The debate this morning is over when the trade will be completed. Woj says right now it's July 6th. It would have to be moved to July 30 to give the Lakers a shot to sign another max guy. Also, all the indications so far seem to be leaning toward AD not waiving the trade bonus. So if things stand they'd have about $23 million in space.
For now, expectation is Anthony Davis trade will be completed on July 6, league sources tell @BobbyMarks42 and me. Assuming Davis declines to void $4M trade bonus, this leaves Lakers with $23.7M in space. There is chance that could be amended to July 30, but it’s still 6th now.
Originally Posted by mcaj22:
Lebron will be 39 by the time two of those picks will convey. Lakers could be terrible by then.
And yes that's how a small market in the NBA can get stars under some years of control. NO top 5 player is going to the Pelicans willingly. The only way they get one is via the draft. So picks for a small market team are worth a lot.
The one big thing NO has going for them is the media is intent on making zion a superstar. Maybe lonzo makes the team immediately interesting. Sadly, one of the best ways to get superstars in the league isn't the system, it's having a culture a superstar wants to be a part of. The team might have some real interesting personalities if Barrett falls to them [Reply]
Originally Posted by Superturtle:
Curry really is one of the most unclutch Superstar level players I've seen in quite some time. Super talented, but goddamn man.
Someone being "clutch" or "unclutch" is routinely one of the dumbest arguments in sports. [Reply]
Originally Posted by kcxiv:
kuzma can play and the fact that they have 33 million in cap space means, they can do something.
The Lakers lack depth and it will take some time to create chemistry with all the new faces on the team. My guess is they struggle early this year but make the playoffs. The season after that might be their year. [Reply]
Originally Posted by mcaj22:
Griff actually owned the Lakers. This is Brooklyn Nets Billy King levels of bad. I didn't think we would ever see something like this again:
2019 pick (#4)
2021 pick - top 8 protected in 2021, defers to 2022 where it is unprotected
2023 pick swap
2024 pick unprotected
2025 pick swap
Dude its Gordon Kaman Al Aminu for Paul all over again and theyll likely have to overpay to keep some of that talent in a few years. The picks wont mean shit NO will pick toward the end of the first every year. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Jerm:
The only way you can say that is if every year the Lakers suck, which they won't, and they're lottery picks. If not, then who cares...they're mid to late first rounders.
I'll take the top 5 NBA star entering his prime over draft picks any day of the week.
Draft picks are just that....picks.
NBA fans starting to sound more and more like NFL fans in overrating picks.
Considering that AD was leaning towards LA after the upcoming season, the Lakers gave up a premium for him. [Reply]
I don't care if Anthony Davis blows out both knees in his first practice with LA.
Getting that motherfucker out of LA is enough to get me interested in that team again. I enjoyed rooting for the bad 'baby Lakers' a hell of a lot more than the LeBron/Ball sideshow Lakers, even earlier in the season when they were solid.
I was gonna go looking for a life raft until Ball was gone (knowing that Lebron is a short timer anyway) but fortunately the Lakers did me a favor and got rid of the guy.
As for what they should do next - I still don't understand why more people don't want Kyrie. I get it - he wasn't a good fit as an alpha in Boston. But y'know what? He knows that as well now. His interviews have made it pretty clear that he was kinda miserable trying to be the head dog on that squad and that's not what he wants.
Meanwhile he can shoot, he can create, he's solid without the ball in his hands and he's a plus perimeter defender.
Davis, Lebron and Kyrie are probably good for about 33 wins between them. Wanna round down due to 'maintenance days' and you're looking at 30. A replacement level team wins about 15 on its own. Kuzma is probably worth about 4. Now you've not built a great team here, but you're at 49 there and firmly in the playoffs.
Now if you're able to bring in a couple of depth pieces on exceptions or reduced contracts (someone like McGee) you could easily add another 6-7 wins to that calculus. Any additional development out of Wagner would help as well. 60 wins isn't likely with that trio, but it's not impossible either. Those 3 with a couple of veteran ring-chasers in tow gets you a legitimate crack at the 1 seed in the West.
Is it just assumed he's going to Brooklyn at this point? He sure seems like a poor fit alongside Russell. Everything I'm reading has him as something of an afterthought but I just don't get that. The shine came off him a bit in Boston but he's still a young, dynamic, athletic player with good vision and good shooting range. People are all gung-ho about a guy like Kemba Walker who is both older than Kyrie and worse in pretty much every conceivable manner. More critically, Kyrie is on the same competitive timeline as Davis; those guys will be great alongside each other for the next 5 years even after Lebron is gone. Walker's window is just a bit shorter than Kyries and his ceiling nowhere near as high, IMO.
Gimme Kyrie and I'll be happy as a pig in shit. [Reply]
Originally Posted by O.city:
Can they fit Kyrie in financially?
Not straight up, no. But he's no harder than any of the other guys people are talking about (Jimmy Butler ain't takin' a paycut and Walker's made far less in his career with less of a track record to justify 'betting on himself').
It's possible that some of those 'pick swaps' were sweeteners the Lakers added into the deal to convince the Pelicans to let it run until July 30th before finalizing the trade so they could free up that necessary cap, though. They would become an 'over the cap' team at that point and they can absorb some of the trade kickers and stuff differently. It would free up another $8 million or so in cap space, IIRC, if they wait until the official opening of FA to finalize.
If that's the case and the Pelicans are willing to wait until then to finalize the deal, then suddenly the price (in picks and swaps) makes a lot of sense all around. And at that point they could get Kyrie.
The major question would be whether or not he'd be willing to sign a 1-year deal with LA first but it starts to get a little over my head at that point. I thiiiiiink the Lakers could sign him to a 1-year deal and then get Bird Rights to both him and Davis and sign them both to max extensions in 2020, but there are some new rules on the Bird rights that I just don't understand as well as I used to. If Kyrie would be willing to do that, then all bets are off.
Oh, and my FAVORITE theory of all of this - Lebron using Space Jam to circumvent the salary cap. That's right, kiddos - there's a branch of NBA Twitter that believes Lebron is going to use Space Jam salary to funnel additional wealth to players he can convince to come play for him. He's just gonna cast 'em in Space Jam and slide them some extra chedder through the movie to avoid it falling on the cap.