All the Lakers championship teams were good defensively Buba. Think of the last championship. Kobe was 1st nba defense. Meta, I believe was a defensive player of the year in his career. Lamar, Pau and Bynum were all good defenders. As a matter of fact I can’t think of an NBA championship team that didn’t have a good defense. I mean when you think of the great Warriors teams you think offense but they were solid defensively as well.

Celts also seem to have found a great young head coach in Udoka…something we seem to be unable to do. I’d like to see Rondo get a shot but then I look at how bad Nash is getting schooled by a guy with actual experience.

I asked the question when Snyder’s name first got mentioned for the Lakers job….what has he done? He’s had 2 years to figure out the Gobert switching problem and still hasn’t done it and now finds himself down the the Mavs without Luka. We’ve just seen what happens with a coach who can’t make adjustments. If he doesn’t take want this job it’ll be no big loss for either party…somebody else will hire him.

As for the desirability of this job..the bloom seems to be off the rose. The stories about what a fiasco our front office has devolved into are all out there for the world to see. They didn’t want to give T-Lue the years and also wanted to pick his coaching staff; this is a guy with a ring as a head coach. Snyder made his comments after seeing the bush-league way they handled the (justified) firing of Frankie. Kidd saw the inner-workings up close & personal and chose to leave. He had to know there was a great chance the job would be his next season when the Lakers only gave Frank 1 extra year on his deal…and he still chose the Mavs.

I just hope we don’t end up with Dantoni again….

This discussion has to lead to whom should the Lakers be looking at as their next head coach? I think chances are remote that the Lakers hire somebody brand new who hasn’t been brought up yet. So of all the names bandied about, which coaches would you be satisfied as the Lakers next head coach?

1. Mike D’Antoni
2. Mike Brown
3. Quin Snyder
4. Mark Jackson
5. Shaquille O’Neal
6. Doc Rivers
7. Sam Cassell
8. Rajon Rondo
9. Kenny Atkinson
10. David Fizdale
11. Phil Handy
12. Steve Clifford
13. Terry Stotts

I know Buba. Lol. Poor Kings fans. They have had 11 head coaches in the last 16 years, since Adelman.

Excellent post, Michael. There is a lot to like about OKC as a trading partner if we don’t connect with Hornets or Pacers. As you pointed out, the route is not straight forward but it does provide a path to keep Monk and have tools to fill out the starting lineup and roster with better players than we could get for the minimum. And that, I agree, is a big point in favor of this route.

I also agree you’re right that we probably wouldn’t be a championship team but I think that’s the outcome of any of the various trades being discussed because LeBron and AD have to prove they can stay on the floor. Otherwise, all the season is about is where is the pick we traded away going to land.

Pincus also listed this as what he thought was most likely to happen. My big worry is going this route will require Pelinka and the front office to make a series of smart moves whereas pulling off a trade with the Hornets or Pacers is likely to be a one-shot deal. Hornets and Pacers are easy deals to make compared to the OKC deal but I agree it’s a viable option.

Anyway, Lakers have multiple options and I’m confident we will find one of them that the front office and Klutch can agree upon so we can move forward. Lakers will have solid options to rebuild this summer.

In terms of desirability, I doubt the Lakers would go this route unless they had no better option. It doesn’t have the pizazz or big names the Lakers could need to get LeBron to jump aboard. And, as I said, it will require some smart follow-up moves to execute this option.

Injuries and all I would take a flyer on Rubio. Has great skill, defense and is big for a PG.

I wouldn’t hold my breath, DJ. It’d be awesome and amazing all in one but I don’t see that one happening. Maybe if we had better draft picks to offer, maybe, but as it stands a lot of teams can do a lot better.

may not win a ring with the Lakers either without a better supporting cast.

Should still be a Laker.

In the end the Bulls lost. Maybe we can trade THT and a 1st rounder for Alex…

This is why I’m not holding my breath for any great positivity to come out of this summer. At best we’ll lateral, at worst we’ll somehow manage another step back…

if you read the entire article it’s obvious that the Lakers are not going to refuse to trade for Hayward because of his injury history. They’re just not going to make him the featured player in the trade and their going to adjust what they give to reflect the risk in trading for Hayward. It’s nothing more than the Lakers posturing to make sure Charlotte knows that part of the price to dump Hayward is going to be including Terry Rozier.

I would even go so far as to require PJ Washington and THT to be added to the deal. Washington is an elite 3&D wing who’s only 23 and could be the most important player in the trade for LA. His defense, 6′ 7″ 230 lbs size, and 43% shooting from deep are exactly what the Lakers need at the three.

While I love the idea of trading for Turner, being able to get Rozier, Hayward, and Washington for Russ, THT, and our 2 picks could actually be our best possible deal. I might start Washington at the 2 to help cover Terry’s lack of size at point guard. Bottom line, Rozier and Washington are two great young players to get for Russ and Hayward is perfect if he can stay healthy.

The only problem I have with Rozier is his size, which makes him almost impossible to play alongside Malik Monk., You can cover for one small defender if the rest of the lineup has great size but two smalls will often lead to a leaky defense.

Turner, Brogdon, and Hield is still first for me.
But Hayward, Rozier, and Washington is close second.

Yikes! BI can at least get his team into the playoffs while missing another star and being hurt a lot.

Aloha, Michael,

I think the Pacers and Hornets trades are both very possible. The question is whether the Lakers can expand either of the trades.

I also think you need to understand that these trades are being made for financial rather than talent purposes. Westbrook gives those teams a chance to dump salary without having to give up a first round draft pick to do it. That is why there will be multiple offers for the Lakers to trade Russ.

Russ for Hield and Brogdon or Hayward and Oubre would be deals so valuable to the Pacers and Hornets because they would not require them to give up a pick to dump the salaries.

In fact, the wild card is the Pacers or Hornets could even get two first round draft as a sweetener back if they expanded the trade to be for Turner, Hield, and Brogdon or Hayward, Rozier, and Oubre.

The reality is the Lakers have a big advantage because there are multiple teams they could trade Westbrook too and no real competition with a similar expiring contract to open the door for the Pacers or Hornets to clean up their books and open up cap space and avoid future luxury taxes.

The debate here seems to be the difference between what could happen and what is likely to happen. I think Michael’s take is the more realistic version of events for the following reasons:

1) Pacers have long stated they don’t do full rebuilds. Yes, they shop their players…all teams do that for the majority of the guys on the roster. There’s nothing that has altered that stance, not even when they traded George for Oladipo (at the time) and Sabonis. So, to imagine that they will now go full rebuild and trade away the entire core of their roster for a player they will buy out and 2 others likely to walk after the season for two draft picks five years from now does not seem realistic. Could it happen? Again, sure. Will it happen? Highly unlikely. Shrinking the trade w/Indy makes more sense rather than trying to hit the walk off grand slam. Or swap Rubio for Brogdon and ask for a 2nd rounder this summer and bring back a room exception to keep Monk.

2) New York. Started signaling early that they were not interested in Russ. No reason to not take them at their word, honestly. Russ isn’t a Thibb’s style guy in that Tom and Russ both want to do it their way and I don’t see those ways meshing all that much. Is there a glimmer it could happen because Rose can’t go 82 at his age/injury history and Russ is ready to play all day, every day? I don’t think so, these aren’t the Phil Jackson run Knicks taking on bloated contracts for mediocre role players that fit into a philosophical approach to the game, they’ve pivoted to a smarter brand of running the team from the top down and, despite this season, I think it’s working for them. Not surprisingly the Knicks and Pacers are linked in the trade rumor world, too. Along with the Kings and Pistons so…no surprise…the rest of the league is looking at the same handful of available-ish players we all are. I don’t see any deal with new York happening that involves Russ.

3) Hornets. Seems the most likely to happen and the trade I would actually NOT make. Westbrook for hayward creates a logjam at the three. LeBron is best at the 3/4 (for LeBron, not for the Lakers) and Hayward, at this point is the same. Too slow and broken to defend fast guys, not big enough to or athletic enough to be a good rebounder and Hayward’s injury history is quickly becoming the stuff of legend. I’d angle for a Oubre, Plumlee, Washington or even an extended Trezz over Hayward. Hornets are under the cap so could add a trade exception. Problem with that is now they have a guard problem so you have to sell them hard on the savings for a Russ buyout. Feels like they would only trade Russ for Gordon and that, for me, is a no-go zone. Also the most likely of the trades to happen, unfortunately and Rob will likely be functioning in panic mode to keep his job.

I expect Russ to be dealt, his exit interview all but cemented it. But the return will be a lateral move. We will not get more than, at best, one quality player back. Expanding it, in my mind, makes it more difficult to move him because you’re only attaching players who will walk next season so unless a team thinks it can use nearly $60 million in cap space in 2023-24 to rebuild the roster as they see fit why make the trade?

Here’s a list of the 2023 UFAs:
PG
Patrick Beverley (35)
Eric Bledsoe (34)
George Hill (37)
Reggie Jackson (33)
Frank Ntilikina (25)
D’Angelo Russell (27)
Ish Smith (35)
Gabe Vincent (27)
Kemba Walker (33)

SG
Will Barton (32)
Sterling Brown (28)
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (30)
Seth Curry (33)
Terence Davis (26)
Javonte Green (30)
Josh Richardson (30)
Terrence Ross (32)
Nik Stauskas (30)

SF
Keita Bates-Diop (27)
Bojan Bogdanovic (34)
Dillon Brooks (27)
Torrey Craig (33)
Danny Green (36)
Maurice Harkless (30)
Justin Holiday (34)
LeBron James (39)
Caris LeVert (29)
Kelly Oubre (28)
Max Strus (27)
Andrew Wiggins (28)
Kenrich Williams (29)
Justise Winslow (27)

PF
Harrison Barnes (31)
Marquese Chriss (26)
Jae Crowder (33)
Danilo Gallinari (35)
Jerami Grant (29)
Juan Hernangomez (28)
Maxi Kleber (31)
Kevin Love (35)
Larry Nance Jr. (30)
Georges Niang (30)
Dario Saric (29)
Christian Wood (28)

C
Steven Adams (30)
Taj Gibson (38)
Al Horford (37)
Nikola Jokic (28)
Alex Len (30)
Brook Lopez (35)
Boban Marjanovic (35)
Chimezie Metu (26)
Mason Plumlee (33)
Jakob Poeltl (28)
Dwight Powell (32)
Myles Turner (27)
Nikola Vucevic (33)
Moritz Wagner (26)

There really aren’t a lot of head-turning free agents coming on the market. Jokic leads the pack and he’s quite likely to stay in Denver. The best players on the list are also not likely to be looking at small market teams first. There aren’t a lot of max money players on that list to begin with. So all that wonderful cap space starts to have a little less luster on it. Especially for a small market team in a state with income taxes, and possibly other social issues that could easily affect how some of these guys feel about signing there. Being a business, as it is, the likelihood is that some team or other will over-pay for Wiggins, Wood, Vucevic, Brooks, or D-Russ. Is that worth gutting the roster to buyout Russ?

All I’m saying is that the Russ option for a team is highly unlikely to be option #1 on their internal big board. It’s not a good one, it’s basucally admitting defeat because you’re going to buy him out and hope for a 1st rounder or two 5 years out for your troubles. Expanding it to include THT & Nunn isn’t necessarily a great or even good idea. Unless you’re looking to feature Nunn or THT and bet on them being able to take big steps forward (doubtful in Nunn’s case and THT has shown zero consistency) Klutch will maneuver THT to a bigger market and Nunn will move on. A ton of factors working against a great trade for Russ. A lateral trade is far more likely.

Which brings one back to the question of is it even worth it to trade Russ at all?

I still remain optimistic the Lakers will be able to move Westbrook for two or three rotation players. As for timing, it’s doubtful a trade would happen before June 23rd, the day of the NBA draft.

Only hope for early news is Indiana or Charlotte, whose season is now over, winning the race for Russ’ $47M expiring contract so they can salary dump rotation players on long-term contracts.

Otherwise, it’s going to take forever for the Lakers to trade Russ and hire a new coach.

Trade Anxiety was a great title, Michael.

I find myself torn between the Pacers and the Hornets as trading partners. Here’s a ranking of the various trade options:

1. Turner, Hield, and Brogdon. Turner is key to this trade.
2. Hayward, Rozier, and Oubre. Rozier is key to this trade.
3. Brogdon and Hield. Love a big backcourt.
4. Hayward and Rozier. Worry about a small backcourt.
5. Wood and Gordon. Missing a point guard.
6. Grant and Olynyk. Missing a point guard.

How would you rank these returns?
What other players would you target?

Only 2 guys who move the needle for me are Brogdon (if actually healthy…a HUGE “if”) and Jerami Grant (if his stats aren’t just a result of playing on bad teams). Only time I’ve ever seen the Pacers talk about moving Turner was before they traded Sabonis. But anything built around AD being the best dude on the team is bound to fail in the end…imho

That’s disappointing but not necessarily final. I do like how Quin embraces the 3-point shot. My fav coaching candidate right now is Nick Nurse. I think he would be the perfect coach to optimize LeBron and AD and build a championship team post-LeBron.

Here’s Turner’s full comment:

“Not only is Snyder under contract with the Jazz for at least one more season, people not authorized to speak publicly on the matter said he has become less interested in the Lakers’ job because of how the Vogel firing was handled.”

‘Become less interested’ is the not the same as ‘not interested,’ especially since the Jazz would have no problem letting him go. Nurse is more of a long shot because he has a great team to work with. Quin’s problem is he has a team that’s peaked and is now coming down. He could still be a viable coaching candidate for the Lakers. You’re headline is permature. Snyder’s still probably the leading candidate when you consider he will likely be available and has a history with the Lakers. He’s not going to stay with the Jazz or go to the Kings. Lakers job is his for the taking.

Aloha, Michael. Great post and Frank certainly deserved better.

The Lakers need to decide what kind of team they want to be. They had a template that worked that they should have just tweaked to include a modern stretch center so I’m hopeful even the Lakers front office can see the right path forward, which is better starters around LeBron and AD, a stretch five center who can protect the rim besides AD, size at small forward and guard so we can once again play small-ball-on-steroids.

Aloha, Michael,

I also enjoyed watching the Lakers kids finally win a game easily. I think we have four young players I would like to see them bring back next season: Reaves (team option), Johnson (team option), Gabriel (team option), and Monk. I expect us to exercise team options on Reaves, Johnson, and Gabriel and hopefully re-sign Monk to the TP or NT MLE.

We’re facing a critical offseason with a front office that’s had problems making good decisions, which could easily end up in disaster. I’m still hoping the Lakers will bring back Magic as a consultant to help create and implement a vision of a team that more closely resembles our bubble championship style of play but with modern stretch five center. I trust Magic more than Pelinka.

I agree the Lakers are not going to trade LeBron unless he refuses for some reason to sign an extension. Short of that, the Lakers are not going to trade their best two players who less than 18 months ago led the team to their 17th NBA championship. I expect LeBron to verbally confirm he will sign an extension on August 4th so the Lakers can make moves in early July to trade Russ and rebuild their roster back to championship caliber.

I do agree the Lakers will have to be extremely lucky to trade Russ for the three starters we need to rebuild the starting lineup around LeBron James and Anthony Davis. I do think there’s a good chance, however, that we can trade Russ and our two draft picks for at least two legitimate championship starters. The two could be Brogdon and Hield from the Pacers, Wood and Gordon from the Rockets, or Hayward and Rozier from the Hornets would be examples of the kinds of deals that Lakers will be looking for in return for Russ and two first round draft picks.

The Lakers top target should still be Myles Turner plus Malcolm Brogdon, offering Russ’ $47M expiring contract and both of their first-round draft picks. The Pacers have still not firmly decided whether to trade Turner or not and they do have two young centers they like in Jalen Smith and Isiah Jackson. Ironically, Jackson is the player picked with the Laker 2022 first-round draft pick. While the Pacers keep talking about not doing a complete rebuild, they’ve already traded their best prospects and look to firmly be on the way towards a complete rebuild. Anyway, we all know how frustrating it is to try and predict trades.

It will be interesting to see if the Knicks open up to trading for Russ as they need a point guard and star power and can use a $47M expiring contract to rework their roster. I could see the Lakers possibly interested in bringing back Julius Russell and some of the Knicks’ mistakes like Fournier and Walker if they did not have to give up a draft pick but only if they can’t get what they want for Russ and the two picks. Similarly, I think there’s a trade to be made with the Thunder that could create a $30M trade exception the Lakers could use to acquire a pair of starters.

Next, we have THT and Nunn to trade. I’d still love to Cam Reddish from the Knicks but they probably want to get back the draft pick they paid to get him. I also like the idea of trading for Kelly Olynyk as a backup stretch center. I would do the trade for Grant with the two picks if we can’t get Turner or Wood. I still like the Lakers having the versatility to play two bigs (Turner and Davis) or go small (James and Davis). I do agree with you that LeBron should be the four rather than the three with Turner as the five. The solution to me is AD at the three.

Bottom line, I want to get much bigger than we are now. We need to have size at every position. Guards who are 6’ 5” and forwards who are 6’ 8” to 6’ 10.” I want to replicate the bully ball roster we had in the bubble but with modern two-way centers rather than low post traditional centers. I also believe we need to get a starting point guard back in one of these trades and ideally, even a backup point guard.

Finally, I do think there will be an option seriously considered by the Lakers that involves keeping Russ and his $47M expiring contract to create up to $35M in cap space for the summer after next, when LeBron (extension) and AD will be the only players with contracts. This would then mean signing no new players except for one-year deals to make that plan work. This ‘Run it back again’ movement could gain momentum if the Lakers can’t find an easy deal and could get support from everybody wanting to claim we would have won but for the injuries. If Lakers cannot find the right trade for Russ, this could be the backup plan.
I’m with you hoping we somehow make the right moves. I do think having Magic as part of the decision making process would hep ensure a smarter decision.

aloha Tom, i have no idea what happened to my first response to you but I’ll try again. its clear we are far apart on what we believe we can get in a Russ trade. I do know this, we will not get Turner in a trade for Russ. i usually say never say never but on this i will make an exception. we will not get Turner. The word out of Indy since the Sabonis trade is they want to extend Turner. stein just reiterated that today. they would like to pair him with Jalen Smith, who by the way is a PF not a center. so they know what they want to do. the question is can they extend him. If they can’t then they may look to trade him. if that happens we will have to get in the back of the line behid four to five other teams that are interested. The Hornets covet him as does the Raptors and we don’t have the assets to complete with either, especially the Raptors. If Turner had not gotten injured he probably would be a Raptor. I actually believe we will be a fall back plan for Brogdon at best. He is a good player and will certainly have other suitors. i look for the Knicks to look at him. Speaking of the Knicks, they are not going to dump Randle in a Russ trade. As much as I like Randle and wish it were so, I can’t see them trading him to us one year removed from 2nd team all NBA. they can get more. For me the Hornets make the most sense. Hayward has 2 more years at 30 mil left and Rozier has 4 more years at 20+ mil left. Rozier would make a lot of sense. He is the perfect PG to play with Lebron because he can play off the ball. I would be a little nervous about Hayward. He has been injured a lot and will be pushing 35 when his contract is up. he won’t be easy to trade so i can see why the Hornets might do it. I actually would like to see Rozier and Oubre coming back to us but the Hornets may insist on Hayward being part of the deal. But it is probably the best we can do.

Thanks Buba.

I know what you mean Buba. He came back for one game April 2nd and went out again with a foot. In the last 3 years he has played 49, 44 and 52 games. I know one thing I wouldn’t add any firsts to that kind of trade. We would be helping them out as much as they would be helping us.

Agreed on the Westbrook optimism, the only thing gives me hole (potentially) is how some team or another could flame out in the playoffs. There’s still a lot of basketball left that could alter that situation. Unlikely, but possible. Have to admit that even watching the kids is pretty bittersweet as there will be nothing after. We’re just waiting for the schedule to pull the plug on an already expired season.