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

Marcus Smart ladies and gentlemen.

 

16 free throws for Jimmy Butler. Nobody sees a problem with that????? The refereeing has been disgusting this game by the refs. All foul calls going to the Warriors.

 

Lakers really need a 2 way player wing or guard to take minutes away from Vando/Rui/Larava/Gabe. Just basically nothing from 4 guys including 2 starters.
Ayton was solid and at least the Ayton/hayes combo looks league average which is good.

Not impressed with the coaching again - Smart is Smart lots of up and downs but GS went with a butler/curry pnr picking on luka/gabe defending. Smart would have made that much more difficult as he can play both 1v1. Phil Jackson would never let them expose you over and over again.

 

That was hard.

 

JJ needs to realise he's not a rookie coach anymore, there's no identity for this team

It's Luka or bust

 

I thought Austin played great. Needs to make his free throws. Luka was incredible. He needs to know that you gotta get your teammates involved or they just stand around on the perimeter watching you.

Ayton I need more but he played a good game.

We gotta figure out this perimeter s***. Hachiumura shot good. But he needs to play better defense.

Were was Vanderbilt? What’s up with Thiero? I’d like to see him.

Who’s out there I don’t know. Wiggins Lebron coming back will help. But he plays no defense.

gotta get more. Hopefully we beat Minnesota.

I thought the Refs really f***ed us in this game and we’re horrible.

Marcus Smart great effort. I thought he was good. We need that. A pesky guard to get under guards skin and forwards.

sometimes he gets out of control. But I see alot of Artest in him.

Where is our 3 point shooting coming from?

 

smart is exactly what this team needed. loved his hustle and energy. just needs to tone it down with the dumb fouls

ayton wasn't good, but warriors are always a weird matchup for bigs. have to wait and see how he performs against a more traditional lineup

defense really wasn't that bad i think. warriors were just hitting the tough shots and most of the calls were going their way

the 3 pt shooting was nowhere to be found per tradition

luka's going to be carrying the team on his back most nights. just hope he can stay healthy

 

The lack of athleticism was loud in this game. Especially after watching the Houston/OKC game. Even Golden St is more athletic with Butler/Kumimga/Payton type players. We are lacking athleticism. I feel like Thierro could be a way better offensive version of Vando. There was a botched lob to Vando that I fell like Thierro would of easily caught and threw down. Thierro is going to be key. Kind of sad to be waiting for a rookie 2nd rd pick though. Probably not a good thing.

 

Trade Kleba + 2031 1st (top 4 protected) to Indiana for Mathurin. Only 23 yrs old. Super athletic. Decent shooter. Not a good defender but, Lakers badly need athleticism. Desperation move to shake things up?

 

Malik Monk would be a great pickup. Without James, we need another guy, that can attack off the dribble, and his 3 ball is still respectable. Plug him in with Smart and Austin, and we can rest Luka, and later Lebron, and still have some punch on the court.

 

This team disregarded the preseason like it’s nothing and the results show it early.

 

this.

 

Yeah. There were other issues but the sloppiness stood out to me most. Team just wasn’t in sync at all.

 

this. And, you know, having a huge chunk of the payroll unavailable. The team wasn’t built to play without lebron.

we have lebron and they’re missing butler, I think we win by 20.

 

Overall, feels like I could just copy and paste my comments from the start of the last several seasons. Team needs to gel and we have similar roster needs as we’ve had the last several seasons.

I think some of that will look better as the year goes along and we get in sync. But we still need to make a move during the season.

 

24/8/8 aint easily replaced. We'll be aight...as long as the Don is good to go.

 

I will note that I actually liked NBCs broadcast a lot. Felt much more focused on actual hoops and promoting the game that the trash we got from TNT/ESPN/ABC.

 

i think ayton looks to have solved a lot of the center issues we've had, particularly post-AD. and smart actually did a lot of good things in the parts i was able to watch (couple bad things, too, but that's the marcus smart experience).

lol, and i'm once again on team "not sure we have what it takes to make the moves we need". we need lebron to play to his salary (or at all). this isn't the pre-apron era, where you can just stack useful role players at mle money in your 10th-12th roster spots if you have a rich owner. when that much money is out, you're cooked against the best teams. and healthy gs is one of the best teams.

 

I think all 3 of our summer additions are actually better than they looked last night.

Unfortunately several guys also continue to show that they don’t have it when the lights get bright and I expect us to be active on the trade market including being willing to use the draft picks.

Clocks ticking loudly on Vando though his contract is longer. I think he got frustrated last night and can play better but it’s time for him to show growth in his game.

Gabe is Gabe. Just can’t be counted on in big moments IMO.

We will see what happens around the all star break when reality hits for everyone.

 

Not sure what we have either. I would probably lean closer to play in again rather than a top seed