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

I’m not worried about this whole losing a salary slot with LeBron. First of all he is going to command 20-30m. If he wants more you let him go…

At 20-24m, we replace his slot next year with the 17m MLE and 6m BAE. If he is at 30m, you lose 6m in salary. Big deal for having Lebron, who is better than any signing you can make.

I’m not a LeBron fan, I just think he gets us closest to winning a ring.

 

scheme. his houston coaches (and general managers) protected him and optimized what he could do (defend the post, play interior passing lanes). you don't see a lot of "unplugged controller" luka lowlights.

jokic also grades out as a great defender, but he's not. denver's just found ways to hide his flaws and highlight strengths.

 

Tyler Herro unfollowed the Heat and Ware and Bam unfollowed each other. Looks like the Heat trade is coming closer to happening.

Giannis and Portis to Heat

Herro, Ware, JJJ and Jovic plus 3 firsts to Bucks

Also some rumours that Bucks don’t mind moving Ware. We should totally get in on that Knecht plus 2 firsts for Ware.

That move alone could make us contenders.

Luka / Kennard
Reaves / Smart
SF / Jake / Adou
Lebron / Rui
Ware / Ayton / Hayes

If we could jsut upgrade the starting SF slot we are right there.

 

But how can lakers hide Luka alongside other bad defenders. It's hard to say were lakers fall in a more physical setting. Thing is we are discussing two bad defenders.

 

Luke,Luka, Austin ain't stopping no one. Add 42 year old James the best your looking at is a mid tier defensive team

 

Dlo,/Austin had their share of problems and Luka/Austin will to. On top of that they will be the offensive engine draining energy on offense. So as series advance how much energy will they have left in the tank. Again I am not saying Lakers can't win with them. I am just pointing out the flaws that can be exploited. 0-2

 

Stop. Come on man, there is no universe where James Harden post OKC is a better defender than Luka. He can average whatever stats you want, but the Cavs imploded this post season because the Knicks went at him for 20 points in a row in the second half of a game. Harden is kind of the lowest bar to be arguing about a defender, guy is putrid.

In our run this year, Luka was nominated for the best defensive player of the month. Luka this year was as good as Shai defensively, everyone just looks at him as a fat euro white guy with no athleticism and think he can't play defense.

 

I would love to see the Knicks choke it. Absolutely classless fans.

You throw a f***ing egg at a player. He should’ve kicked his a** and rightfully so. Just like that bum who threw that drink on Artest.

This is the kind of s*** to awake a giant and team and have them come back in a series. Theyre fired up now. And already aren’t scared to win in New York.

 

But this is just me. I hate Knicks fans.

 

maybe your over rating Luka defense. A month don't count. consistency tell the true story.

 

I think it's more because he doesn't try very hard on D, especially in the regular season. I think Luka can actually be an above-average defender when he's locked in, if not only for his size and basketball IQ

 

i'm pretty much done with ldawg's luka takes, tbh. based on stereotypes and not observation.

harden and luka aren't the same. luka is what the talking heads tried to tell us harden was.

 

I know it's hard for people to be objective, but pre-all star break, we were 23rd in defense. Post all star break, we were 14th. In our 2 month run where everyone was healthy we were a top 10 defense and a top 5 offence.

This whole concept that we are so far away isn't clear to me. From the start of the season to December 20th, we were winning at a 73% win rate (19/26). Over a month period, we had lots of injuries to Luka, Reaves, Smart, Rui & Ayton. Then when we got healthier around mid January to the OKC game we won at a 72% rate (26/36). That's a 60 win pace for 3/4 of the season.

Over that bad stretch December to January stretch:

• Lost to Boston without Luka, Lebron & Smart
• Lost to Clippers without Reaves, Rui & Ayton
• Lost to Suns without Luka, Reaves & Rui
• Lost to Pistons without Reaves, Rui & Smart
• Lost to Spurs without Lebron, Reaves & Rui
• Lost to Bucks without Reaves & Rui
• Lost to Kings without Reaves & Rui
• Lost to Portland without Luka, Reaves & Ayton
• Lost to Dallas without Luka, Reaves & Smart (one of the last games of the season)

Even with Luka, Lebron, Smart, Hayes & Rui all missing 25% of the season and Reaves missing 40% - we were a good team. I think it's realistic that Lebron, Reaves & Rui could be a bit more healthier, while Smart & Luka will probably only play 60-68 games a season.

If we just had another 1-2 pieces, we can probably bridge those periods where we have more injuries and we get to the playoffs healthy.

 

Your takes are pretty much:

- Let Lebron go because he is old
- Reaves isn't athletic or a good defender
- Luka isn't a good defender

Rather than give you rebuttals on those arguments, how are you building a team that can compete? Realistically that is, with the assets and players we have.

I've been pretty clear in my reasoning, we were a mid 50's team that could of been close to 60 wins with health, we played a top 2-3 team in the NBA very close across 4 games without a MVP caliber player. If we can add some 3&D parts and a low cost center, we should be right there - in my opinion.

So what's your concept?

 

Well I don't know what else to say. Luka closest comparison is James Harden. Every nba player plays some form of defense. It's not like they don't play any. With that being said Luka is not known to be be a great defender just like Harden was not. If one scout Luka his point of weakness will be ball dominance and defensive shortcomings. It don't mean you can't win with him it's just that those are his areas of weakness. No different than Shaq was a bad free throw shooter. You can do things to be somewhat respectable. You do realize that was one of the reasons Luka got traded right?

 

Quote from Danny Green. Danny Green says the game plan was to attack Luka on defense because he's a "terrible defender" "They were attacking Luka. That was the game plan, which most teams are gonna do. Not just because he's a terrible defender, but he's the weaker defender of the Lakers." This does not include spending time focused on refs, not running back on transition defense. In LeBron prime no one accused him of being a poor defender . Not the same. So now if Luka and a 42 year old are your two best defenders you're screwed.

 

Comparing Luka to Harden seems simple on the surface, but there are key differences and reasons why Luka should be more successful in the post season.

Both are elite pnr players that are ball dominant and score and playmake to a high level. Harden is a top 10 offensive player. The differences are;

Luka controls the pace a lot better and scores from the mid range and post more efficiently. Two critical skills needed in the playoffs when teams zero in on you. That’s why Luka doesn’t shrink in the big moments, you take something away and he goes to the next thing.

Whereas, Harden played a lot more to score (whether himself or others) or to draw a foul. His whole game was built on drawing fouls as an easy way to put efficient points up on the board, so he very rarely got into that mid range and never into the post. When injuries (hamstrings) and teams game planned to take away his drive, he lived or died by the 3 and drawing fouls. So he could be slowed down and that’s where the narrative of the choker comes from.

You can’t really slow down Luka in the same way, he can drive, hit the 3, play make, hit a mid range or take you into the post.

I’ve always felt the best comparison was Larry Bird, offensively and defensively. Luka is way smarter of a team defender than Harden. It’s just not close. He also is a much more willing defender where historically Harden has mainly tried in the post. Fat Luka (when Green said those comments) got abused by Minnesota last year. But if you look at his finals run or play last year he was an above average positive defender.

Luka is a modern Larry Bird, not Harden. And it’s not an insult to be a Harden - Reaves is more of a Harden lite.

 

I’m also still waiting to hear how you’d like to build the team…

 

danny green's, too.

 

been feeling like miami's a done deal, and they're just waiting until after the finals to announce.

only concern on ware is the heat factor. i'm a broken record on this, but spo is the new pop, and he's been an alchemist there. everyone's like "the heat are disappointing"...what? they have like, zero talent there, lol. spoelstra makes guys look better than they are, and they go elsewhere and suck. not certain that will happen with ware, but i wouldn't rule it out entirely. like, if the heat had drafted whitmore instead of jaquez, i wonder if their fortunes are currently reversed.

it's part of why i like poaching from trash organizations like charlotte (though they may finally be turning a corner), washington, sacramento, etc. those teams employ players that might look better elsewhere.

so mad sacramento won't deal with us. they're consistently stupid, imo.