u/lawschoolthrowaway36

Simmons prefaced this by saying he has intel on how Iger and Kushner ended up buying the Lakers. Haven't seen this reported anywhere else.

(For what it's worth, I find that when Simmons says he has intel, it's reliable and accurate, even if it's about the Lakers)

Simmons also added the context that Vegas expansion team is going to cost over $9 billion, and Kushner/Iger didn't have highest bid + weren't sold on Vegas anyway needing to build a new stadium. So in the midst of Vegas seeming unlikely, Kushner happened to be reading about Walter's troubles and just decided to give him a call.

Some other interesting comments from the pod, which he did with Sam Koppelman (an investigative journalist who has collaborated with Pablo Torre):

• Simmons said "Kushner's really well respected for being a smart-ass dude."
  • Also said: "Josh isn't gonna run the day-to-day at all. Iger's doing all of it. Iger's 75, can probably put 6 or 7 really good years in here. And this is all he's gonna do. This guy just ran a giant company."
• Koppelman called Kushner a "killer" and said, "It's pretty amazing that [Kushner's] laid low amid the Jared stuff and everything else, and has built this reputation as a great investor. I mean who knows, I haven't done an investigation into Kushner. Anything could happen. But I do think if you're looking for a sports team owner, there's way worse people than Josh Kushner. Josh Kushner and Iger - that's a serious, serious ownership group, and I think the Lakers are gonna be in decent hands."

I realized I stopped listening to his pod after he left for Barstool. Didn't really mean to stop but I never migrated to his new show.

Is it the exact same pod just at Barstool now, or is he doing new stuff? Did we ever find out why he left in the first place? Did Barstool just offer more money?

The Ringer seemed like the ideal place for him - zero expectations of being a company guy, totally isolated in Manhattan Beach (by choice) and control over his pod + being Bill's weekly guest from Feb-June every year. Don't know why he moved on from that.

Already annoyed by the typo in the title but can't edit it*

Wow. Jeanie likely didn't want to sell, reading between the lines. She got ousted.

What a horrible way for the Buss family's Lakers ownership to end.

Just to put the age difference between them in perspective: when Kushner reaches Iger’s current age, the year will be 2061.

Reportedly their immediate plan is for Iger to be the public face and more hands-on owner. For now that is fine, and probably for the best. However, as we all know, many rapidly decline when they reach 80 years old, if not sooner. I don’t mean to sound callous, and sincerely hope Iger remains in good health, but I think it’s important to live in reality when considering the ramifications of this sale.

And above all else, to me this underscores the need for Kushner to not sink into the background. He apparently is a reclusive person (by celebrity standards), but his reputation precedes him, especially his familial connection to Trump, and I sincerely hope he plans to engage with the fanbase early and make an effort.

The fanbase deserves to know who this person is who presumably will be running the team for the next 3 decades. Iger will be running the show for a fraction of that time.

Already linking Chris Paul to new Lakers ownership and hinting at the possibility of Paul coming aboard.

Makes further sense this could happen given Paul’s close relationship to JJ from their years together on the Clippers.

For the record, I’d be opposed to this. Don’t think the organization needs to add a voice as stubborn and nit-picky as Paul’s in a period of such instability and uncertainty. If he joins in some “informal advisor” role I’ll have zero trust that it won’t quickly evolve into him being a key front office decision maker and potential Pelinka replacement.

Infantido is FIFA’s embattled president who is facing calls to resign.

Shelbourne says the Lakers sale came together “in the last few days” which is completely insane, needless to say.

Going to need some real journalists like Torre to unravel this story and get to the bottom of WTF happened.

In case you needed reassurance to be long SIVE... here are some statements from AAOI's CEO that seem relevant to SIVE's future. Consistent with SIVE's last earnings call and reaffirms enormous demand that, as SIVE CEO explained, basically negates any competition between SIVE and others based on laser quality, etc

He called laser the "biggest bottleneck in the transceiver business"

"When we've talked to several of the major CPO customers, they love our laser, we just can't make enough of them"

"We believe that in the future, CPO will continue to drive increased demand for high power lasers..."

"When we deliver the CPO laser or ELSFP module to different customers, the gross margin will be even higher because gross margin for laser is about 55 to 65%"

Also said China is "2 or 3 years away" from coming to market with sufficiently powerful lasers

First confirmation I’ve seen of Lakers interest in Klay Thompson. Probably safe to assume Lakers interest is contingent on a buy out, but still would require even more roster shuffling as the Lakers already have one too many players rostered.

Would like Klay as a veteran with a ton of postseason experience. That is severely lacking on this roster.

No mention of the Lakers. And Sam Amico tweeted tonight that Kuminga’s preferred destination is Cleveland.

I think you have to question now if it’s worth signing Kuminga given his lack of interest in coming here. He’s held out for weeks now hoping to go elsewhere.

We need a forward who plays hard on both ends and is willing to do the little things, including accepting a sometimes low usage role. If Kuminga begrudgingly accepts an LA offer, I doubt he’ll transform into that kind of player.

Feels like Pelinka’s hand may be forced here to move on and find another starting caliber forward.

Thoughts on this cheap shot at LeBron that Bill launched during his post WC pod?

Seemed aggressive and unnecessary. LeBron is older than Messi and just won a playoff series at 41

Stein and Fischer just now once again reiterated that Kuminga is asking for more than the Lakers will offer, and that there’s no other trade targets known at this time.

Everyone on here assumes a pivot trade is coming. As I said yesterday, if you just listen to the credible reporting, there is zero indication that is the case. Other teams leak. Lakers have to be calling a number of teams if they’re gonna execute some stealth trade. Nobody is reporting on any Lakers activity.

Vet min signings are coming, and we’ll see what happens at the deadline.

For now our 3-5 appears to be:

C: Kessler/Looney/Mamu

PF: Mamu/Jake/Vando

SF: Grimes/Jake/Adou/Knecht

In addition to the $25 mil salary Kuminga apparently is seeking, Stein and Fischer said the following:

- It’s not clear the Hawks want to play ball with the Lakers. (I found this interesting given report yesterday that they had essentially agreed to a trade framework)

- Lakers have “repeatedly” made offers for Kuminga and really want him

- However, as Stein put it, the Lakers have already completed all the moves they set out for this summer.

- While they still badly need a two-way wing, Stein characterized Kuminga as the Lakers going for a “talent play” as opposed to a direct solution to that problem. Fischer added that Kuminga is simply the highest upside wing available on the market whose age fits Luka’s timeline

- They’re skeptical Kuminga will get the $25 mil salary he’s seeking

Reading between the lines, seems like this may lead to vet min signings and nothing else until the trade deadline. Fischer’s comment that it’s unclear the Hawks even want to cooperate with the Lakers makes me think a Kuminga trade is further away than yesterday’s report sounded. And that’s setting aside the $25 million he apparently wants.

No other trade targets mentioned, so vet mins would be next step I assume

McMenamin added that this roster has Luka’s “fingerprints all over it” and that while he didn’t necessarily select which players the Lakers signed, he endorsed Quentin Grimes, requested an A-list center that became Walker Kessler, and requested they re-sign Austin Reaves.

Also said the Lakers believe they found somebody in Mamu who can do “more” for the team, which I think was in reference to Rui walking.

Lakers Film Room podcast did an excellent breakdown of the cap rules that will allow LA to take on more money than is going out in a trade, based on the salaries of the players leaving LA.

For example, if traded, Vando’s salary of approx $12.5 million would allow the Mavs to take in salary of slightly over $20 million, which is greater than both Washington and Dort salaries.

Your first thought is understandably, why the hell would anyone want Vando’s contract. The answer is simply that it’s preferable to an even longer term contract for an opposing team such as Dallas, who has Washington making $25 million in the 2029-2030 season and has a logjam of forwards. It’s telling that Dallas not only drafted Morez and acquired Aldama, but even tried to sign Rui. This heavily points to their intention to trade Washington.

We’d have to sweeten any such deal with draft capital. While our cupboard is nearly bare, we still have a future swap in 2032 and multiple WSH 2nd round picks. I think it’s very possible Dallas would take Vando for PJ and get off that contract 3 years earlier, save $8 mil per year in the interim, and take their chances on a 2032 swap when Flagg is in his prime and Luka is entering his mid thirties.

Dort makes approx. $17 mil this year and it’s not clear whether OKC plans to just bring him back and lose him in unrestricted FA next summer. He’d be the POA defender we need and would move Grimes to 6th man role where he likely is best suited

Anyway, I hope the front office is exploring every possibility. Anyone can look at our depth chart and see this isn’t a serious team if we don’t add a starting caliber forward/wing. I can also see arguments for prioritizing a good backup center like Gafford to ensure we have a good big man on the floor at all times.

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.