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

couple possibilities in my mind. one is that the reporting that he was coming here was never real. brook lopez was coming here, too, and it's looking like that was barely a conversation, if at all.

the other possibility is the buyout markets for beal and smart were unexpected and scuttled some plans for a few teams, including us.

for the record, i'd take smart over beal, just because we desperately need defensive backcourt players. but i'm not sure smart still has what we need. honestly, if ben simmons were available at the same cost, i might try him first. he's still got a lot of athleticism left from what i've seen.

slick mentioned banton, and i'm also intrigued by him as a big guard option. not sure he can be a POA defender, but i'm also not sure we can get the one i want, anyway. might as well pick up a talented young player and see if he can find a role here. i prefer him to coffey.

man, i've scoured the league, and i'm just not sure the POA defender we need to complete the roster is out there. keon ellis has been my target, but i don't think he's moving this year (he could be a FA next year).

i hate going into the season without a quicker backcourt defender, but if it's not out there, it's not out there.

the opportunity cost is that next summer--as of now--we have clean books save for luka/reaves/vando. we basically have about 92 million (factoring reaves's cap hold of about 20) committed to six players (could be lower as knecht, bronny, and shake are the other three). say your vet min cap holds take you to 100 committed. that gives you 65 million and the room exception to spend. and everyone's like, so what, no max FAs are available. but there are are trades, the MLE market, etc.

once we sign reaves to a salary he's earned, our options for improvement start shrinking. if lebron eats up all that space next summer, we've missed a chance to harvest some assets, but we'll still have to fill out a roster, so when lebron walks, we'll have just the mle or something closer to 20 million in space or whatever.

i'm pretty sure the FO had gamed all this out when the told lebron the 1+1 wasn't on the table.

 

people see that portland rescinded the two 2nds they moved for holiday after doing the medical evaluation? ruh roh.

 

Yep.

As for LeBron — and being one of the very few who wanted him here when he first joined — it's time to move on after this upcoming season. There's absolutely no scenario where I’d give him max money, no matter how well he plays. Personally, I’m done. The direction is clear: we’re moving forward with Luka.

If that wasn’t already obvious — considering LeBron hasn’t been consulted on any free agency moves or extension talks — then I don’t know what to tell those still holding out hope for him. I'd call his bluff next summer, and if he walks, so be it.

We’re on to Project Giannis now (as Pete Zayas likes to put it). The whole reason we're preserving cap space is to pair Luka with Giannis — or another max-level free agent.

As for this season? Just put the best possible team around a 41-year-old LeBron (yes, he made Second Team All-NBA) and see what happens.

And let’s not forget: the Clippers are also gearing up for max cap space, but of course they’ll be hailed as geniuses. ROFL.

 

Guess they're not trading him.
They could swallow the 2nds and try to trick another team, but by doing this no one is trading for Jrue

 

I really don't want Giannis. He will 33 that season, surely getting a "long" max contract while being a guy that 80% of his game is purely physical, which tends to go down with time. Sure, Bron was similar and is still playing at a high level, but Bron has a way better package.

I get the appeal, but I would rather go a different route

 

Yeah, well, what can I tell you? Talk to Rob. LOL.

 

i'd be glad for him to come back next summer (assuming he wants to/is able), but at a "i'll take what's left over after FA deal. and before people start getting mad about it, this is EXACTLY what dirk did for dallas near the end of his career--fill out the roster, and i'll take what's left. one year it was 8 million, another it was 20, iirc. this is what you do when all you want to do is be part of a competitive roster at the end of your career.

if you want to be a featured player earning 1/3 of the cap, feel free to find the team that will accommodate that wish. it is not this one.

now, had we not gotten luka, i think we just swallow it like we did with kobe (who did take less money, btw...).

lol, right? clips and miami doing the same thing--awesome, 8d chess, baby! us doing it--stupid rob, fire him into the sun!

that said, i'm not sure we're chasing giannis. i think the clips and heat might be, but i'm not sure we are. i think we just see that there may be a narrow window to grab some assets to move forward in the luka era, and that window is next summer.

but maybe i'm wrong. we did chase kawhi with everything we had and no guarantee he'd come here. but i hope we learned from that. unless you have it in the bag (like we did with lebron and pat riley did with the heatles), you don't do this stuff. else you're the post-title mavs with their big three plans that ended up in overpaying wes matthews and the like.

btw, for those wondering what to do with cap space when there's not max FAs out there, i think houston had a nice blueprint with fvv. find vets who can help you win now and overpay them on short-term deals (max two years, best if it's team option on the second). this way you're getting trade assets AND playable guys.

 

I may be wrong, but Giannis seems to me to be the only player in the league who can aspire to a longevity similar to LeBron.

It's true that he is a very physical and athletic player, and it's true that LeBron has always been that way.
But seeing how Giannis has worked on his body and his athletic endurance throughout his career, if I had to bet on his decline I wouldn't do it before he's 36/37.


That said, I'm not crazy about this idea of creating space now for a possible FA signing that will happen in two years. Also because the NBA seems to me to be going in a slightly different direction, where if a player wants to leave before the contract expires they always find a way to make things work and send him away.

Who says Giannis won't ask to escape from Milwaukee before that time?

 

Thybulle makes a lot of sense for the Lakers - Knecht/Thybulle swap would work.
Herb Jones would work as well but Jones offensive numbers seem to be getting worse as his career progresses.
Thybulle's 3 point shooting has been moving up on the other

Don't get me wrong both are negative offensive players but in terms of fit would be perfect.

gabe/maxi/knect/second rounders for thybulle/williams works and makes sense for both teams
Thybulle is in a log jam where Portland has guy like Sharpe, Camara, Avidja who should be getting all the SG minutes

 

yeah, i was thinking yesterday that looking at how knecht has no path to minutes here and thybulle doesn't make sense there, something could happen. might be able to get a 2nd back from them, too, i think. they could use a shooter.

 

It’s not the same. Dirk wasn’t in the running for the GOAT. Bron, legacy wise, in his mind, can’t NOT be the top dog paid the top money. He will retire before he settles for cap leftovers.

 

jordan played for 1 million per his last couple years, iirc. certainly didn't harm his legacy.

 

i'm pretty sure the FO had gamed all this out when the told lebron the 1+1 wasn't on the table.[/QUOTE]

Man stop making this up. Based off of what information?The FO told Lebron no such thing. Rob explicitly said that he would have given James, whatever he asked for. But YOU have determined, that Rob doesn't really mean that, and it's just allowing James ,to "save face" or something? FOH man.

I think you guys are pushing some storyline, that really isn't there. James will be 41 this season, I don't think he intends to play much longer at all, and I definitely don't see why it's being inferred, that he still wants to dictate what the team is doing. That's just some anti Lebron s*** IMO.

You guys keep throwing out, a lot of this FO , told James this and that, or moving differently with James, etc..based on innuendo and personal speculation.

Lebron is different than Dirk and Jordan too, they were washed at the end of their careers. Not being named All NBA. It's an extremely weak position, to try and skip around that part. How in the f*** does being named ALL NBA, equate to evidence of declining? That s*** is ridiculous!

 

He was washed too.

 

Man stop making this up. Based off of what information?The FO told Lebron no such thing. Rob explicitly said that he would have given James, whatever he asked for.

I think you guys are pushing some storyline, that really isn't there. James will be 41 this season, I don't think he intends to play much longer at all, and I definitely don't see why it's being inferred, that he wants to dictate what the team is doing. That's just some anti Lebron s*** IMO. You are throwing out, a lot of the FO , told James this and that, or moving differently with James, etc..based on innuendo and personal speculation.

Lebron is different than Dirk and Jordan too, they were washed at the end of their careers. Not being named All NBA. It's a ridiculous take, to try and skip around that part.[/QUOTE]

I have NO problem believing the no more 1 + 1 PO for LeBron at this stage when it will be year 3 of Luka being here with that PO and the leverage it gives LeBron, came down from the new sheriff in town. And everyone, from Rich Paul to LeBron to Rob is just putting their own spin on it. LeBron's camp to safe face and "trying" one last time the passive aggressive word games, but backtracking pretty quickly. And "maybe" the Lakers would have given him two years, but not without a TO this time or with the no trade clause. Just my opinion but Walters is doing what so many wanted done at this late stage of his career and now the clock ticking on Luka's timeline .... and that's if LeBron wants to be a Laker next year it will have to be for less money, dependent of course on how it goes this year. If he still wants max then he'll have to get another team to pay it.

 

Thought Melton would've been a good fit here. My guess is we didn't want to offer him the full BAE. Interested to see what Rob's plan is.