Aloha

Found this today.

t appears the Los Angeles Lakers are interested in reuniting with a player that last suited up for the franchise in 2018.

NBA insider Marc Stein reported during a Spotify live session on Saturday (h/t Darryn Albert of Larry Brown Sports) that the Purple & Gold may pursue Julius Randle if the New York Knicks land Donovan Mitchell in a trade with the Utah Jazz this summer.

Stein added that the Lakers wouldn’t mind taking on the remainder of Randle’s four-year, $117 million contract. He is owed $23.7 million in 2022-23 and his salary increases each season until he becomes an unrestricted free agent in 2026.

The article went on to say the Lakers could be involved in the Mitchell to the Knicks trade.

Did a little trade machine exercise that worked.

Knicks receive Mitchell.

Lakers receive Randle and Mike Conley.

Utah receives Westbrook, and a couple of the Knicks young prospects. many different combinations work. Of course there would be a lot of picks involved. Anyway it could be another angle.

Aloha,

While the league remains on pause waiting for the KD and Mitchell situation to be resolved the Lakers find themselves frozen in place as well. With the Pacers trade talks dead and Kyrie tied to the outcome of the KD drama what are other moves the Lakers could consider? By the way with COVID roaring back in California one wonders if the Lakers would even consider Kyrie at this point. You don’t trade for a guy to sit out most of a season.

A couple of little blurbs caught my attention, one from Shams that the Lakers have chatted with the Jazz. While there hasn’t been a lot of details, the speculation is that the trade would center around Conley and Bogdanovic.

First I would view this as a LeBron window trade. It would be a two year deal in my mind and while it may not make us a title favorite, it could give the team at least a punchers chance.

Conley is the perfect point guard for a LeBron team. He can play off the ball, and shoot the 3. He was over 40% the last couple of years. While he is no longer is the bull dog on defense he was with the Griz, he’s still pretty good and much better then either Kyrie or Russ.

Bogdanovic is a lifetime .392 3 point shooter. He is 6’ 8” so he would add some size to our forward rotation. While he is hardly a defensive stopper, he has a high BB I.Q and is decent in a team defensive scheme.

Bogdanovic is in the last year of his contract, while Conley has 2 years left with the last year only partially guaranteed. So there isn’t any long term salary baggage to worry about. While this isn’t the sexiest deal and by no means a long term solution, it might be the best we can do to rid ourselves of Russ.

Aloha,

Well apparently Dennis wants to come back to the Lakers. I can’t see that happening as long as we have Nunn. He is also a very good defender but he’s a better shooter and can play off the ball. But if Nunn happened to end up in a trade, Dennis wouldn’t be bad as a back up PG. I did like his defensive intensity.

Aloha,

When you read all of these different articles by all of these different “insiders” with an astounding number of different takes one thing is apparent to me. No one knows what the f**k is going on.

There have been two recents reports that may give a little insight into what is actually going on behind the scenes. Kyrie recent 360 is one. Now he says he wants to return to the Nets whether KD is there or not.

The other is LeBron, Russ and AD getting together for their phone pow wow that led to a commitment to make it work.

However these two reports could be telling. All of the parties involved maybe hearing from their clubs and their agents that there is a strong possibility that a trade isn’t going to happen.

I must admit that I was seduced by the click bait for awhile and believed that a trade would surely happen. But as time passes I am no longer confident that we will see one. At least not a blockbuster trade. As a matter of fact I am leaning more towards no trade happening then a trade will. Unfortunately we have a few more months of this before camp opens, so we will have a few more months of these endless trade scenarios. The only people that will be happy about this are the click bait traffickers.

Aloha,

just a thought on how the Lakers could
improve without Kyrie on 2 moves. To many if’s to happen but there would be some logic to it. I’ve posted before about OG Anunoby and how would love to have this 24 year old two way SF on the Lakers. But here comes the if’s.

If the Raptors pivot from KD trade, likely. And if they fail to land a center they like, unlikely, then there could be a deal with the Lakers. First the Raptors have tried to land THT twice. 2nd they have forwards galore but are thin in the back court. 3.rd OG is unhappy with his role and wants to be traded. A THT and Nunn for OG would give the Raptors a quality back up point guard and a secondary ball handler in THT. I would spend a 1st rounder for a 24 year old with still a lot of upside over a has been like Gordon.

Next move is a little more cut and dried. Russ and a pick to the Pacers for Buddy and TJ Mc Connell. This is simple, the Pacers save 20 mil on future salaries and pick up a pick instead of paying to move them.

I would argue that OG, TJ and Buddy would give us a better team then Kyrie, without the migraines. Probably won’t happen. Although I’m sure Rob has called the Raptors. One never knows.

Aloha

One thing that hasn’t been talked about is cap flexibility. The Lakers have went out of their way to maintain flexibility for next year. Now a trade for Kyrie, even if they had to bring back Harris makes sense because that trade could elevate them to contender status. But some of the other options like Buddy may not. Nobody is going to trade expiring deals to the Lakers. Teams that trade for Russ will want to dump long term contracts. Which could mess with that flexibility and make it harder to sign even Kyrie as a free agent next summer. So I’m thinking the Lakers will really examine if a trade gives them a real shot at contention before trading Russ just to trade him.

Aloha,

KD is an entitled crybaby whiner. The Nets paid him a entire season to rehab. He played 90 games which computes to well over a million a game played. And he is requesting a trade. Geez,

he enormous haul of young star players and draft picks the Brooklyn Nets reportedly are expecting to receive in a trade for Kevin Durant isn’t the only reason the superstar still hasn’t been dealt after requesting a trade this summer.

According to NBA reporter Marc Stein, “the persistent scuttle around the league, though, is that clubs interested in Durant mostly fear their ability to keep him content more than they feel any concern about his advancing age.”

Aloha,

Like Marvin Gaye, I think we all want to know What’s Going On. It appears on the surface like there isn’t any talks happening at this time. All the “Insiders” have different intel to offer. Some say it’s the Lakers fault, some say it’s the Nets fault for the stalled negotiations.

I can see both sides. I can hardly blame the Lakers for their negotiation stance. After all they are bidding against themselves. And I can’t blame the Nets for taking their time and re-evaluating the situation.

The Nets have added a couple of nice pieces to their roster. They maybe looking at their team and think they would have a real chance of competing for a title. A chance to compete for a championship is worth giving up the Lakers distant picks even if Kyrie walks this summer.

And there is the issue of the Nets not wanting Russ. That is where it really gets complicated. In no universe would the Spurs take on Russ for a draft pick. They only have one contract that they would want to move that’s not an expiring deal. Add them all up and the Spurs save nothing. All to help the Lakers? Right. 😂

The Pacers are also a complicated situation. They can save some money but where all the players go would be complicated. Buddy and McConnell would be redundant for the Nets considering they have shooters. Plus the Nets insist that Harris was part of a deal. Where does he go? The Lakers would need to send out THT and Nunn to take back Kyrie, Buddy and McConnell and where would they go. Send them to the Pacers and they are no longer saving as much money. And the Nets? Why would they want them?

It’s all too complicated. At this point I would not not be surprised either way. My biggest fear is that the Lakers pass on other opportunities that may arise and then the trade doesn’t happen. We did that in the past and got burned when it didn’t work out.

Aloha,

Could the KD saga be coming to an end? And if so how does effect the Kyrie situation?

ESPN’s Brian Windhorst (h/t RealGM) said the following about the state of Durant trade talks and where they currently stand:

“As for Kevin Durant, here’s what there is: nothing. There is no movement here. The executives are leaving Summer League. The executives are going on vacation. At this point, the Nets’ preferred situation is for Kevin Durant to stay with them. There is no trade they’ve got that they like.

“A huge question and what the league is in some ways waiting for is what does Durant feel? He’s the one who asked for the trade. Have his feelings changed with some of the avenues for trades dimming?”

Aloha,

The Suns have matched Aytons offer sheet so it appears he sticking around for a while. He can’t be traded until January 15th and he can veto a trade for a full year. That is going to really hurt the Suns ability to chase KD. Perhaps they gave up on that.

Not sure what the Pacers do with Turner. The Pacers stated goal was to be competitive while building which Ayton at 23 fit perfectly. But Turner is only 26 so it’s not far fetched that might hold onto him. The Raptors were trying to trade for Turner and they have the forwards that would interest the Pacers. But again if they want to stay competitive they would be better served holding onto Turner. Then they could revisit Ayton after January 15th.

Aloha

The big question with Ayton is, has he actually put pen to paper. Or did the Pacer announce his intention. If he hasn’t actually signed then a sign and trade can still happen. If he has signed, and the Suns match then they can’t trade Ayton until January 15th. Either way this probably eliminates the Suns from the KD sweepstakes until January. The Pacers must have some confidence since they just let 4 players go for cap space.

Aloha

It seems that KD has slowed the league down to a near stand still. But it appears that the Pacers are ready to rock the boat. From another little blurb I read this morning with the Brogdon trade now officially complete giving the Pacer more cap space, they are preparing to extend a near max offer sheet to Deandre Ayton. This really will mess with the Suns attempt to trade for KD. He is a major piece of their offer but apparently the Nets are not that impressed. The Suns can’t let him walk for sure. So do they restart the talks they were having for Miles Turner before the KD bombshell? And how do the Nets feel about Miles Turner? As for Ayton, the Pacers are about the only team that has the cap space to offer him a large contract.

So many moving parts here. The earlier reports that the Nets will wait on Kyrie until the KD situation is resolved appears to be true. But one wonders when that will be. I honestly don’t see the Nets trading him at this point simply because of their asking price. KD is under contract for 4 years so they really don’t need to do anything. But they do have to decide something soon or not. After summer league, it’s usually the slowest time of the year in the NBA. With the KD road block in place it maybe even slower than usual.

Appearing on Friday’s episode of Get Up, Windhorst discussed the possibility of the Pacers giving restricted free agent Deandre Ayton an offer sheet, or potentially adding him in a sign-and-trade that could send center Myles Turner to the Suns. Unfortunately for Indiana, however, Phoenix currently remains at the forefront of the KD sweepstakes after the 12-time All-Star listed the club as one of his preferred landing spots.
“The Indiana Pacers are seriously considering giving him an offer sheet. They’re also interested in a sign-and-trade with the Phoenix Suns, potentially involving Myles Turner,” Windhorst said. “But holding everything up is the Suns’ negotiations for Kevin Durant, which are probably not going to end soon and Ayton may have to move on and do his own deal.”