keep up with opposing point-guards better than AR. So, this is really a tough predicament. In general, in life you hate to give up quality for quantity, but we may not find an equal player to AR per say. The Kam brothers did bring up a good point about the Sabonis/Haliburton trade being a good model or something like that for a potential AR trade. I recall Sabonis was more proven, and Haliburton was an emerging star, at another position. SAC had a log jam at PG and a need in the front court. So maybe, we need to look for a similar situation.

 

I get you. It's not a no-brainer. It's very arguable. Hell, any AR trade is arguable because he is so damn good. And that's a good thing.

I disagree with you on a point though. I think PF labels are a bit outdated. Basically now you have the ball handler, wings and the center. 2 to 4 are pretty much the same imo. They space the floor and that's it. Then depending on their skillset, they can give you more things, but it's the same role. Then on defense, it's the same. You have the POA, wings and a center.
Brooks gives us a lock down defender to offset Luka. Jabari gives us a long wing that can play as a stretch 5 too, as JJ likes.

I do agree with you that shooting would be a concern. Haven't checked the numbers but I'm pretty sure Brooks is worse than AR and Jabari worse than Rui at 3pt shooting. And that's one of the main areas where we gotta excel. As a counterpoint, having Luka means we shouldn't see only the 3pt % & volume, but also and especially the 'wide open' 3s % and corner ones too. It's definitely a con either way.
On the flip side, we're built a la OKC. Not outstanding shooting but more defense oriented and with that generating easier offense. We get so long and switchable as JJ likes that it is enticing to me.

Ahah yeah that's another con. He's a moron but also a guy that when is in your team you kinda like it. Plus, and for me this is a big plus that is usually underrated, he's not afraid of the moment. As an example, Houston struggled a lot in clutch time and I literally saw games where guys were just afraid to shoot and was always Brooks who had the courage to take the ball and try something. That's huge for us, having role players who aren't afraid of big moments

 

We’re on his radar.

 

Alexander and Claxton would be a good off season.

 

He is a free agent? NWA is a better player than the 5.7 TPMLE though. Are we looking at being a second apron team, by executing a sign-and-trade, or Lebron taking less the full up the full MLE? The kid would be an excellent fit for our team.

 

The Kam brothers got me thinking in terms of building a team around Luka based on his previous successful Mavs teams of 21-22 (WCF) and 23-24 (Finals).

• Both teams had a dynamic shooting guard, that were point guard sized (Brunson/Kyrie). Brunson played with far lesser usage than he normally would, and Kyrie was already used to playing with other ball dominant players. They both obviously shoot the ball really well.
• The 21-22 team had Porzingis and Powell at center (one shooter and one lob threat). The 23-24 team had Gafford and Lively at center (two lob threats).
• The 21-22 team had Bullock at small forward, and Hardaway and Green at the other back up wings. Bullock and Hardaway are a lot more 3 than D, but are completely off-ball catch and shoot types. Green is better at 3 than the other two. The 23-24 team had Jones Jr starting at small forward, and he was sufficient 3 and good D that season. Hardaway and Green were again, the primary backup wings.
• The 21-22 team had DFS as the starting PF, where he provided legit 3 and D at that time. He was backed up by Kleber, who was a floor spacer and solid D. The 23-24 team had Washington starting at PF, who provided legit 3 and D at the PF, similar to DFS. He was backed up by Williams, who is undersized, but he stretched the floor well, although he was a minus defender.
• The 21-22 team had Dinwiddie at back up PG, and the 23-24 team had Exum. Both have size and could play the 1 and 2. They are also both decent defenders, and are passable floor spacers.

So, what are the patterns?

• Dynamic point-guard sized shooting guard (who could shoot) and could play with another ball dominant player. In our case, 2 of them. Maybe one with budding star potential.
• At least one lob-threat at center. If not two lob-threats, than a lob threat and a floor spacer.
• A starting small forward that plays completely off the ball, preferably one who is a good defender.
• Back-up wings who are catch and shoot, with at least on of them being a good defender.
• Lebron is the starting PF, and I guess you could say he is sort of an upgraded version of Washington. Floor spacing back-up power forward.
• Back-up guard who has size, and could play both the 1 and 2.

PG: Doncic / SG sized PG
SG: Dynamic PG sized Guard / Catch and Shooter with at least neutral D
SF: Catch and Shooter who could Defend / Catch and Shooter with at least neutral D
PF: James / Floor spacer
C: Lob Threat Big / Lob threat or Floor Spacer (preferably Lob Threat)

What we have now:

PG: Doncic
SG:
SF:
PF: James / DFS or Rui
C:

So based on the above, we would have a lot of work to do if we want to replicate past Luka teams. This might suggest that AR, Rui, Gabe, Kleber, DK, Goodwin, Shake, Vando, picks , etc. should all be on the table.

Things of note:

You could theoretically put AR in the Exum role, and Rui in the Williams role as backups, but they are clearly too good for those roles, and might be better utilized in trade. If you are bringing back DFS, you might as well use him in that backup PF role.