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

At least Giannis could defend, but I do see the comparison. Giannis gives me that "I could talk myself into it" vibe that Westbrook did, even though it was obvious that Westbrook didn't fit. I guess, I was hoping they would learn to mesh well, like Lebron and Wade did.

 

and giannis is obviously much better than russ was at that time. but it gives the vibes for sure. right down to the personalities.

 

The way I think about it, we'd only be able to trade for Giannis if we were on his short list of teams, and if we're on his short list of teams he'd to some extent be bought into the idea of a role change. Because its obvious that's what he'd have to do. When he actually ran P&Rs with Dame, they were pretty damn effective from a points per possession perspective. He just didn't want to do it nearly as often as they needed to. But I think there's a difference between a second-tier superstar like Dame coming to your franchise, versus coming to LA to play with a first-tier superstar like Luka. I could see why Giannis would bristle at mostly being a roll guy for the former, but would be more open to it for the latter. He'd also still get to do his point forward stuff quite a bit; he can do it every possession Luka is on the bench and a good chunk of possessions when Luka is playing too. Luka loves to throw it over to Reaves and just stand around on the opposite wing when he needs a breather. He could do the same thing with Giannis.

But anyways, it's not going to happen and I wouldn't want it to happen if it required trading Reaves and all of our draft capital. But if its somehow Reaves and just some of our draft capital, such that we could upgrade a roll player spot or two in addition, then I'm really thinking about it. At that point, I'm willing to gamble on the fit because I think the upside is higher. But I don't want to be in a situation where the only significant move we can make this summer was Giannis and we're once again trying to make upgrades at the deadline with little to no ammo. At that point we'd probably be wasting the 2027 playoff run and I don't think Giannis has enough time left as an elite player for us to do that.

 

Giannis at C wtih Lebron at PF/Draymond, AR, Luka, and Smart is one hell of a team I got to admit.

Is Giannis ready to change roles? Don't know he's doesn't seem very mature even at this age

 

i feel like we sort of punted this year after the luka trade (i don't think there were good alternatives, tbh). i don't want to punt another year because we completely emptied the 5-10 spots on the roster.

 

The only one that I've thought about is Dosunmu. The trade was Dosunmu/Julian Phillips for Dillingham, Leonard Miller and four second round picks. Could we have topped that with the one first we had to trade? Might have seemed like an overpay for Dosunmu, but I think we would have fit in extremely well. Doesn't bring us even with OKC or the Spurs, but gets us closer.

 

Yeah, it likely is not a good idea. In any case, Lakers need to improve their rim-protection. The way I see it, we essentially have 4/5 of the starting spots locked in with Luka, Reaves, Lebron, and Smart. Ayton is the weakest link. He is not a rim protector, so he should not be starting. He is also not a great fit offensively. I know he's capable of getting lobs, but he's more of a post up and mid-range center, the needs touches. Once we fill that center spot, we could look to finding a replacement for Rui. Rui has similar issues. He's not a defender, and he isn't the ideal fit offensively. Sure, he is a great three-point shooter, but he is more methodical. He likes to get into his spots and shoot mid-range jump shots. Sure, he is very good at that particular skill, but we don't need him to do that. He disrupts the flow of the offense. Plus, he's a bit turbulent, like Ayton is.

 

i wanted him, too, but i feel like dillingham was treated like a 1st in that one (rightly or wrongly), and i definitely didn't want to do 2 1sts for a guy who's a UFA when we have cap space. his cap hold would be like 15 million or so.

i'm still mad the stupid kings wanted deandre hunter. ellis would have been a great pickup, and his low cap hold wouldn't have hurt flexibility. he was worth a first or more, imo.

 

Does Miami even have the ability to put a winning team around Giannis in one summer? I seriously doubt that, and they'd have to give up Bam.

Knicks assets are not that attractive either, KAT or Bridges are 30 and 29, they're not worth much in today's NBA. Anunoby and Hart are elite role players, but they also have huge salaries. The only attractive thing for the Bucks would be that the Knicks are probably much more likely to suck in the early 2030s than us.

I think we have a shot at Giannis, but we'll have to give up Reaves for sure, but I don't think we'd have to give up all our assets. Giannis is a Top 5 player, but this is not the same as trading for 25yo AD.

 

LoL
Victor Wembanyama on the environment:

“I care a lot about it, and I feel a certain guilt about polluting so much as someone who flies 41 times a season. But I want to have an impact, and I want to counteract this negative carbon footprint through whatever impact I can, financially or socially, I want to have an impact for the future... Investing, yes, but not for profit.”

 

Why lol?