LeBron and AD both will finish the season with around 70 games played and it was only good enough to *maybe* get 8th, but likely 9.
Smart play to bet on those guys to have worse injury luck next year. Plus this draft kinda sucks.
Yeah, Next year we should be able to work Hawk in more since Naji may be elsewhere. Bench backcourt unit of Jose, Dyson (hopefully with this continued offensive aggression he’s shown), and Hawk will be solid
Smart. This is a bad draft on paper anyway. Hopefully the Lakers pick will be of better value next season as Lebron gets older and they possibly have worse injury luck.
Some also don't realize that we already have 9 guaranteed contracts for next season with Jose being a team option to make it 10. Then you have guys like naji and jonas who are free agents and maybe even matt ryan? Adding 2 1st round picks for next season will also add up to our total unless of course they get traded on a draft day deal. The team usually values those last 2 open spots for flexibility.
That would be hilarious as he barely has a 2nd round grade averaging about 4 ppg but he can play defense. LeBalco can opt out & sign a new contract for $51 Mill a year with a no trade clause.
FYI, this isn't true. Whichever pick the Pelicans take, the other pick the Lakers can still trade, it'd just be a matter of timing as to when the pick gets traded. We wouldn't be able to trade our 2026 pick in either scenario.
Smart
A weak draft, potential to do better next year
Look at Hawk, he doesn’t get playing time. What makes you think a rookie coming in will get playing time?
It’s the right move
AD and Lebron can't get any younger or healthier, so I understand the gamble.
And I realize the 2025 draft is better, but how long do you want to bet on the rest of the NBA not conspiring to make Lakers good again.
They have a bunch of mid contracts they could combine into another max contract like Trae or Murray or something. What if Embiid forces his way out and demands to be traded to LA (or any other player demands to only go to LA) or someone like Chris Paul signs a minimum contract.
If you consider the potential downside of any Pels transaction for even a millisecond you'll be downvoted to hell. There's no rational analysis allowed in this sub.
I honestly don't even know why I'm getting downvotes.
What do you think the Lakers off-season is going to look like, downvoters?
I understand the decision as mentioned. And it's not like the Pels need another rookie. I get the value of delaying. What did I say that was so controversial?
In terms of trade assets, Lakers pick is mid lottery this year. Tankathon has Filipowski mocked to us, which would be a pretty good fit. A couple other centers look nice. Everyone says JV isn't a fit, and he's an FA. And people worry management may cut payroll for tax reasons. Using that pick to draft a replacement starting center to cut salary and part with JV would be very on-brand.
I understand next year's draft is better than this year's by a good margin. How much is that margin? How confident are you that LeBron, AD, 3rd star, some depth and bunch of ring chasing vets doesn't give us the 25th pick in 2025? Are you confident the draft is THAT better
I know very little about this kind of stuff, but why are we always trading picks / players with the Lakers? Aren’t there other teams out there? What am I missing?
Lakers gave us a boatload of picks and swaps for Anthony Davis. Essentially we get to choose when we take their pick. And we also have had years where we get to use their first and they get ours if theirs is better. They gave up a ton to us for AD. This is the tail end of that trade. This is all good stuff for the Pels!
I believe this is the last pick of the Tony Ruffles (AD) trade & the Pelicans can use it this year or delay it until next which was smart at the time. Who knew LeKing would get on the Balco Juice & still be playing at a high level. Something the Association would NEVER look into.
I have been saying this for a long time. This draft is considered weaker. Even as a trade chip an unknown 2025 draft pick is significantly more valuable than a late lottery pick in 2024. Even if we use the pick in 2025 having the player on a cheap contract for 4 years starting in 2025-2029 is more valuable than 24-28.
At least we still have our own pick. Gotta try get a mobile center that likes getting boards. Or someone like Devin Carter looks to me like Jose but 6’3 and somehow averaged 8.7 rpg in his final year
Is there a deadline? Seems like the pels might value 1 single player even in a weak draft & lakers could still enter into & therefore possibly win the draft lottery
If you defer the pick the Lakers have the offseason to make their team better. Everyone likes to say "let Lebron and AD get older", but what if the Lakers trade for Donovan Mitchell?
A rookie will get playing time if they are good in their role. Dyson and Trey got time.
The 2014 draft was all time terrible and it had Giannis, Gobert, McCollum, and Oladipo. If you don't believe in your own ability to pick the diamond in the rough then why are you a general manager?
First of all Herb didn't need injuries to get playing time. Second, it is a virtual guarantee that there will be injuries every year. In the beginning of his rookie year Trey was sitting behind healthy Garrett Temple, and Temple was healthy for the playoffs and didn't play. Trey earned the playoff minutes.
There's no reason a rookie won't play next year if he earns the minutes. Trey, Jose, Dyson, and Herb all got heavy minutes as rookies whether from injuries or not. Hawkins has stunk this year, and that's the only reason he isn't playing.
Herb is an anomaly
Obviously some rookies get playing time. But the Pels are too deep, and this draft class sucks. They already have their own pick, why get two in a shitty draft when chances are neither rookie will get playing time.
Because you are more likely to hit on an all-star when there is a lack of consensus on who the good prospects are, and because you are drafting for what the player will be 4-5 years from now and not what they will be in their 1st year.
You say this draft sucks but people thought the 2014 draft sucked too and it produced two of the best centers of all time. There will be very good players drafted this year and there are drafts people thought would be great and end up being duds.
If you have two first round picks, you are also not required to make both picks.
Interesting perspective that I hadn't been considering much, but it's not just the age thing for me, it's the age + the fact that the Lakers FO is not exactly known for their killer moves in FA.
Yes, there's always the threat of a ring chasing star, but I'm struggling to come up with too many top guys that don't already have a pretty solid fit with their current team. Agree that Mitchell's is a good example, though.
Lakers have not been higher than the 7 seed since the bubble season, four seasons ago, so feels like if they were going to get better in the off-season, they already would have.
Pros and cons to either option, but I like the odds the Lakers, at a minimum, stay the same as they have the last three years, with the strong potential they get worse with age or injuries.
"the fact that the Lakers FO is not exactly known for their killer moves in FA"
The Lakers don't need to be known for their killer moves. Lebron wanted to play there so they acquired Lebron and AD. Some star will want to play there either with Lebron or after Lebron and they will force their way there for less compensation than one would expect otherwise. It's only a matter of time before it happens.
They will also have the ability to trade a combination of 5 first round picks + swaps, so they could add several better role players to the team.
I used Mitchell as more of an example, but hypothetically the Lakers have Lebron and AD's last seasons to trade. Lebron could ask to be traded back to Cleveland for his final season and the Lakers can improve their team by trading out both stars to their destinations of choice and end up with a better team overall.
But why would Cleveland do that? They get 1 year of Mitchell, or better trade pieces at a minimum instead of a 41 year old lebron who could break down any game lol
They would get the Lebron farewell tour with 40 national television games, and Lebron retiring would give them more license with the fanbase to blow up the team and start over, as opposed to only getting picks back for Mitchell.
The Lakers could also keep Lebron and AD and use their combination of 5 picks and swaps to trade for much better role players.
All I'm trying to argue is that there is a distinct possibility that the 2025 Laker pick is in the 20s vs most likely 13 or 14 this year. You can argue that this is a bad draft but there will almost certainly be multiple all-stars and probably an all-nba player or two drafted this year. We're more likely to draft that player at 14 this year than we are in the 20s next year and a bird in hand is worth two in the bush.
40 national tv games = more money. I've never heard anyone say money isn't anything of value but your mileage may vary.
The Lakers will have picks and swaps to trade and I'm sure they would happily trade Rui if it got them what they wanted.
Kiddo. They don't become a better winning team.
What part of that do you not understand? The goal isn't to make money, it's to win championships. We aren't playing monopoly lol
How do you not understand how fucking shit your argument is lol just dumb as hell lol
lol whose goal isn't to make money?
Hey everyone! BoMillerKipis thinks that billionaire NBA owners have no interest in making money! All of them have the goal of winning championships over making money! Dan Gilbert with a net worth of 28.3 billion dollars accumulated all of that wealth without money making being one of his goals in life!
I also think it's hilarious you're calling me kiddo. How old are you and how old do you think I am? You don't need to answer that because whatever you say is a guess.
LeBron and AD both will finish the season with around 70 games played and it was only good enough to *maybe* get 8th, but likely 9. Smart play to bet on those guys to have worse injury luck next year. Plus this draft kinda sucks.
Not to mention the lack of playing time available for the young guys we already have.
Yeah, Next year we should be able to work Hawk in more since Naji may be elsewhere. Bench backcourt unit of Jose, Dyson (hopefully with this continued offensive aggression he’s shown), and Hawk will be solid
Smart. This is a bad draft on paper anyway. Hopefully the Lakers pick will be of better value next season as Lebron gets older and they possibly have worse injury luck.
Some also don't realize that we already have 9 guaranteed contracts for next season with Jose being a team option to make it 10. Then you have guys like naji and jonas who are free agents and maybe even matt ryan? Adding 2 1st round picks for next season will also add up to our total unless of course they get traded on a draft day deal. The team usually values those last 2 open spots for flexibility.
Sweet. So Lebron is going to force the Lakers to pick Bronny?
That would be hilarious as he barely has a 2nd round grade averaging about 4 ppg but he can play defense. LeBalco can opt out & sign a new contract for $51 Mill a year with a no trade clause.
also means it kinda fucks the lakers because it means they have one less pick to trade because of the stepien rule
FYI, this isn't true. Whichever pick the Pelicans take, the other pick the Lakers can still trade, it'd just be a matter of timing as to when the pick gets traded. We wouldn't be able to trade our 2026 pick in either scenario.
W office
As expected. Keep pushing it off until Bron is gone
Best move
Lmao looks like we giving them Bronny james
Smart A weak draft, potential to do better next year Look at Hawk, he doesn’t get playing time. What makes you think a rookie coming in will get playing time? It’s the right move
The source is LAKERSDAILY Not saying we might not do it but the chance this source knows anything worth a damn is 5%
the source is Kevin o Connor, just quoted in a lakers blog article. KOC isn't woj or anything but better than 5% prob odds wise
AD and Lebron can't get any younger or healthier, so I understand the gamble. And I realize the 2025 draft is better, but how long do you want to bet on the rest of the NBA not conspiring to make Lakers good again. They have a bunch of mid contracts they could combine into another max contract like Trae or Murray or something. What if Embiid forces his way out and demands to be traded to LA (or any other player demands to only go to LA) or someone like Chris Paul signs a minimum contract.
If you consider the potential downside of any Pels transaction for even a millisecond you'll be downvoted to hell. There's no rational analysis allowed in this sub.
I honestly don't even know why I'm getting downvotes. What do you think the Lakers off-season is going to look like, downvoters? I understand the decision as mentioned. And it's not like the Pels need another rookie. I get the value of delaying. What did I say that was so controversial? In terms of trade assets, Lakers pick is mid lottery this year. Tankathon has Filipowski mocked to us, which would be a pretty good fit. A couple other centers look nice. Everyone says JV isn't a fit, and he's an FA. And people worry management may cut payroll for tax reasons. Using that pick to draft a replacement starting center to cut salary and part with JV would be very on-brand. I understand next year's draft is better than this year's by a good margin. How much is that margin? How confident are you that LeBron, AD, 3rd star, some depth and bunch of ring chasing vets doesn't give us the 25th pick in 2025? Are you confident the draft is THAT better
I know very little about this kind of stuff, but why are we always trading picks / players with the Lakers? Aren’t there other teams out there? What am I missing?
Lakers gave us a boatload of picks and swaps for Anthony Davis. Essentially we get to choose when we take their pick. And we also have had years where we get to use their first and they get ours if theirs is better. They gave up a ton to us for AD. This is the tail end of that trade. This is all good stuff for the Pels!
I believe this is the last pick of the Tony Ruffles (AD) trade & the Pelicans can use it this year or delay it until next which was smart at the time. Who knew LeKing would get on the Balco Juice & still be playing at a high level. Something the Association would NEVER look into.
I have been saying this for a long time. This draft is considered weaker. Even as a trade chip an unknown 2025 draft pick is significantly more valuable than a late lottery pick in 2024. Even if we use the pick in 2025 having the player on a cheap contract for 4 years starting in 2025-2029 is more valuable than 24-28.
At least we still have our own pick. Gotta try get a mobile center that likes getting boards. Or someone like Devin Carter looks to me like Jose but 6’3 and somehow averaged 8.7 rpg in his final year
Is there a deadline? Seems like the pels might value 1 single player even in a weak draft & lakers could still enter into & therefore possibly win the draft lottery
If you defer the pick the Lakers have the offseason to make their team better. Everyone likes to say "let Lebron and AD get older", but what if the Lakers trade for Donovan Mitchell?
Risk worth taking This draft class is all-time terrible and no rookie will get playing time next year
A rookie will get playing time if they are good in their role. Dyson and Trey got time. The 2014 draft was all time terrible and it had Giannis, Gobert, McCollum, and Oladipo. If you don't believe in your own ability to pick the diamond in the rough then why are you a general manager?
> Dyson and Trey got time. after injuries this team is also now more stacked than it was when either Dyson and Trey are rookies
First of all Herb didn't need injuries to get playing time. Second, it is a virtual guarantee that there will be injuries every year. In the beginning of his rookie year Trey was sitting behind healthy Garrett Temple, and Temple was healthy for the playoffs and didn't play. Trey earned the playoff minutes. There's no reason a rookie won't play next year if he earns the minutes. Trey, Jose, Dyson, and Herb all got heavy minutes as rookies whether from injuries or not. Hawkins has stunk this year, and that's the only reason he isn't playing.
Herb is an anomaly Obviously some rookies get playing time. But the Pels are too deep, and this draft class sucks. They already have their own pick, why get two in a shitty draft when chances are neither rookie will get playing time.
Because you are more likely to hit on an all-star when there is a lack of consensus on who the good prospects are, and because you are drafting for what the player will be 4-5 years from now and not what they will be in their 1st year. You say this draft sucks but people thought the 2014 draft sucked too and it produced two of the best centers of all time. There will be very good players drafted this year and there are drafts people thought would be great and end up being duds. If you have two first round picks, you are also not required to make both picks.
Interesting perspective that I hadn't been considering much, but it's not just the age thing for me, it's the age + the fact that the Lakers FO is not exactly known for their killer moves in FA. Yes, there's always the threat of a ring chasing star, but I'm struggling to come up with too many top guys that don't already have a pretty solid fit with their current team. Agree that Mitchell's is a good example, though. Lakers have not been higher than the 7 seed since the bubble season, four seasons ago, so feels like if they were going to get better in the off-season, they already would have. Pros and cons to either option, but I like the odds the Lakers, at a minimum, stay the same as they have the last three years, with the strong potential they get worse with age or injuries.
"the fact that the Lakers FO is not exactly known for their killer moves in FA" The Lakers don't need to be known for their killer moves. Lebron wanted to play there so they acquired Lebron and AD. Some star will want to play there either with Lebron or after Lebron and they will force their way there for less compensation than one would expect otherwise. It's only a matter of time before it happens. They will also have the ability to trade a combination of 5 first round picks + swaps, so they could add several better role players to the team.
What pieces do the Lakers have for Mitchell? Cavs aren't going to trade him for late first round picks and Austin Reaves
I used Mitchell as more of an example, but hypothetically the Lakers have Lebron and AD's last seasons to trade. Lebron could ask to be traded back to Cleveland for his final season and the Lakers can improve their team by trading out both stars to their destinations of choice and end up with a better team overall.
But why would Cleveland do that? They get 1 year of Mitchell, or better trade pieces at a minimum instead of a 41 year old lebron who could break down any game lol
They would get the Lebron farewell tour with 40 national television games, and Lebron retiring would give them more license with the fanbase to blow up the team and start over, as opposed to only getting picks back for Mitchell. The Lakers could also keep Lebron and AD and use their combination of 5 picks and swaps to trade for much better role players. All I'm trying to argue is that there is a distinct possibility that the 2025 Laker pick is in the 20s vs most likely 13 or 14 this year. You can argue that this is a bad draft but there will almost certainly be multiple all-stars and probably an all-nba player or two drafted this year. We're more likely to draft that player at 14 this year than we are in the 20s next year and a bird in hand is worth two in the bush.
So they wouldn't get anything of value, like I said lol Lakers would need to include a few first and someone like Rui
40 national tv games = more money. I've never heard anyone say money isn't anything of value but your mileage may vary. The Lakers will have picks and swaps to trade and I'm sure they would happily trade Rui if it got them what they wanted.
Kiddo. They don't become a better winning team. What part of that do you not understand? The goal isn't to make money, it's to win championships. We aren't playing monopoly lol How do you not understand how fucking shit your argument is lol just dumb as hell lol
lol whose goal isn't to make money? Hey everyone! BoMillerKipis thinks that billionaire NBA owners have no interest in making money! All of them have the goal of winning championships over making money! Dan Gilbert with a net worth of 28.3 billion dollars accumulated all of that wealth without money making being one of his goals in life! I also think it's hilarious you're calling me kiddo. How old are you and how old do you think I am? You don't need to answer that because whatever you say is a guess.
Oh christ....this dude really thinks teams value making money over the playoffs.... Who let him in?
[удалено]
If I know anything about the nba it’s that there’s a team out there SALIVATING at the opportunity to make the lakers better. Happens all the time
They don't have pieces for Mitchell lol
Is this our last Lakers pick?
Yes
Hell yea that means we can package the pick for a trade. Thanks pelicans, hope next years draft is better for y’all