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RUI & GABE FOR THYBULLE & WILLIAMS!I've always loved the idea of pairing De'Andre Ayton with Robert Williams III. I could even see a rotation where Ayton started and ate up 30 mpg while Williams closed halves and games and played 18 mpg.Ayton is a minutes eater while Williams… pic.twitter.com/7YFPkU0NMc— LakerTom (@LakerTom) July 12, 2025

ROB WON'T PAY FOR WHAT LAKERS NEED!This is what happens when your general manager is more interested in winning the trade than in acquiring what the Lakers need to be a legitimate contender.Rob will now claim that Wiggins has become one of those houses the Lakers would buy if… https://t.co/K2jFKoN8X0 pic.twitter.com/sl0U9on27v— LakerTom (@LakerTom) July 12, 2025

LEBRON TRADE MUST BE WIN-WIN!Come on, Mark. There are lots of examples of trades that help both teams. Everybody gets way too emotional when someone wants to trade their favorite player. Smart general managers look for opportunities to make win-win trades. Easier than trying… pic.twitter.com/U32ZatHpbP— LakerTom (@LakerTom) July 12, 2025

Aloha

I keep reading that the Lakers need to go all in to win with LeBron. I don’t know what that means when you have one distant first, 2nd and swaps that won’t matter much until the next decade. If anyone is paying attention, quality players are quite expensive. Desmond Bane cost 4 first round picks and a swap and he’s not even an all star. The best player the Lakers have been linked to is Andrew Wiggins. He barely moves the needle if at all. And if his price tag is Rui, Dalton, another contract to make the money work and a 1st, sorry, I’ll pass.

Actually, I think the Lakers have done a good job, considering what they have to work with. And they haven’t done anything stupid yet. Well that not exactly true. Ghosting LeBron like they have is like is like breaking up with someone without even a text. That’s a bad look but then LeBron is a bit of a prima Donna so we don’t know everything that may have happened behind the scene.

The only trades for LeBron that make sense from the other team’s perspective would be the Knicks Kat for LeBron or the Warriors Butler for LeBron. I don’t think there will be a trade but if there is, the Warriors would be the most likely.

I think the best path for the Lakers to take now is to wait and see how this group looks with a training camp. We have until February to make a trade. It will give the Lakers a chance to see If Ayton can become the center they need, what players show growth and what players may become available. This may not be a championship contender but it is a good team and more moves can be made later in the year if needed.

By the way, holding onto that 1st round pick now means we could have basically 3 first rounders to trade if done during the draft next summer.

The mystery of why Eric Dixon hasn’t played has been solved. He has been spotted in a walking boot in Vegas. I don’t know the extent of the injury but it must be semi serious because he hasn’t signed a two way contract yet. This happened with Goodwin last year. He was set to sign a two way and got hurt. After he recovered they brought him to the G league and eventually the varsity. I wonder if they will sign someone else to the two way and wait on Dixon to heal.

Up to this point Dalton is making sure he isn’t traded. He has had a sub par summer so far. Actually Swider would have more value if he was under contract. He has filled the shooter role that Dalton was supposed to fill.

It will be interesting to see what happens with Bazley. He is not eligible for a two way and it would take a few roster moves to add him to the team. They could add him the G league team but someone may snatch him up.

Bronny is beginning to look like a solid pick at 55. He has transformed his body and is now’s 220 pounds of muscle as we saw when Flagg could not move him. I can now see him developing into a role player similar to Avery Bradley. Tough defender with secondary ball handling skills, that can shoot the 3.

Evidently reputable journalists at BSPN now are required ro generate clickbait articles in order to keep their jobs? BTW BSPN isn’t a typo. I’m about 2 articles away from any fucking site from walking away for the summer because of how stupid and annoying all this has become. Let’s look……again……..at some what really are pretty simple facts.

1) LeBron has a No Trade clause. Meaning he will not go to a stripped down team with one other star and the last remianing MLE signed role-player. This was also implied in the Rich Paul press release. So for the love of fucking logic stop with any trades that have James end up in a city he won’t play in (any but San Fran, New York…not Brooklyn or LA). He is not going to Dallas. They are, at best, a year out from contending because of KI’s jnjury. Especially after they gut the roster which wouldn’t happen because of the optics of the Luka trade. Please, try and use basic logic, folks. Plus, any multi-player deal thatbbrings over 3-4 players would put the Lakers in a massive bind since our roster is already at 15. We can waive but one, solitary player with no penalties: Shake Milton. Everything else woukd require us to waive a player and take the cap hit. Not. Happening.

2) For like, the bajillionth time, the Lakers do not want to trade LeBron. “B-b-but they had a super secret than not secret at all meeting with Luka?!?!” Please. For one second I wish people would think. That dinner had to go down exactly like that. The Lakers are intentionally sending clear and vibrant signals that the top of the pecking order starts and ends with Luka. He did not ask to come here. He did not demand a trade. He was blind-sided and felt betrayed. The Lakers desperately need Luka to commit long term and they’re going to build trust by having him show up to a super secret but then not so secret dinner with the 41 year old face of the NBA and say “Heyyyyyy guy, you’re the man…he’s just here to pick the best bottle of grapes we’re sll gonna chug down. It’s cool, it’s alllllll coooooool”. That shit will not fly. Luka’s camp is looking for two things: winning and stability. So far everyone has said the right things but we all know what that amounts to in the world of pro sport.

3) This is all posturing. You know how I took the Rich Paul press release at first? Pro Forma, business as usual, standard operating procedure. Reading about some of the background now (LBJ not being consulted on the Williams trade, not being told of the sale, not getting an offer….even though he said from pretty mich the get-go he’d be picking upbthe option) it now reads like John Cusack holding a ghettoblaster over his head playing ‘Don’t You Forget About Me’. There is certainly a time limit on all of this and I, for one, applaud the Lakers for clearly stating their intentions of building around Luka. It sounds like, as akways, communication around certain issues could hsve been better but it’s also hard to argue that for the last few years the Lakers have willingly accomodated just about every single desire expressed by the James Camp. Now, they really have no choice but to start looking ahesd and they have done, with some big time Nico help, to be sure.

This is not necessarilly an ending, the Lakers are just making sure they have the strongest hand at the table next summer. A move on unexpected poise and power it reminds me of Dr. Buss who weathered more superstar tantrums than most teame dream of going through. LeBron may well retire a Laker if for no other reason than he has built a very comfortable life here in LA. While that may not be set in stone I ask you, what is?