Remember when Rich Paul described LeBron telling the Lakers he was moving on as a “courtesy” so the Lakers could conduct their FA business?
A whole 6 hours before FA began?
Come on man 😂
From the All NBA Podcast which aired around 10 pm PT last night. Nothing groundbreaking from Marc Stein, but he said the following:
- Lakers want to add a wing and a big man
- They have “no way to retain Rui Hachimura” is the way he worded it
- Lakers “have made a lot of attempts to pursue Kuminga” and Stein added they might have to make an additional 1-2 moves for additional financial flexibility
- Kuminga is stuck waiting on LeBron because multiple interested teams are waiting on LeBron before they’d pivot to Kuminga
I still don’t understand the Sexton and Grimes signings. Sign one of them, but why sign both instead of using one of those slots for a bigger wing/forward. Kelly Oubre went for less money than Sexton, and without a player option.
This seems frankly short-sighted and dumb to scramble for a starting caliber wing after free agency is 90% finished, when you have to manufacture cap space without really any draft capital to work with.
And that’s setting aside that Kuminga isn’t some grand prize, he’s a former lottery pick who doesn’t play winning basketball and mostly prefers iso scoring to team basketball. We already have Luka and AR, we need defense-first wings who can shoot, thats it.
Hard to know what happens this season, but Carr looks the part of a long term starter as an excellent movement shooter with athleticism and length to catch lobs and hopefully play decent perimeter defense.
I think a year from now the big question will be who our long term PF is…
And Grimes/Mamu should be two excellent bench pieces.
This team suddenly is starting to make more sense.
Not shocked to hear this confirmed, but glad that Kessler went into free agency with the goal of getting to LA and playing with Luka.
I think he’s ready to set the league on fire next year and surprise a lot of people. A lot of people are lukewarm on him because they never watched the Jazz play basketball and think he’s just some stiff who’s 7’1 and blocks some shots. This guy is gonna be awesome in LA and I firmly believe he’ll be right on the cusp of multiple all star selections, in addition to perennial All Defense consideration and right in the mix for DPOY votes after Wemby.
Doesn’t appear that Rui being unsigned has to do with Lakers maneuvering to bring him back. Probably got squeezed out by the market with his top suitors (SA and DET and MN) choosing other paths… Harris for SA, Collins for DET, and MN going all-in on LeBron at the 4 and signing Trey Lyles as insurance.
I don’t think it’s smart to go after Kuminga given his focus on iso scoring, inconsistent play night to night, and the fact that the Hawks quit on him after the Warriors did too. Just doesn’t seem like a risk worth taking. At all.
MacMahon said this on Windhorst’s pod this morning. He added that the Jazz have believed Kessler’s value is in the high 20s, so there is a substantial gap, at least as of right now, but obviously will need to see how Jazz would respond if a formal offer to Kessler is on the table in high 30s.
A 4-year $150 million contract would be the largest contract for a big man without an all star game selection in the history of the NBA.
And there it is. All of LeBron, Rui, Smart, Kennard gone, and it doesn't appear the Lakers put up a fight for any of them.
It's truly a new era and they're wasting no time remaking the roster.
https://marcstein.substack.com/p/lots-more-of-the-nbas-latest-late
Siegel comes out and says it. He’ll be surprised if the Lakers DON’T land either Kessler or Duren.
Let’s go everyone. It’s time for a new era of Lakers basketball 🔥🔥🔥
Some additional context for Kessler’s meetings with other teams. Lakers are almost certainly one of the three. I’m curious who the other two teams are.
No clue how these meetings work, like how long theyre slotted for, who from the Lakers would attend, etc.
Hopefully for better or worse they’ll leave the meeting with clarity about whether it’s at all realistic to pursue Kessler, or if it’s more a formality for Kessler to pressure Utah for more money.
It’s pretty clear to me this is happening unless Washington refuses to play ball and trade AD. LeBron reportedly won’t go to GS unless they trade for AD.
They’ve worked out all the various aspects of this. LeBron ghosting the Lakers while it got sorted out. Draymond declining his player option. Rich Paul meeting yesterday with Washington front office.
I think the question now is whether we can get anyone interesting from GS in a sign and trade. Maybe Quinten Post?
Windhorst just now talking about Draymond opting out of his player option and LeBron potentially going to GS.
Sounds like he really may ghost Pelinka and that’s how the LeBron era ends. Pretty surreal to see this unfold.
Highlights of latest intel on this morning’s podcast:
- “the last few days” the Lakers have actively discussed trades to absorb wing defenders into their cap space.
- Lakers may sign a FA center “on Monday”. I assume he meant Tuesday, but point being that signing a center is imminent. Windy name name dropped Rob Williams, Mitchell Robinson, and Jusuf Nurkic.
- so, plan seems to be trading for wing(s) and signing a center outright. Both moves sound very close to happening when FA opens
- Lakers reached out to LeBron’s reps at beginning of window to speak with Lakers’ own FAs and said they want LeBron back. No discussions since then, and LeBron apparently hasn’t made himself available for any discussions (while at same time, Lakers don’t seem to be making an offer to him at this stage).
- Windhorst read out a quote from Rich Paul he said he has clearance to put out with Paul’s name attached: “The Lakers are not and will not annoy us”
- Windhorst added that LeBron is concerned with being happy, not about money.
- Windhorst said to keep an eye on Bronny team option and Draymond option today. If Draymond opts out, possibility exists to take less money to allow GS a path to LeBron mid level exception. Fully expects Bronny option to be picked up if it isn’t, another sign LeBron isn’t coming back
- MacMahon emphasized Lakers promised Luka before he signed extension last summer that this summer was it, and that especially because of cap hold with Reaves extension, Lakers absolutely have to make it happen this summer
- MacMahon mentioned Spurs have real interest in Rui
The list of team needs continues to grow. It’s difficult to imagine how they’re all filled this summer, but the AR extension leaves little room for future financial maneuvering. His low cap hold until he signs means Pelinka has to act now across as many needs as possible.
Smart was indispensable last year, by far the 4th best player on the team and often the 2nd or 3rd best with our stars injured, and played a role as POA defender that nobody on the current roster can replace.
It’s non negotiable we need at least one and ideally two excellent POA defenders to replace Smart. We needed to add one even if he returned.
Everyone knows we desperately need a good center on Luka’s timeline.
And everyone knows that even if LeBron returns, we need athleticism and defense on the wing.
I don’t know how the hell this all gets done this summer but that’s what’s needed.
Woike: “According to a league source, one player the Lakers could take a look at in free agency is Brooklyn small forward Zaire Williams, who had his team option declined by the Nets on Sunday.
The Lakers have desires to get younger and more athletic on the wing, and Williams is coming off back-to-back seasons in Brooklyn where he averaged more than 10 points and shot better than 34 percent from 3-point range.
The Nets declined his $6.25 million option for next season while dealing with a roster crunch.
The bet for the Lakers would be that at 6-9 with a nearly 40-inch vertical leap, that Williams could be an impact defensive player with room for growth on the offensive side of the ball. He has fans inside the Lakers' facility.
There are local connections too — Williams was a teammate of Bronny James at Sierra Canyon.”
Now this is an immediate free agency option that makes sense to target. Young, athletic, versatile forward who could help the team in a lot of ways. No clue what his market will be but have to think Lakers give him a serious look.
100th percentile in deflections per game
99th percentile stop% and stl%
80th percentile 3PAr + FTr
66% at the rim, 58% TS
Shot over 40% from 3 over his last thirty games
Williams is a California native who played high school basketball with Bronny James.
Brett Siegel: “Expect Ziarie Williams to have plenty of interest entering free agency.”
Woike appeared on the Jim Rome Show and made clear the Lakers are actively hunting for a big man, and that because it’s Luka’s top priority it’s the Lakers top priority.
He also added that the “ideal” pathway is literally just Luka turning a “C” center into a “B”
Pretty depressing to hear this from one of the most plugged in reporters to already be justifying another stopgap center. When will things change?
Evidently Pelinka tried to lowball AR, but panicked with other teams preparing to offer the max and just immediately threw him a max anyway.
We’ll probably scrutinize this negotiation process for years to come because of how much it’ll restrict team-building after this offseason. Interesting that the gap was this large, only to be closed immediately between AR and LA.
And I can’t help but wonder if Pelinka had a bit more wiggle room to negotiate than AR’s reps were letting on. Was he really leaving LA for an extra $5 million per year? Maybe so but I’m not certain that’s the case
“Former Syracuse center William Kyle III is signing with the Lakers on an Exhibit 10 deal, sources told ESPN. The 6-9, 230-pound big man averaged 8.4 points on 66.1% with 7.1 rebounds and 2.5 blocks per game in his senior season with the Orange.”
We used our 1st round pick on a guard/wing (and it was the right pick, not complaining), and we don’t have any decent big men to draft with the 56th pick.
So now what?
Kessler or Duren are the dream options but they’re RFAs and Woike reported again today that LA is focused on using cap space to absorb players from other teams who need to get off money. He didn’t even mention RFAs.
Claxton was traded to Chicago for virtually nothing. Isaiah Stewart was just traded.
Who else is there? I have my eye on Jarrett Allen but besides him, I’m struggling to find a player out there who’s starting caliber and realistically attainable.
The moment Luka was traded to LA, Bill Duffy became the most powerful person outside the Lakers organization. Last summer he maneuvered to get his client Ayton to LA. By all accounts his client Hayes will re-sign soon after FA opens. And last night LA drafted another of his clients in Cameron Carr.
So, probably worth monitoring his client list going forward. Two names stood out to me:
Thomas Sorber, OKC - with a likely frontcourt next year of Hartenstein, Holmgren, and Mara, it's reasonable to wonder what Sorber's future is with OKC. He's a legitimately promising center prospect who missed all of rookie season. Lakers already called about Dort. Maybe now a larger trade with more future draft capital would go down to include Sorber.
Christian Braun, DEN - personally hope this doesn't happen, especially now that we drafted Carr, but they reportedly want to trade Braun (instead of Cam Johnson) to clear space to extend Watson. Similar to Dort, Lakers are a natural candidate to absorb his contract. I'm against this but would guess it's on the table to acquire Braun for next to nothing
And one wild card, Jarace Walker, IND - He's shown flashes in Indy and would fit Pelinka's reported focus on investing in young talent with upside. 6'7 235 forward. Still on his rookie deal.
Obviously Duffy represents a lot of other bigger name players such as Ant, Holmgren, Barnes, McDaniels, but I focused on players who might be available.