3-Team Trade Puts Lakers Back in Title Contention
LAL gets:
-Trae Young
-Kelly OlynykLAL gives up:
-Reaves
-Russell
-Vanderbilt
-Hachimura
-Hood-Schifino
-2029 FRP
-2031 FRP
-2028 Swap
-2030 Swap
-2025 SRP (LAC)https://t.co/PVTKrkrMoV via @BleacherReport— LakerTom (@LakerTom) June 1, 2024
LAL keeps:
-Vincent
-Christie
-Wood
-Lewis
#17 pick
2026 Swap
5 SRPs
I’m not in favor of trading for Trae because of his $43M per year contract but including Olynyk and not using the #17 pick, which the Lakers could use for a backup center, and keeping Vincent would give the Lakers strength at both point guard and center.
This is a pretty damn good lineup before adding minimum salary players:
PG: Trae Young, Gabe Vincent
SG: Max Christie, Cam Reddish
SF: LeBron James, Maxwell Lewis
PF: Kelly Olynyk, Christian Wood
CE; Anthony Davis, Kyle Filipowski
Same thing I said last summer…that backcourt ain’t getting it done come playoff time. It’ll get us through the regular season but that’s about it.
Lakers also reduce payroll by $7.4M and remain under the first cap so they would have around $10M to spend on a free agent while still staying under the first tax apron for minimal luxury tax.
Pretty much all of our moves depend on what D.Russell decides to do. I’m not confident he’s gonna do us any favors.
No, but he may do himself a favor by accepting his player option if he has no offers better than the NTMLE. Personally, I think the Lakers need to re-sign or S&T him. We can’t lose him for nothing.
Giving too much?
Read this one yesterday. Wasn’t impressed then, either. Just don’t see the 3 superstar model working for us if we give up all our guys under contract.
The new CBA really only allows you to build a “super team” with guys you already have under contract. Otherwise we’re stuck with some version of the AARP team from a couple seasons back.
Minimum dudes can get you through the regular season kind of OK. How many vet minimum guys have shined at any pint during the playoffs? I can’t think of any.
A shortcuts in sport rarely work out. Rob has been trying to get back to the team he had ever since he gave it all away for Russ. That one’s still reverberating.
Click baiters keep trying to trade Young to LA. They thought about him a second before switching to Murray. Fit is as important as talent and I can’t think of any guards that would be a worse fit then Young. Besides his horrendous defense, young is one of the most ball dominant guards in the NBA. To play on a LeBron team you have to be able to play off the ball. Young needs the ball to succeed. People have been trying to take the ball out of Lebrons hands for a while now. That’s never going to happen. LeBron will play like LeBron until he hangs it up.
One more point. We were the 6th highest scoring team in the league last year. We outscored the Mavs, Nuggets and TWolves. Those are the 3 most concerning teams. Our needs clearly on the defensive end. So why bring in a no defense offensive player? Especially giving up our best perimeter defender. That trade would result in quite possibly the worst defense in the league.
Trae Young is the epitome of what the Lakers do NOT want. Poor defense, injury prone…not a physical player. I feel that Trae Young has been aiming for the Lakers since he was trying to hang around Kobe’s daughter. He doesn’t have the smooth PR skills needed to be a star in LA that could deal with the media. And LA media is nowhere as hard as New York media. He’s got small market star written all over him. I have been in favor of Murray for his ability to play with other star on the same team. Murray is far better defensively. Murray is more reliable health wise than Zach Lavine…so I’d much prefer Murray, but not at price that would gut the core of the team. I’d keep Reaves, and would be willing to trade only one of the two others (Hachimura or Russell)…toss in Hood-Schifino, and minimal draft assets. I haven’t done the math, but others do.