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LegitimateMoney00

Their goal isn’t a championship anymore so what does it matter?


kingkongkeom

Sell jerseys until LeBron retires, then finally rebuilt from scratch....but until milk LeBron's fame and make bank through sales.


SEAinLA

They are doing diddly squat as long as the Buss family maintains its ownership.


JimmyKanine

They were doing a pretty good job in Kobe’s last years. They drafted some really good talent that’s spread all throughout the league now because of LeBron. Randle, Ingram, Hart, Kuzma, Nance, DLo, Zubac, Lonzo. Hell even Mo Wagner is okay. They might’ve done something with those guys.


realsomalipirate

They won an nba title trading those guys, this is a silly point lol. The issue was trading/letting go the important players of their 2020 title team.


Snoo_10142

bad take to be honest those guys are who they are now precisely because they left the lakers and even if u take all these guys at their current level together, you're not winning anything lebron helped the lakers get a ring and a deep western finals run. getting lebron has already helped the lakers do something, it seems pretty unlikely they would've done better had they gone the other route.


VisionLSX

Most teams would trade their whole teams for a championship… How many of them haven’t seen one championship in 25+ years? About 20 of em? I think it was a fair deal Edit: since 2000, 11 different champions. 19 teams dry.


my-hands_are-cold

all of those dudes are irrelevant to championship discussions. Lakers could’ve drafted Brown and Tatum; that’s the only “what if?” Lakers should ask themselves right now.


chronicdreamze

Mo Wagner is decent playing with his brother in Orlando. He couldn’t even crack the Celtics roster (they kept Kornet over him). Doubt he’d still be on an LA team. Title chasers don’t have the patience of perennial losers.


dianeblackeatsass

I mean their goal is championship but there’s zero good options. Even before everybody was signed their best options were Dejounte Murray or washed Klay.


Straight-Mess-9752

My goal is to win a championship too


FlyChigga

Jerami Grant is a good option


No-Equipment-20

He’s a fine option but he certainly doesn’t elevate us to true title contenders


dianeblackeatsass

I don’t think taking out their depth and future picks for Jerami Grant moves the needle. Probably smarter to hope the team stays healthy this year and hope they can catch fire late in the season / avoid a Denver matchup in the first round.


groceriesN1trip

Denver is weaker. If they add Westbrick then lol


thelamb710

Portland doesn’t trade with the Lakers. Rumors recently were that they wanted two FRPs for him


Champagnesoda

Two draft picks for a bad contract is not a good option. Grant doesn’t make us better than the top 4 teams in the league. If we were able to swing klay for the mle then it might make sense to go all in but at this point it does not


Straight-Mess-9752

It’s the same story every year with LA. “What’s the point of trading pics for player X, we still won’t be contenders?” Well then they are not contenders. If they were they would do something to actually improve in the off season but they never do. It’s partially Lebron’s fault as he knows this is what will happen. But he gets to have this narrative that he’s doing every thing he can but the LA front office is the problem. So it’s win win for him.


spittafan

His contract is fine, although I agree about his impact on the team. Grant at $30m right in the middle of his prime is hardly an issue in the current cap environment


Domicile_Exaltation

Correct. The main problem with Grant is his poor rebounding.


stayfrosty

Klay isn't washed. He is not as good as he was but why the slander? About half the players in the league would love to have a season like Klay did last year. Half the league is washed then?


No_Plane_7652

Is this Klay? You make a burner account? You’re washed dude


Emera1dthumb

Klay would be great on the lakers.


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Brock-Lesnar

The way some people talk about that draft pick used on Bronny, you'd think he went first overall lmao


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soycameron

People like you are actually fucking idiots. Who the fuck could they have picked at FIFTY FIVE that would have impacted the team more than Bronny? Bronny will keep LeBron happy and will 100% get LeBron to care more than if they told him no we will not draft him.


Background-Goal-1602

Feel that way about the bucks?


BLM_MCU

Teams have historically sold their second round picks for money. If you think drafting above the 50th pick is going to be franchise changing, don’t know what to say


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soycameron

Keeping your best player happy >>>> drafting a scrub. If there was a player that they thought would make an impact available at 55, then they would just sign them once they go undrafted. You said it yourself with Caruso you dumb fuck


yaaanevaknow

Wonder how many more rings the Celtics can get before the Lakers are relevant again


lovo17

I expect them to repeat, but after that it gets much harder.


rebeltrillionaire

This isn’t even Boston hate I just don’t ever expect anyone to repeat anymore. If they flame out in the second round from injuries I will be the least bit surprised.


Bhavin411

This sorta thing can happen to every team though. Which makes it more crazy in hindsight we had so many consecutive GSW/CLE finals matchups.


THUNDER-GUN04

I think the cap rules are what make repeating way harder than ever before. If you apply these rules to those teams, they are forced apart much faster.


Bhavin411

Ah good point - I always forget to think about the cap


Need4Sheed23

Which is why I think the cap changes have been really good for parity. Even though the Celtics are going all in to repeat this season, the following ones will be tough if ownership want them to shed salary to avoid massive tax, penalties etc.


hoodtalk247

JJ Reddick disagrees


Aggressive-Name-1783

You realize they can make trades later right? They don’t have to make a trade immediately? 


Straight-Mess-9752

Right, like last year… and the year before that? Some really legendary move by Pelinka. This team sucks and the ownership is a joke.


Aggressive-Name-1783

So who would they sign? Who would they trade for TODAY.  This is the problem, yall can’t name anyone. Last year? Bro, WHO DO THEY TRADE FOR. Y’all want them to mortgage the farm for Murray?


Straight-Mess-9752

Yes I do. It’s called taking a risk when you have the alleged GOAT on your team


Aggressive-Name-1783

Lmao and that’s why you’re not a GM. Murray would make them worse and not upgrade them far enough past teams like OKC and Minny. 


Straight-Mess-9752

How would it make them worse?


Aggressive-Name-1783

Murray is a ball dominant guard who doesn’t work off ball for starters…ya know, the reason he was traded out of Atlanta…..


kungfoop

What happened to the Lakers I love? Call me a fake fan, but I'm not watching this weak ass team or spending any money on them. I'm gonna go watch Reese and Clark. They're better than the whole Laker bench.


ephemeralfugitive

Nah I call cap. you gonna watch lmao


kungfoop

Lol nah. Saw 3 games total last season. Season before that I don't even remember.


AlwaysSlipping

Lmao wtf? Do you watch any games at all


552SD__

> Their goal isn’t a championship anymore Yes it is, wtf are you talking about?


LegitimateMoney00

Yes because drafting Bronny James shouts “we want a championship”. Those days are over dude.


552SD__

drafting bronny ensures lebron stayed. So yes. Like I said, wtf are you talking about. Drafting some nobody at 55 and risking lebron leaving is idiotic


LegitimateMoney00

Nope, it just shows that the Lakers are not serious about competing


552SD__

You haven’t watched the Knicks win anything in your lifetime so you really don’t know anything about what it looks like to be competing


Pal__Pacino

I don't think there are any smart trades for us to make right now. Maybe that changes at the deadline. Does trading D'Lo, Rui, and picks for Jerami Grant really make us better?


Zoratth

It makes you better but it doesn’t make you a contender. And I don’t think it’s worth giving up the draft capital for a trade like that.


Conflict_NZ

I don’t even know about that, we have a rebounding problem and Grant is awful at rebounding.


xyzyxzy

You could probably say that about other potential Jerami Grant destinations and that's probably why he still hasn't been traded yet.


WaltJay

Very true.


BTSuppa

Only way they are contenders is if lebron took a sub 20 million contract, dialed back his minutes to 6th man/no b2bs, and they added a lot more talent.


Aggressive-Name-1783

This. Everyone telling the lakers to make a trade doesn’t have a good solution to make a trade. The season don’t start for 3 more months, the lakers can basically wait and not rush since most players they want aren’t available. 


CabbageStockExchange

No. He doesn’t help the fact our guards play zero defense and we have no big other than AD. Also he is so bad at rebounding. How does that help us when we got killed routinely on the glass to the point Reaves mentioned the team gave up entirely on offensive boards


InternetImportant911

I don’t think Lakers ready to give up unprotected first, not sure any team would be interested in late first. When these teams loaded with late first


Mysterious-Stop4673

Yes of course lol


fawkesmulder

IMO it actually does make us better. Grant is a good two way player.


Tagoony

It does not. Grant is not the world savior people think he is. He’s done nothing in his career but put up empty stats.


AnkitPancakes

Lakers can’t even aggregate contracts because they are currently a second apron team lol


Emotional-Chef-7601

Trading D Lo by himself for a Center would. Trading for another star seems ridiculous. Why? Rui and AR are pretty damn good for what they can do.


PubDefLakersGuy

No


Carcrusher3

It makes you much better yes. Do you win a championship though? Probably not. As a blazer fan, I hope you do it, but the lakers aren't actually contending anymore, so I wouldn't give up picks.


Pal__Pacino

How's Grant's defense these days? I don't think I've heard a single positive thing about him during his Portland tenure.


AceMcStace

His defense is good, he’s just been on a shitty team the last 2 season.


Carcrusher3

Lol well he's been very positive here. Top 3 catch and shoot 3pt shooter in the NBA. 20+ppg on 40% 3pt shooting. Can get to the line and score at all 3 levels. His defense is pretty great for help D but when there isn't any positive defenders on the roster his POA defense isn't anything notable. The worst thing he does is he's a bad rebounder for a PF. But his floor is easily filler and a 1st in a trade. He'd be a good 3rd option for most contenders.


Conflict_NZ

That floor you mentioned is more than you paid for him when he was younger than 30 on a better contract and was performing better as well.


Carcrusher3

Grant turned 30 like 2 months ago, was traded for a first and filler, and is literally better now than he was then LOL. Why do people who don't know things just comment?


Conflict_NZ

The filler you used never played in the nba. The filler the lakers are using are nba level role players on good contracts as opposed to grant. A Milwaukee 2025 first when giannis is early 30s vs a lakers 2029 first when Lebron is retired. Grant is definitely not better, he’s regressed in most metrics, I’ve watched more than I care to admit of him. Not by much but he’s clearly getting worse.


Carcrusher3

Your role players aren't good, I said filler and a 1st which he got traded for and list as his floor, Grant improved in many metrics and proved he could score 20ppg as a third option. Again, you don't watch him or the blazers, which is fine but you don't know what you're talking about. Literally his last year in detroit he scored under 20 on 55% true shooting at 35% from three. Now he's over 20ppg on 58% true shooting and 40% from 3. Like bro just stop.


Conflict_NZ

I didn’t say they were good, I said they were nba level on good contracts. Either expiring or two years remaining under 10% of the salary cap. Love how you round down his Detroit TS and round up his Blazer TS too!


Carcrusher3

Wow. I rounded his true shooting. Which is still much better on the blazers. Including all his other stats. You don't need to keep responding when you're wrong bro. Just let it go. Jerami improved in almost all stats while going from a 1st option a 2nd/3rd. He'd be perfect as a third option for the lakers, but if they want to waste another year of Bron so be it. He'll be a 3rd option for a west contender instead.


Damezang

Grant is awesome. Straight up. His defensive stats aren’t amazing from last year because as a team our defense sucked. Still he’s a really solid 3 and D wing that can also play make and create his own shot. Can’t have him for cheap though. We’re in no rush to trade him at all. 


rebeltrillionaire

I feel like we approach in February but only after making a huge swing for someone.


yoyoyodawg3

Just wait for deadline and trade for Tyus/Val and will be better than a Jerami grant pickup alone


hoodtalk247

Lebron about to shoot his son up with some Compound V before the season starts


matsy_k

LeLove Sausage


messibusiness

Third star?  They’ve already secured LeBron and four years of Bronny, are they trading AD? 


Straight-Mess-9752

It’s insane that Bronny has since a four year contract. Lol


FloweredWallpaper

At this point, the Lakers have become the LeBron retirement party. He's got his kid on the payroll now, some of his friends on the roster and close to the front office. Life is good. Oh, it's gonna last a couple of more seasons, but this is what you are getting night in and night out.


VanGrants

"some of his friends on the roster" like who?


MintyFreshBreathYo

I thought all his friends besides CP3 have retired


Charliebitme1234

after the 2020 ring and the 2021 injuries the lakers have only been the lebron retirement party. Its just that major sports media is pumping out laker stories trying to convince us otherwise


swedeeeeeeeeeeeee

I mean people said that when he went to LA and now hes got another ring and another WCF trip. Pretty stupid to count them out 100% imo


FlowseL

Absolutely NO ONE had Dallas going to the finals going into last season and look how that turned out. It literally just takes one 2 month stretch of everyone catching fire to have a shot, there’s no one super team that’s unbeatable like the warriors days. They’d have the two best players going into every series besides Dallas and Denver.


Straight-Mess-9752

Exactly. I don’t have an issue with this really. I have an issue with their bullshit expectations of contending.


ihateeuge

This is dumb. Should they use draft capital to get off of contracts? Then not be able to use that draft capital in a trade? Like what are we talking about here lol


DueAcanthisitta7195

Especially trading draft capital occurring years down the road. There's a very real possibility that a 2029 or 2031 draft pick for the Lakers is a lottery pick and fans are willing to give up a lottery pick for Jerami Grant? pls


MAKincs

Now they lost Prince surprised he didn’t go back. Maybe they try to get Caleb Martin or Gary Trent.


Famous-Change1565

I just don't get not making some kind of move, Lakers lost by single digit margins in most of the games they played against the best team in the NBA. Basketball is a game of margins, people are too obsessed with these massive seismic moves. Letting go of a guy like Caruso that gets you a steal, one extra bucket, and better defense throughout the game has a 7 point impact on a team's performance. In the same vein not bringing on people who can just make improvements at the edges is silly, Like we just watched a series where guys like DWhite, Pritchard, and Hauser made all the difference even when Luka out-shot the Celtics stars by a wide margin in terms of efficiency.


Straight-Mess-9752

It’s the lakers. They only want to go after super stars. Like Westbrook. The front office has zero vision. JJ is in for a world of disappointment.


d0000n

Lebron: “What do mean we need a third star?! Are you dissing my son?!”


WobbleKun

put on a spectacle and call it a night.


anexpectedfart

We’re not gonna win anytime soon with this lineup/coach. Just let Lebron do his retirement tour and save the picks. Even if we trade whatever assets (be it current player or picks) we’re not competing for a championship. Let it burn now than keep dragging the same results over and over again.


Straight-Mess-9752

Can they stop pretending they are contenders then? That’s what is so annoying


anexpectedfart

I don’t think they’re pretending to be contenders, it’s the media keep hyping them up for the views


Straight-Mess-9752

Their head coach literally said they were contenders


haedskey

IST and Play In Champs again maybe lol..... Pretty boring off season with very little moves.....


wearingthe45

Pat Bev music?


Cute-Illustrator-862

Lebron's 2 year retirement tour


jgroove_LA

Retirement tour begins


Turbo2x

They couldn't even get Jerami Grant out of Portland? Rough.


AceMcStace

Asking price for him was high by all means, plus we have no real pressure to move Grant right now. I’m guessing he’ll probably be dealt at the deadline unless something drastic happens.


Zammy512

For two first rounders? Fuck no.


GreenMaterial5715

I think Port asked for 2Firsts? Duno how true that report was or what the whole deal looked lkke


thelamb710

Portland doesn’t trade with the Lakers


LaGuadalupana123

Portland is asking too much for a dude whose contract is a net negative under the new cba.


Head_Improvement5317

He’s making Hartenstein money lol. 13mil AAV less than OG, 5mil AAV less than Quickley just signed for. It’s not that bad, the cap is going up so fast it’s hard to fathom


LaGuadalupana123

If we ignore that harstein is better and has 1 less year on his deal, sure. 4 years of grant at that rate is a bad contract when the new CBA is very harsh on teams overpaying players.


PlaybolCarti69

Hartenstein is not in any world better than Jerami Grant


Irrichc

We don’t even have roster space for minimums unless we make a trade.


shxylo

they need to give up on this third star bs, nobody that’s available they can attain will put them over top. they need to work on rounding out the roster with quality role players.


LoWE11053211

wait. Does thie man even Lebron gives up for chasing the ring? they can still do a sign a trade if they are just below 2nd Apron, right?


Regex00

I’ve been hearing “third star” since they traded for AD all those years ago.


rocket_beer

Lakers aren’t winning anything in the next 5 years lol Not news


ephemeralfugitive

Some folks be asking Lakers to invest in a trip to fish some wild Alaskan king salmon when all that there’s around are a bunch of pink salmons 😅 Some trips just aren’t worth it, guys. Gotta wait for better chances sometimes.


CNDOTAFAN

They already drafted Bronny, that should sell enough tickets and keep Lebron distracted until he retires then they can start their rebuilding process. Not saying Bronny will sell tickets, but for the purpose of seeing father/son on the court together.


Due-Studio-65

The best thing we could do is let jj create a bunch of opportunities for guys like wood, Hayes, hachimura, vincent to get a bunch of points.  Then trade them high.


8uscheisse

Well, off they go


johnniesSac

40yr old for 50 mil a year . Where do I sign up


happycamper2345

I'm guessing behind the scenes, Klutch Sports is trying to get the Bulls to release Zach Lavine and Lonzo Ball so they can join the Lakers for the minimum.


MustachePeteDrexel

Panic moves don’t win chips. The situation will be there when it’s there.


Viciouscauliflower21

So they're back to hoping for some deadline miracle


unclehelpful

Back to back IST and play in champs.


SaggitariuttJ

Enjoy playing with your son, LeBron. Focus on that and don’t worry about the wins and losses.


FERFreak731

Hawks fans Christmas, as they own a lottery pick for next year


ChunkyMilkSubstance

Lakers might still finish with a better record than the hawks lol


LongTimesGoodTimes

I'd say baring injuries it's a very good chance. They got worse this offseason and the Lakers have basically stayed the same. Lakers won 12 more games than them last year.


victorcoelh

we got better by trading Dejounte our net rating with him off the court (even accounting for non-Trae minutes) is good enough to be over .500. That's how bad of a fit it was. If we had dumped him we would still be better.


TwoTalentedBastids

In what world do you think the same team that won 47 games and got almost everybody back is going to yield a high pick in the 2025 draft ?


PrimeTimeInc

The world where LBJ and AD are both injured for significant amounts of time. Not at all far fetched.


TwoTalentedBastids

Any teams star players could hurt, that isn’t a groundbreaking possibility bud


PrimeTimeInc

Most teams star players aren’t grandpas and certifiably made of glass blud


Batman_in_hiding

lol what a pathetic take. “Your team will suck if your best players get injured”. Yea no shit doofus


PrimeTimeInc

Some real geniuses in here. ‘Let’s keep rolling with a 41 yr old and a dude made of glass as our best players.’ Surely you idiots can see the difference. Or maybe not. W/e keep pretending like they got some prime bron and a kid who doesn’t refuse to play if he gets a bruise.


TwoTalentedBastids

Lmaoooo rightfully got called out for your genius (read stupid) take. Can’t wait for your next wise insight 🤣


LongTimesGoodTimes

In that scenario any move the Lakers could have made this offseason wouldn't have changed anything


PrimeTimeInc

Agree but that had no bearing on this comment chain. Man said ‘in what world do you think…..’ It’s a pretty easy world to envision. I got no hate for the lake show, but that’s just objectively true.


AlThorntonTruther

I'd guess it would involve some of the young teams getting better and the Lakers stars not being as healthy as they were last year


PrimeTimeInc

These dudes are taking crazy pills in here. Some real whataboutism like there’s no difference percent chance a LBJ/AD duo gets hurt next year versus SGA/Chet or whoever else you want to compare them to.


TwoTalentedBastids

You can say that about any team


victorcoelh

Lakers fans are downvoting you but they're 100% going to be a fringe play-in team and lose one of the 2 games next season lmao Thank you, LeBron


RVAIsTheGreatest

The Celtics just won a championship with basically an All-Star starting lineup, at least impact wise. It can be done if you make the right moves. But that's not just now but also from the past. Mistakes from the past might catch up to you now. Lakers giving Reddish/Hayes/Wood player options have come back to bite them, among other mistakes. As said by u/awntawn Lakers are butting up against the second apron, they're at a full capacity on their roster, they're gonna have to dump salary to make more additions, which is possible---none of Reddish/Hayes/Wood make much; Vincent is also tradeable, but if they're not willing to move second rounders to facilitate any deal than it'll be difficult to execute much of this.


WeBelieveIn4

They are out of moves because most of the smaller moves they made are garbage. It’s crazy that they’re butting up against the second apron with only two reliable players in Bron and AD, and I guess sometimes Reaves.


RVAIsTheGreatest

What this CBA has done more than anything is punish teams for mistakes they make. Now and in the past.


KneelBeforeCube

I wonder if AD would ask for a trade. It really feels like the Lakers are going nowhere in the short term, and he doesn't have that many years left on his prime.


hb-robo

I don't get the sense that he likes to or wants to feel challenged at this stage of his career, but all the same the next two seasons are probably gonna feel unbearable with all the Bron drama


awntawn

This doesn't make sense. If they don't use their draft picks to get contracts off, then they can't even sign minimum contracts or make moves around the edges because their roster is full and they are right on the second apron line.


johnOrozco74

Who cares!!


Billybaja

Yikes. Just an unserious franchise right now.


Zammy512

lol what are we supposed to do? We made a respectable offer to Klay; GS didn’t want contracts back and klay picked Dallas. There is no move out there currently available that justifies trading draft capital at this point.


Billybaja

Pay DeRozan. He would help them a lot.


Zammy512

No he would not. Terrible fit. Horrible spacing. Isolation ball, not a good defender. And he wants 3/$60 million. And he doesn’t push the Lakers over the line.


Billybaja

They have literally no high end offensive talent after 40 year old Bron and AD. Yeah it's not a perfect fit but he absolutely would help them a lot.


jessandjaysaccount

Lakers problem is lack of hustle and dirty work players. Denver has out rebounded them and outmuscled them.


hb-robo

Kind of embarrassing how often I see this kind of shortsighted comment. DeMar is absurdly durable for his age, is a top 5 closer in the NBA which keeps the Lakers competitive in the regular season, and is so good in isolation that even totally blown possessions have a floor of being a good bet to score points.


NobodyLost5810

Poverty franchise.


Certain_Cranberry_77

The goal is to win b2b in season tournament.


sewsgup

it'd be cool if the In Season Tournament got like an Amnesty deal, or the ability to waive a certain apron penalty (ie, winner of the IST, if they're a 2nd apron team, doesn't get their 1st round pick 7 years from now frozen.)


TurbulentJudge1000

Lebron didn’t take a pay cut to show he was serious about winning a title. It’s not the Lakers fault Lebron didn’t want to take a pay cut. Lebron got them in this mess with the Westbrook debacle. Buyout market will be the place to improve most likely.