NBA General Discussions | Lakers Trade Ideas/FA Discussions

[$LakerGold]

Rumors say they've been offered a 1st rounder for Clarkson and turned it down.

Late 1st rounder?

[bladefd]

Rumors say they've been offered a 1st rounder for Clarkson and turned it down.

From Pelicans right? Huge mistake by Magic and the FO to turn that down. With Cousins injury, they are going to lose games. I won't be surprised if it's a mid-1st round pick in a very deep draft - possibly top 15 pick. Big big mistake passing that up if true..

Pelicans dealt that to Chicago for Mirotic. Lakers screwed up.

[dd24]

Yeah, they should have taken it. Although someone broke down how much money it really would have saved LA. They obviously would have needed to have NO send a player. I think with that and the pick it just wasn't worth the small cap savings they would have had.

[bladefd]

Yeah, they should have taken it. Although someone broke down how much money it really would have saved LA. They obviously would have needed to have NO send a player. I think with that and the pick it just wasn't worth the small cap savings they would have had.

But the pick alone is worth it. Clarkson has no future with this team because we don't need another pure scorer with Kuzma off the bench. That's for playoff teams looking for a 6th man or offensive oriented teams desperate for a scorer. We are none of those and are not getting anything of value close to that for Clarkson again.

I think the issue was Magic had Clarkson pegged as 6th man, saying to go win 6th man of the year. He is not winning that especially not with this team. Now we lose even more value for Clarkson.

[dd24]

I was wondering if the Lakers would do this to dump some salary. They traded for Isiah Thomas and sent Jordan Clarkson and Larry Nance Jr to the Cavs. I have to assume this helps free things up for them to keep Randle around too. The good news is they got Cleveland's first round pick. Also Channing Frye was thrown in.

[bladefd]

I was wondering if the Lakers would do this to dump some salary. They traded for Isiah Thomas and sent Jordan Clarkson and Larry Nance Jr to the Cavs. I have to assume this helps free things up for them to keep Randle around too. The good news is they got Cleveland's first round pick. Also Channing Frye was thrown in.

Good trade! Let's hope Cleveland loses more games and goes full turmoil. I am hoping pick rises into top 18-19 range

IT/Frye are rentals/expiring contracts

[dd24]

I think Cleveland actually looks far better now than they did before. They are the favorites to go to the finals. They got the youth they needed and added some outside shooting. We can hope they don't get it together though haha. Definitely clear the Lakers were trying to clear out cap space. IT must be bummed. I guess the one thing we can hope for is that he will be super motivated now. He wants to get a big contract. We all know it won't be with the Lakers since Ball is the PG of the future here. He's going to have to prove himself to every team in the NBA more than ever now.

[bladefd]

I think Cleveland actually looks far better now than they did before. They are the favorites to go to the finals. They got the youth they needed and added some outside shooting. We can hope they don't get it together though haha. Definitely clear the Lakers were trying to clear out cap space. IT must be bummed. I guess the one thing we can hope for is that he will be super motivated now. He wants to get a big contract. We all know it won't be with the Lakers since Ball is the PG of the future here. He's going to have to prove himself to every team in the NBA more than ever now.

His agent texted ESPN's Rachel Nichols that IT must start for the Lakers or IT wants a buyout. He is not willing to come off the bench. Oh boy. Hasn't even come to Lakers and making demands...

He is surely not starting over Lonzo, and he isn't able to play 2-guard while 5'7. Potential drama.

[dd24]

His agent texted ESPN's Rachel Nichols that IT must start for the Lakers or IT wants a buyout. He is not willing to come off the bench. Oh boy. Hasn't even come to Lakers and making demands...

He is surely not starting over Lonzo, and he isn't able to play 2-guard while 5'7. Potential drama.

That is drama. I could see him and Lonzo playing together. But with IT being so ball dominant that doesn't really suit Ball's strengths of being a play maker. IT didn't have a no trade clause so it's not like he could have made any demands. He was getting sent to whatever team the Cavs wanted and it didn't really matter what he wanted. Pretty good deal for the Cavs. The Lakers are clearly worse for the rest of this season. This move was more about the long term cap space for them.

[bladefd]

I don't like what I am seeing from IT.. And we are only 2nd full game in with him. I really want to give him a benefit of the doubt, but I have a bad feeling going forward this season.

-Can't play defense, opponents are targeting whoever IT is defending
-not good passer
-turns over the ball too much
-makes huge mistakes that no player with high basketball IQ would ever make
-Can't make shots on the offensive end

Some of what I am seeing from him makes me frustrated, and we are only 3 games in so far. These are not all things related to the hip injury or LeBron ball - some of the turnovers he makes are infuriating and inexcusable. Just throws the ball into traffic without even waiting for the play to develop. He is forcing things out there, feels like he is playing for his contract rather than to win games.

I think this speaks volumes of the greatness of Coach Stevens and his system. We also don't have the personnel to hide IT on the defensive end like Celtics did last 2 years. Every blemish is being exposed around ITs game because he no longer has a great system or veteran personnel to cover his weaknesses behind. I was frustrated by Clarkson's defense but seeing IT out there makes Clarkson look like Gary Payton lol.. It was frustrating everytime IT was on the court turning over the ball and cringing watching him play defense. Now I understand why Cavs fans were so frustrated by IT..

I really hope Lonzo returning next week cuts ITs minutes down to 20mpg or less. I want us to stick to Lonzo/kcp/Ingram/Randle/lopez as starting 5, Hart 6th man, Kuzma getting big minutes too, some minutes to Zubac to backup Lopez - I don't want Lopez playing more than 25 mpg. That's how we were winning games so let's return to that. Give Frye, Brewer and IT some minutes with 2nd unit.

[dd24]

All we can hope is that he has something to prove and actually steps up. I don't know that anybody likes the defense from a PG under 6'. Offensively he should be better. I think he's going to be in for a rude awakening this summer when he doesn't get that big offer that he was hoping for.

[BallsOut]

I know we may miss the playoffs this season, but I'm really excited about the team we have.

We got rid of players who pretty much hit their ceilings. Lakers are creating their own identity through the defense and pace. Lonzo's shot looks good. Things are really starting to come together for this team.

It's early but Travis Wear looks like a good backup shooting forward the Lakers have been looking for.

Think we could possibly have this team next season:

PG: Ball | Thomas (if he resigns for MLE)
SG: George | Hart
SF: Ingram | Wear
PF: Randle | Kuzma
C: Zubac (needs to extend range to 3pt ala Marc Gasol) | Bryant

[bladefd]

IT is not signing for MLE. You pretty much have to mark him off bc some rebuilding team out there will overpay him like $18-20mil/yr while offering a starting spot.

I wouldn't want IT to play crunch minutes for Lakers tbh. His deficiencies defensively make it difficult to play him with the game on the line.

Btw, who is Travis Wear and how long has he been playing? Don't recall seeing him play before yesterday. I saw him playing crunch minutes yesterday and couldn't for the life of me figure out who the hell that was lol

[dd24]

Yeah I agree. There's no way IT is signing somewhere for the MLE. The Lakers could put him on a contract like they did with KCP this season if they feel like they aren't going to get the big name guys they think they can. Even doubtful that happens though.

[tamaraw08]

[QUOTE
=bladefd]IT is not signing for MLE. You pretty much have to mark him off bc some rebuilding team out there will overpay him like $18-20mil/yr while offering a starting spot.

I wouldn't want IT to play crunch minutes for Lakers tbh. His deficiencies defensively make it difficult to play him with the game on the line.

Btw, who is Travis Wear and how long has he been playing? Don't recall seeing him play before yesterday. I saw him playing crunch minutes yesterday and couldn't for the life of me figure out who the hell that was lol [/QUOTE]
Travis and his Twin David actually are locals who went to Mater Dei where they got beat in the finals by King lead by Kawhi Leonard and Tony Snell. Got recruited by UNC but struggled there. Ended up transferring to UCLA where they were good and not great.
Wear actually played in the Lakers SPL, has good range but has limited mobility to guard faster forwards and switch in the perimeter. Yes, he did well 2 games ago but teams will pay closer attention like what is happening right now with Kuzma.
I was really hoping they can sign Paul George because he basically fills a giant hole at the SG spot, hitting 3's and playing great defense. Hart is my favorite player but he's not quick enough to generate enough points from the perimeter via curl and single/double players.