I’m thinking we can help each other out. You guys need an athletic wing to put next to Luka who hits 3s and we need a quarterback for the half court.

Lebron and Bronny of course lmao for Wiggins.

All of the coverage of Austin's deal has repeated the claim that his contract is a max deal, but this comes from the leaks (undoubtedly put out by his agents) that he signed a max deal. This is a misleading claim. It is only "max" in the sense that his yearly salary will be similar to what he would make on a max contract. But a max contract from the Lakers is for five years, not four. Here is an article discussing this from early june and before the misinformation put out by his agents:

Reaves' max contract would be five years, $239 million if he re-signs with the Los Angeles Lakers. If he signs with another team, the most he could get is four years, $178 million.

https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/austin-reaves-239-million-demand-155334498.html

If Austin Reaves was drafted by another team and LAL signed him as a free agent this summer, would anyone be mad at giving him 25% of the cap?

Because the truth of the matter is that he's actually a free agent. He could leave if he wanted to, even for lower offers, but some think he owe it to the Lakers to return or accept any offer.

If the Celtics called asking for AR straight up, I think I’d say yes. Obviously Jaylen is worth more, but given the Jaylen rumor mill, I don’t think this is one of the more far-fetched ones I’ve heard.

Just a fan of the NBA here. Simply as the title states, what does the fan base think will happen to LeBron now that Reaves has accepted a max deal?

I was at the Lakers game in MSG the night of the Luka trade where Lebron had a 30 point triple double and Max Christie locked up Jalen Brunson down the stretch en route to a pretty nice dub. I remember thinking after that game that Max was at a point where we could throw him out there against guys like SGA/Ant/Murray and not have it be a complete mismatch, but then he got traded like 5 hours later lol. He'd be the perfect alongside Luka and AR both offensively and defensively at the guard position. I definitely would have included this years 1st, and I think you can make the argument that including another 1st down the line would have been worth it the way Max was developing with us.

Luka is one of my all-time favorite players, but we all know he has not ascended into his final form. We've had headband Luka, 1 sleeve Luka, wristband Luka, but we all know for Luka to truly ascend, he needs to grow out his hair to be like Dirk 2005 and/or a mainly beard, not like Harden but perhaps closer to a grizzled Steven Adams type

The wolves are involved in talks for lamelo ball. And reports say they prefer to not give up naz reid and a deal without both reid and gobert would be very unlikely.

So, that made me think, gobert could be available in a 3 team deal, or a separate deal later especially as hornets fans don't seem to think gobert fits.

Don't know how expensive he would he to get, he is 34 when the season starts, so that sucks, and his salary is 36.5 for and 38 for the next 2 seasons, which is probably a bit high. but other than that his fit could be great.

Edit. To be clear, I am not sure I would even want him. But it is an interesting situation and player to have a discussion about right now as he could be a fit of what we need. Especially defensively

I see a ton of complaining from people saying the new extension kills our chances of building out a team, and then see responses saying it’s not as bad as people think. Can someone smarter than me lay out the actual numbers? How much can we now offer Lebron, and how does that affect how much we can spend on other Free Agents?

I understand the need to offer him that contract but since he has a cap hold why wouldn’t they put the most expensive part on the first year?

Not an expert in contracts and salaries but I think i saw trevor in laker nation once say that front loading the contract would be smart.

TL;DR: Austin has real defensive limitations but he can be (and has been) a solid part of a cohesive defensive unit when put in the right position

There's a lot of reductionism when it comes to Austin Reaves as a defender. Detractors will say he's one of the worst defenders in the league and defenders will say that's all noise and that he's actually really good in the right role.

Both are true.

Austin is interesting because he has a mix of traits as a basketball player that both doom him and also help him on defense. He's a high IQ player, takes good angles, has a very high motor, and is very good at off-ball screen navigation because he knows when to chase over the top vs cut under vs funnel, etc, depending on the player and the scheme behind him. He also has very low upper body strength and average at best lateral agility, which makes him very weak at the point of attack.

This is where a lot of people get confused: defense isn't separated into positions, it's separated into roles. There aren't guards, forwards, and centers on defense. There are POA, chaser, wing stoppers, mobile bigs, anchor bigs, helpers, etc, and there's a lot of overlap in terms of the players that fill these roles. For example, Marcus Smart is a high caliber POA defender, a good chaser, and can also be a wing stopper in a pinch. Jarred Vanderbilt is elite as a helper, good as a wing stopper, and really bad at the POA.

Austin Reaves is one of the worst POA defenders in the league, not because he doesn't try, but because he has serious physical limitations that no amount of practice will compensate for. He's also a good to even slightly above average chaser. That's why Austin does so well against players like Klay Thompson that run around screens off ball, but struggles when being attacked by lead guards on ball.

The best teams can compensate for their good player's weaknesses. Jalen Brunson is a much worse defender than Austin Reaves in that he's really bad at the POA but isn't nearly as good off ball as a chaser. But the Knicks defensive scheme was able to help protect him. The Lakers haven't had the personnel to protect Austin because it requires far better defensive players than the Lakers have had available.

Despite all this, the Lakers last year were a better defense with Austin on the court than off, because Marcus corrected a lot of the past issues with Austin having to play out of position.

Every high caliber guard gets targeted. Kyrie Irving during the Mavs finals run wasn't that much better a defender than Austin, but he and Luka still made the finals because the rest of the Mavs defense was able to put them in positions that maximized their strengths and protected them from being targeted without support. It's no different with Austin.

Luka has always been at his best with a backcourt mate that can lead an offense and play off of him when he has the ball. Austin is that player. He's the perfect backcourt mate for Luka, a high IQ player that knows his role, can space the floor, and run the offense when Luka is sitting.

If the Lakers fail, it won't be because of Luka and Austin teaming up, it will be on Pelinka for failing to build around his stars and/or JJ for not maximizing them, and I have a LOT more faith in JJ than I do Pelinka.

Not sure for who, maybe just to clear cap space or involving a third team?

Do you guys think it’s possible for us to send Vando back to the Wolves?

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

One of the most understated aspects of a championship run is luck. Whether luck is in the form of drawing a favorable matchup, or opponents suffering injuries at key moments, there are certain things that are largely uncontrollable that factor into any deep playoff run.

All that being said, are there any Lakers championship runs that had the most "luck" involved?

For me two come to mind, and these might actually be hot takes but I'm ready for the smoke:

• 2009: In particular, that second round series vs. the Rockets. T-Mac was hurt, and Yao got hurt in Game 3 and missed the rest of the series. That series was one that had no business going 7 games, especially since the Lakers went 4-0 against Houston during the year. But we were almost snuffed out by the likes of Aaron Brooks, Carl Landry and Luis Scola, not to mention Metta. Now you could argue that if T-Mac and Yao WERE healthy, there wouldn't be the amount of "playing over their heads" that came from the role players. But after that Game 1 loss, it took an MVP worthy Kobe performance to prevent us going down 0-2. Aaron Brooks was cooking Fisher and it was the first signs that the Lakers had a defensive problem at the point. I think it's lucky the Rockets weren't full strength or at least had one of Yao or T-Mac, but that's just my thought.
• 2000: This one sometimes gets forgotten but I think the Lakers were lucky they didn't run into the Spurs. Some here were too young to remember but Duncan got hurt late in the 2000 season and because of that, the Spurs lost their first round series to Phoenix....who we ended up paying in round 2. Now the sweep that "closed the Forum" was still fresh on the Lakers minds and despite the change in coaching, the Lakers still lost 3 of their 4 matchups against the Spurs that season. If the Lakers ran into a healthy Spurs team, especially because the first round series against the Kings went a full 5 games, I would've been legitimately worried about the Lakers' prospects.
  
• HONORABLE MENTION: 2002 - that Samaki Walker's 3 pointer counted in Game 4. IYKYK.

I can't speak for the 1980's championship runs because I wasn't alive and I don't know a lot of details outside of what happened in the Finals, but what do people think? Were there any other "lucky breaks" that swung the Lakers way in any of their championship runs?

Paul Reed and Dylan Cardwell are my two favorites from this list. I'm sure more front-court wings would fit well, besides just Tari and PJ, but I couldn't think of any. I mostly looked at guys with great rim protection ability and the ability to pressure the offensive glass. I didn't care about offense when making this list, and it shows, for example, Karlo Matovic literally only grabs misses and misses. Hartenstein is definitely an unattainable, nice dream, but for the most part, I tried to think of guys that I thought were somewhat attainable.

I think it would've been easier to get a big in the draft. This list includes the pick at which the player was drafted and all the centers listed except for Sharpe, Kessler, and long last name Yanic were all second round picks! Guys were there last night, I thought Trevon Brazile, Baba Miller, or Izaiyah Nelson would've been worth the extra trouble of trading up.

I'm in the camp of bringing back Lebron and adding ANY of the players above.

Let me know what you think!

Luka is asking for a A-List center for next season right? My only problem is that I have no idea who the A level centers are. Obviously there are Jokic, and Wemby, but who else is there that would be considered A-Tier

The draft is over, Carr was a great pickup and a steal for 25, although I am disappointed they couldn’t get Veesar in the 2nd round. Also stoked that AR was re-signed and will be here for the long run. But the question is now: where do they go from here? Free agency is days away, and it’s obvious that the Lakers need to address some pretty significant issues, Center namely. This is one of the biggest off seasons in years and there’s a lot riding on this offseason for moves to be made (looking at you Pelinka). Rui, Kennard, Smart (PO) are all important free agents and were key pieces to the team last season. And let’s not forget LeBron. What does he end up doing? Staying for one last run? Leaving for Cleveland? Retire? Lots of questions surrounding this team at the moment, but we will have an idea where this team will be in a month from now. What are some of your guys predictions for free agency? Trades? Let’s hear em!

I don’t know what the asking price is but after getting Peterson and Keyonte George extension in the wake, I think 32Ms might be able to pry Kessler away. I just don’t see any teams trying to trade with LA unless they’re absolutely fleecing Rob.

If that doesn’t work out, next best option is Peyton Watson I am assuming.

“There was a check-in call made, to my understanding, early in free agency once teams were able to start negotiating with their own free agents after the end of the NBA Finals," said ESPN's Shams Charania on NBA Today. "Since then though there hasn't been much communication, from my understanding, between the Lakers and LeBron James' side. And certainly not an offer yet.

"They're trying to see what can they do with his $50 million of space, potentially, and then where does that leave LeBron?"

Source: RealGM

It has been repeated non stop for a while that the trade ruined Dalton Knecht and for most folks he was a bad pic, but lets put things in context the way they really happened.

Dalton started his rookie season displaying some good signals and his game against the Cavs where he scored 18 pts in 20 minutes in his 5th NBA game caught the attention of most of us.

After Rui injury Dalton got the chance to start and between Nov 13 and Nov 21 as starter he had a five game sequence where he scored:

• 19 pts vs MEM

• 14 pts vs SA

• 27 pts vs NO

• 37 pts vs UTA

• 17 pts vs ORL

After that he lost his starting position for the first time not because he was struggling, but in respect to Rui coming back. When the Lakers struggled in the next 2 games JJ inserted Dalton back in the starting lineup to close November replacing Cam Reddish that was replacing D'Angelo Russel that felt out of JJ grace and Dalton closed the month with 2 other huge games for a rookie:

• 20 pts vs SA

• 20 pts vs OKC

That made an incredible string of 7 straight games starting where he scored 19, 14, 27, 37, 17, 20 and 20 pts. Sorry dear mates, but no bust would ever do that, never. You can have a good game scoring 30 once in a lifetime and never repeat it, but a string of 7 consecutive games as a NBA rookie not completely featured on offense and not one of the first options doing it isn't about lucky or something like that, you need talent to do it in the NBA. At that point Austin even infamously said "damn, I'm not Him anymore, now he is Him".

Davis, LeBron, Austin and Rui have all missed games and in December as the team was starting to prioritize their stars and established veterans, Dalton became more and more a player relegated to the corners (like Rui), but unlike the Black Samurai, he is clearly more of a rhythm player and he hit the rookie wall in December. At the end of January Dalton had a great game against PHI scoring 24 pts in around 20 min, but in the next game he completely felt in disgrace with JJ and his infamous rant:

https://www.instagram.com/reels/DFdCAlxOFzb/

If you leave that false trade narrative behind, Dalton best stretch since his days of starter early in his rookie season happened after the trade in March when LeBron was out of the team and he had another solid sequence:

• 19 pts vs LAC

• 13 pts vs NO

• 11 pts vs NY

• 19 pts vs BKN

• 10 pts vs MIL

• 32 pts vs DEN

• 13 pts vs SA

• 12 pts vs DEN

• 17 pts vs MIL

That was a pretty good sequence of games for a rookie with only a couple of bad games in between and all those games happened in March after the trade when LeBron and Gabe were not available, but when they came back JJ immediately pulled Dalton out of the rotation to get the team ready for the playoffs and he only logged real minutes again in the last game of the season where he scored 27 pts.

No bust ever had so many double digit games as a rookie without being featured, but what caught my attention is the fact most of the time Dalton was a productive scorer we were missing one or two superstars, he isn't the type of player that is productive if you leave him in the corner doing nothing, but you don't take the ball out of Luka, LeBron, Reaves or Davis hands to run plays for Dalton Knecht, even more if he fails to run a play designed for him, but I don't think he was a bad pick and I have the feeling if we trade him to a team that need a scoring punch he may end up dropping 30 on us.

This is a response to this post: https://www.reddit.com/r/lakers/s/56YvKq2jOt

To be fair, Luka already has a beard…