So I’ve been watching alotta different teams on League Pass so far this season a question has popped into my head.
How many teams in the league would trade places with us right now?
I’m not talking about the LA market or the history or all the titles and HOFers. I’m talking about this roster, the future picks, trade assets, the front office, the ownership. The entire CURRENT situation.
I could count them with only one hand and I’m not even sure i need to use all 5 fingers. Would OKC take that offer with all those young potential stars and all those picks? I wouldn’t. Sacramento might even have something cooking in Cowtown with Fox, Malik (that one stings), & Sabonis. Even freakin Orlando seems to have found a stud in Banchero. Houston has a buncha young studs trying to find their way. Pistons too. What we got? An aging, ailing big 2 whose window has closed and….and…..a few of our own picks? If I’m any of those teams I stick with the hand I’ve already got.
Maybe Spurs, Hornets, Nets (just because of all the turmoil there), and ??? Everybody else has some combination of current stars, a buncha upcoming picks or young potential stars. We’ve got neither and then you throw in the disfunction of Jeanie & Pelinka and the surrounding opinions in the room and you’ve got an unfavorable situation.
Unfavorable is being kind. This mess can’t be cleaned up this season, not to a contending level. Trade Russ and maybe, maybe mind you, we make the playin. No combination of players in trade scenarios I’ve seen fix this with AD and LBJ playing as-is. Just let this work out and try again next summer, keep the picks unless we can magically trade them for Dame or Beal. There will be better offers, most likely. No guarantee we win that sweepstakes. So then what? Make Kuz an offer he can’t walk away from, but it won’t be a max offer so that might not even be possible. Lakers really screwed their future flexibility when they let Caruso and Schroder walk for nothing. Locked themselves into a “we have 3 massive contracts, couple MLE guys and shit-ton of minimum salary guys to work with. One can critique LeBron for pushing for Russ but every other choice is on the front office and ownership. Can’t blame Grank, won’t lick into The Bubble ever again, and we’re about to “witness” a star slowly dying and fading out unless something miraculously changes in LA. Keep the picks, we’ll need them for an AD trade at some point or simply to finally begin re-acquiring visit-controlled talent.
As we do so much is think our young guys will be the “Answer!” None are close to AI, lol. Most have done what many others have done, show great for 1 game outta 10. : (