[Semi-OT] The Lakers are an absolute Dumpster Fire and I am loving every second of it

Gabe Vincent & thbbbfft for Markkanen. Danny Ainge has enough problems getting his rebuild started.
No FRP's, no deal

 

Irwin says he hears we like Rui. That the combo we like is Rui and Vando plus two firsts.

But he said that Cronin is sticking to his guns and Pelinka is the same way.

 

The best one I have seen is CHI gives LAL Levine and a FRP for Vincent and Dlo

 

It sounds like we're keeping Ant.

 

Rui makes a lot of sense: up our international marketing even more to encourage a buyer before the move to international tourist destination Las Vegas

 

Rui + Vanderbilt wouldn't be legal. Lakers are way to close to the 2nd apron

and Cronin demanding two firsts is stupid unless he just doesn't want a trade

 

I’d do DLO/Vincent and two firsts. I think that’s fair considering we would be taking on Vincent’s horrible contract.

 

I could be wrong but I don't think there is any way, at all, the Blazers will land two first's unless a 3rd team sends one for DLo. The Lakers won't pay two first's, especially considering one would have to be unprotected

and while that particular trade may just squeeze under the wire for the 2nd apron, as soon as the Lakers officially sign Bronny James they are in 2nd apron jail

 

I agree. LAL ain’t doing both picks unless it was for an all star.

 

Hachimura & Vanderbilt were supposedly "on the Blazers radar" at the 2023 deadline. Some yap yap yap later, Cronin said no thanks, and continued with the imploding process of the Blazers.

Why would Joe want to sign them now? A day late & a dollar short L.A. Drop your role players off somewhere else.

 

So what's the alternative for them? They're not getting a star for 2 firsts. The going rate for stars is like 4 firsts. LeBron is 40. They just riding it out like they did with Kobe?

 

I think Jerami makes a lot of sense with that roster. So I guess we'll see. Pelinka is the one that I would think is under the gun here.

 

Also I just flatly disagree that Jerami isn’t worth 2 firsts.

He was traded for a first and a massive TPE, which was then flipped for Duren. The TPE is valuable. He was also an expiring contract at the time, so the circumstances were different.

People need to stop comparing the two circumstances.

 

Kuzma, Bruce Bowen, Cam Johnson, etc. doubt many or any of them need 2 FRP. All of them have cheaper contracts than Grant.

You make it sound like Grant is the only forward available in trades throughout the NBA.

It would be stupid if Cronin is holding firm at two FRP.... Grant doesn't have that value and we instead would lose our on any FRP as well as get stuck with 4 years 130 million of that contract. It would basically be a much worse version of what holding onto Timelord resulted in last summer.

 

generically? He might be

but it's not a generic market anymore. It seems to be a market of one team. There might be a surprise 2nd team in there, but unlikely. And since the Lakers are the one team, there are several circumstances at work. To start with, the only first's the Lakers can trade are 2029 & 2031. And in order to trade both, 2029 would have to be unprotected.

Now, the Lakers wouldn't be like OKC or Boston in trading away an unprotected 1st 5 years from now. Those types of teams have a pretty high likelihood of not being lottery teams in 2029. The Lakers aren't like those teams. In 2029, Lebron would be 44 and AD would be 36 after having a career saddled with injuries. The Lakers could be really bad by then and giving away an unprotected pick is very-high-risk/questionable-reward. So, if Cronin is demanding two first's from the Lakers, I'd be very surprised if they are willing to play ball. My hunch is that demand is DOA

the other issue is the Lakers and the 2nd apron. They are only 600K below the 2nd apron and they can't execute a trade that aggregates salaries and puts them over that line. Meaning that unless the Lakers are trading more than 2 players, Hachimura can't be the highest salary the Lakers send out; it would have to be Russell, and Russell has value as a player. Not the value of Grant, but certainly his value is not low enough to require two first's, one of which is unprotected. The of course, there's the 'filler' added to Russell. If it's Rui, that's another decent player the Lakers give up. Russsell + Rui + 2 first's for Grant? That's just too much

the 2nd apron comes into play after the trade as well because the Lakers have an agreement to sign Bronny. Adding his salary would put the Lakers 1M over the 2nd apron and understandably they don't want to do that.

I don't know if there is enough room for the two teams to agree. If I was the Laker's GM and cronin was demanding those two first's for Grant I'd tell him to pound sand

I don't know what would be fair, really.

Grant + Reath + Walker (33.8M)

for

Russell + Hachimura + Lewis (37.6M) + 2029 first (top-10 protected)-->2030 first (top-4 protected; otherwise two 2nd's) + 2031 swap (top-4 protected)

that would give the Lakers some extra bodies and about 3M in margin below the 2nd apron. It would keep the Blazers below the tax line (barely) and allow them to shop Russell and perhaps Hachimura. And, as ST pointed out above, Grant isn't the only SF alternative on the market

 

yep....especially if it's the Lakers because demanding two first's means that both have to be unprotected

 

Personally I'd rather have Grant over all three of those players.

Let's look at Kuz.



He's younger. He's on a cheaper contract. Those are plusses.

He is a much worse shooter. Much much much worse shooter. Not even close to Grant.



I think the Lakers would rather have a 40% three point shooter with LeBron over a 33% three point shooter.

Johnson is an interesting option, but he's a role player. He's not as dynamic as Grant. Grant gets to the line more than double the amount that Johnson does.


Johnson isn't a third star. He's a role player who can't create his own shot. Not like Grant can. Grant is a slightly better three point shooter as well.

Bruce Brown is a joke. Not even remotely in the same league as Grant.

 

I’m not sure what he was worth but wasn’t the TPE kind of irrelevant since he was expiring? Not trying to argue, since I have not yet formed an opinion. I’m trying to understand your position more so I can figure out how angry to be at Cronin

 

It was not at all irrelevant. Detroit used it to flip to New York, with the pick, for Duren. The Knicks don't do that trade if Detroit couldn't absorb salary. They were trying to clear space to sign Brunson.

 

1. There is no rush on LeBron signing his contract. Locking it in before the Olympics matters, but his signing for a bit less to ensure they’re under the 2nd threshold is not tough to do — if Pelinka gets the work done to improve their chances. The announced “agreement” on 2 years/$104 MM is leverage to get moves done.

2. Pelinka has accomplished little to nothing this summer other than catching Knecht as he fell. Holding fast until February is not an option. No one is helping the Lakers and LeBron for a playoff run without the price going up. Having 2 of the top 15 players in the league and being a play-in team, again? Unacceptable.

3. IMHO, the best option on the board — in the realm of possibility, cost, and mentioned — for the Lakers is Grant.

Unprotected in 2030 and a 1st round pick swap in 2028 or 2031. That’s the sweet spot with Rui and Vincent.
2029 already has the Blazers getting 2 of 3 1st round picks.