Ayton is a big reason why I think we’ll hold as-is until closer to the deadline. Hard to know what you have as a unit and ascertain weaknesses without every having seen them play.

Another RFA that Utah is likely to simply let test the market next summer. Not a ton of teams with cap space and they’ll be able to match. Feels like they want to build around him, sorta kinda, but if you knocked Danny out with an overpay at the deadline he could be gettable. Not sure it’s worth the price with Ayton on the roster. That’s a January topic, IMO.

lol, get ready to be “shocked” Brett. Unless something epic shakes loose and Kuminga gets signed and traded there’s not much momentum for any “week before camp” deals. Other than people generating clicks, of course.

AUSTIN REAVES IS EXACTLY WHATROCKETS NEED TO SURVIVE WEST!Lakers Receive:-Tari Eason-Steven AdamsRockets Receive:-Austin Reaves-Jake LaRaviaLakers get the elite starting 3&D wing they desperately need in Tari Eason, who would immediately become the best wing defender… https://t.co/dERYQyqHEa pic.twitter.com/eaLtrLZLaR— LakerTom (@LakerTom) September 23, 2025

Still as bad of a trade the second time you posted it. Hard pass. With Adam’s and Ayton you have duplicative players (and yes, I saw Adam’s in the playoffs, he’s still a vastly over-priced backup that nobody else will want for at least 2 more years…when he’ll be 35) and Eason will need to make shots to not get passed by Rui on the depth chart. He’s not the scorer Wiggins is and youre still giving up the best player, by far, for a project and a situational center.

FROM THE ABOVE ARTICLE:

It’s mid-morning and one of the best basketball players in the world is in the middle of leading his tiny country deeper into the European basketball championships. Twenty-seven floors above the hotel lobby, Luka Dončić walks to the table near the floor-length windows, plops down on a chair and, within minutes, is sipping on a double espresso.

This is what a controlled fresh start looks like — the day beginning the way he and his team want, with a hot coffee and a great view as the first chapters of a day that will end with Dončić scoring 26 points for Slovenia against a pesky, but mostly helpless Icelandic national team.

The days this summer, first in Poland and later in Latvia, were a preview of what’s to come for Dončić, a player returning to peak form after an injury and shocking trade combined to knock him off track in the most severe way he’d experienced in his professional career.

Now, as he returns to Los Angeles to begin training camp with the Lakers next week, Dončić has fully turned the page on a season that changed his life forever.

“This,” Doncic tells The Athletic, “feels like a start for me.”

It’s unquestionably the Lakers’ good fortune that they’re getting Dončić, 26, at this moment. The five-time first-team All-NBA megastar reinvented himself physically at the start of the summer before looking like the most dominant player in all of Europe this summer.

Jeanie Buss, Rob Pelinka, Kurt and Linda Rambis and Dr. Leroy Sims, the team’s director of player performance and health, all flew to Poland to witness the reboot first-hand.

“He just looked comfortable,” Buss told The Athletic. “His focus was on basketball instead of something else being in the back of mind. He’s less burdened; he’s got clarity. …He knows where he wants to be. He knows where he is now.”

He’s committed to the Lakers — fresh off a three-year extension signed on the first day the Lakers could offer it to him. He has the third-best odds to win the NBA’s Most Valuable Player Award, behind only Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Nikola Jokić. He has the marketing power of Jordan Brand, the global brand recognition of the Lakers and on-court charisma to spare — a face so suited to lead a franchise that he instantly displaced 40-year-old LeBron James as the organization’s guiding star.

“ He’s sort of like an illusionist,” Pelinka said in Poland. “He does things on the court that you can’t fully understand unless you’re live at the game.”

The fresh start is reason for optimism — the timing perfectly lined up for Dončić to take his stardom to an even higher level for basketball’s biggest show.

“Big stages are, you know, made for, I say, people with big character,” Dončić said.

But unlike most beginnings, this one got a trial run, Joining the Lakers in February gave Dončić a sense of what life in Los Angeles would be like. After the Dallas Mavericks traded him but before he debuted for his new team, the Lakers had him come to mid-court to be introduced to fans like a European footballer seeing his new club’s supporters. His first actual game in Los Angeles was a major event, with No. 77 golden Lakers shirts sitting on every seat in the building (and on James’ back during pregame warmups).

The trade that sent him to Los Angeles, though, left visible bruises all over Dončić. He carried extra weight from a calf injury that had shut him down for more than a month. His opening news conference with the Lakers was more notable for how shocked he still looked than for anything he actually said.

As he took the court for his new team, Dončić was able to sprinkle in some “Luka magic” — look-ahead passes to James, behind-the-back feeds to Austin Reaves, lobs to Jaxson Hayes, a “how-did-he-do-that” dime to Gabe Vincent and more than a handful of stepback 3s on the left wing.

After he joined the team, the Lakers beat the Denver Nuggets, LA Clippers and Houston Rockets twice and the Oklahoma City Thunder, Indiana Pacers and New York Knicks once. But the Lakers’ lifeless postseason — their offense cracked 100 points just twice in five games against Minnesota — made contention feel like it was far away.

“That’s how we could play,” Dončić said of the highs. “But I don’t think we played like this in the playoffs.”

The physical changes after the season were obvious — a physical transformation landed him on the cover of “Men’s Health” magazine and the improved burst to the basket (and even on the defensive end) that put him on the EuroBasket All-Star team, even though Slovenia lost in the quarterfinals. The mental ones were subtler.

Luka Dončić cheers on his teammates during the FIBA EuroBasket match between Israel and Slovenia. (Marcin Golba / NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Edo Murić, Dončić’s Slovenian teammate and close friend, says the NBA star has emerged as a stronger leader. In the NBA context, it meant Dončić taking on a more pronounced role in recruiting free agents like Deandre Ayton and Marcus Smart. With the national team, it meant adjusting standards for a roster that couldn’t match his talent.

“Every year, he’s more vocal and even more patient with the players because he’s coming from a different level than we are,” Murić said. “And sometimes (the mistakes), it’s not acceptable for him. Maybe he used to expect too much from us because he comes from another world that we come from, you know?

“But now as he’s maturing as he’s older, he gets that. And he’s giving us more and more trust.”

Dončić acknowledged that at this stage of his career, for his teams to be as good as possible, he needed to speak up.

“I mean, it was probably just something I need to do — especially since I’ve seen a lot of basketball now,” Dončić said. “So I’ve been through a lot — so it was kind of something like, I need to do this to help, to help others.”

Even if that means yelling about a blown coverage in a timeout or encouraging his teammates to get off the bench and cheer a good play by a teammate.

“(Being a leader), sometimes it’s comfortable, sometimes not,” he said. “Sometimes it’s great to be a leader and sometimes you have to say things that you don’t want to, but that’s part of being a leader.”

Dončić’s success this summer wasn’t just Slovenia’s — it was also a win for the Lakers, who again got to see one of their players take part in the biggest games of the summer.

“The idea that he is a Laker, it connects us. It’s a global thread,” Buss said. “I can’t think of a better representation of Laker basketball than Luka and what he brings to the game. To see it in a different context, a European tournament, it just feels very similar to Kobe or LeBron in the Olympics or Magic Johnson with the Dream Team.“

New mindset, new body, new appreciation for his new team — it all seems to have lined up for Dončić as he walks into this opportunity, a chance to prove his former team wrong, to reinforce the importance of his offseason work and sacrifice and a chance to become an even bigger superstar on the stage the Lakers can give.

“I’m way comfortable,” he said with a grin. “Especially going to training camp, you know, having practice with the guys — like I said, it’s a start for me.

“But I will feel way more comfortable now.”

And that should make plenty of other people in the Lakers’ way a little uncomfortable.

From the above article:

A blockbuster trade will require the Lakers to give up LeBron James or Austin Reaves—and there’s no way around it.

If the Los Angeles Lakers intend to complete another blockbuster trade, it’s likely going to cost them either LeBron James or Austin Reaves. It’s the unfortunate reality hanging over Los Angeles’ head as it searches for ways to follow up on the landscape-altering move for Luka Doncic.

With limited resources and potential second apron penalties to consider, however, the Lakers will find it challenging to capture lightning in a bottle twice in such a short period of time.

The Lakers have built 17 championship teams by making blockbuster moves at a rate to which no other franchise can compare. They’ve acquired the likes of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Wilt Chamberlain, Anthony Davis, Pau Gasol, LeBron James, and Shaquille O’Neal, each of whom helped guide Los Angeles to at least one title.

The latest in a long line of blockbuster moves was the trade for Doncic—a monumental acquisition that it may struggle to build upon if the goal is finding another star.

It’s admittedly difficult to make this case after Los Angeles landed Doncic against all odds, but context is crucial. The deal for Doncic was one of the most shocking in NBA history, with many arguing that the Dallas Mavericks accepted an offer they never should’ve even considered.

Even still, it cost the Lakers a five-time All-NBA and five-time All-Defense honoree in future Hall of Fame inductee Anthony Davis—a possible sign of things to come.

Lakers can’t trade for a star without losing LeBron or Austin Reaves
One of the manners in which teams have learned to circumvent the need for losing top-tier talent in a trade for a star-caliber player has been the inclusion of a surplus of draft assets. The Orlando Magic, for instance, gave up four first-round draft picks and a pick swap for Desmond Bane earlier this summer.

The outgoing players were Cole Anthony and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, who are by no means below-average contributors, but fall below the line that equates to a star-caliber distinction.

Unfortunately, the Lakers lack the assets to complete a trade of that nature. Los Angeles has already traded its 2027 and 2029 first-round selections, meaning it can’t part with its 2026, 2028, or 2030 picks due to the Stepien Rule that prevents teams from operating without first-rounders in consecutive years.

That leaves just its 2031 first-round draft pick as a potentially valued draft asset—and it doesn’t even have a second-round selection until 2032 to help sweeten the pot.

Pick swaps could be provided to up the ante, but even then, few teams will be looking to ship out a star for such an underwhelming return knowing what the new market is. Aiming higher than a Bane or a Mikal Bridges would undoubtedly raise the price accordingly.

To make matters worse, the Lakers’ only contracts worth more than $12 million belong to Doncic, James, Rui Hachimura, and Reaves—and all but Doncic will be eligible for unrestricted free agency in 2026.

With this in mind, the Lakers’ best offer will effectively come out to an expiring contract and a single first-round draft pick. There are ways to convince a team to take a chance on such a deal, but that will require the incoming talent being prolific enough to justify the risk involved in such a deal.

Unfortunately for the Lakers, and with all due respect to Hachimura, the end result is a likely choice between trading James or Reaves to get a deal over the finish line for a new Doncic co-star.

These kind of articles are so absurd. It assumes:
-That the Lakers even need to make a “blockbuster” trade.
-That LeBron will waive his no-trade clause.

The dog days are almost over and we’ll be able to re-focus on reality. Not these absurd fantasy articles people write to keep their jobs.

I hate to give up Jake in this trade but Knecht’s salary is not enough and Tari Eason is already one of the best defensive wings in the league. Second best individual defensive rating in NBA. He’s a young version of Andrew Wiggins.

Two Blockbuster Wing & Center Trades That Make Lakers Champs The solution that lets the Lakers trade for the elite 3&D starting wing and alpha shot-blocking backup center they need and still keep their draft capital is trading Austin Reaves, who’s worth at least two first…— LakerTom (@LakerTom) September 23, 2025

Two Blockbuster Wing & Center Trades That Make Lakers Champs Trading Reaves would be a bold move but would also eliminate the risk of overpaying him based on the team’s need or losing him for nothing in free agency. Opportunity knocks: now is the time to cash in on Austin…— LakerTom (@LakerTom) September 23, 2025

Two Blockbuster Wing & Center Trades That Make Lakers Champs 1. Trade for Andrew Wiggins and Mitchell RobinsonThe New York Knicks are at a crossroads with injury-prone talented backup center Mitchell Robinson who wants a $60-70 million extension and with a Jalen Brunson… pic.twitter.com/VjWvJWR5KR— LakerTom (@LakerTom) September 23, 2025

Two Blockbuster Wing & Center Trades That Make Lakers Champs 2. Trade for Herb Jones and Robert Williams IIIThe New Orleans Pelicans are a mess. Zion Williamson can’t stay healthy, Brandon Ingram has been traded, and this is likely the season that decides whether the… pic.twitter.com/RELpIxTEla— LakerTom (@LakerTom) September 23, 2025

I’d do the Knicks deal, don’t see why the Knicks would with Bridges functioning as the starting SG if Hart gets moved to the bench because he’s better then Reaves. Heck, I might even put Josh Hart ahead of Reaves on that depth chart. Knicks are awash with guards, they don’t need more. Clarkson fits in perfectly next to Hart as a backup tandem, as well. No real compelling reason I can discern why the Knicks pull this trigger.

Robinson IS the Knicks backup center, they don’t have another one so really all this trade accomplishes for them is adding the 3rd guard off the bench and nuke their sole backup center.

Yes to Herb Jones, no to Time Lord. But I wouldn’t trade Reaves for Jones straight up, especially for any pick whatsoever. If we get a FRP back that makes sense. Jones is another hole on offense, he had one good season and mostly only OK seasons shooting the three and so space and scoring will be huge issues. You don’t give up the best player AND draft compensation. Not if a real GM wants to keep his real GM job.

Also, I think it’s funny that you use the word “alpha” right next to “backup”. Wouldn’t an alpha player, you know,….start? Plus we have Hayes. Whenever I see these trades that don’t include moving Jax it makes even less actual, practical sense. We’re already up against the wall with roster spots and cap space so now, we’re bringing in another center which relegates Hayes to not playing at all thus wasting both cap space and a roster spot? That also makes zero sense to me.

FROM ABOVE ARTICLE:

Boston Celtics Receive:
-Terance Mann
-Utah’s 2026 second-round pick (via Milwaukee; top-55 protection)
-draft rights to Louis Labeyrie (via Lakers)
-Brooklyn’s 2026 second-round pick (via Miami; top-55 protection)

Brooklyn Nets Receive:
-Pat Connaughton
-Kyle Kuzma
-Denver’s 2029 second-round pick (via Charlotte)
-draft rights to Marcelo Nicola (via Portland)
-$2.3 million cash (via Miami)

Charlotte Hornets Receive:
-Anfernee Simons
-Robert Williams III (into non-taxpayer mid-level exception)
-$1.7 million cash (via Lakers)

Los Angeles Lakers Receive:
-Andrew Wiggins
-Haywood Highsmith
-AJ Green

Miami Heat Receive:
-Rui Hachimura
-Jarred Vanderbilt
-Jusuf Nurkić
-Matisse Thybulle
-2026 second-round pick (most favorable from Denver or Golden State, via Charlotte)
-Lakers’ 2031 first-round pick

Milwaukee Bucks Receive:
-Collin Sexton
-Simone Fontecchio
-draft rights to Peter Fehse (via Utah)

Portland Trail Blazers Receive:
-Nick Smith Jr.,
-Kyle Anderson
-K.J. Martin
-Houston’s 2031 second-round pick (via Boston; top-55 protection)
-draft rights to Dimitrios Agravanis (via Milwaukee)
-Lakers’ 2032 second-round pick

Utah Jazz:
-Gabe Vincent
-Terry Rozier
-DaQuan Jeffries
-2026 second-round pick (most favorable from Detroit, Milwaukee and Orlando, via Boston)
-2028 second-round pick (more favorable of Clippers and Hornets, via Charlotte) -draft rights to Christian Drejer (via Brooklyn)
-draft rights to Peter Fehse, $2.4 million cash (via Miami)
-$2.5 million cash (via Boston)

It’s just posturing. Heat want Rui, Knecht, and first round pick. Lakers not willing to give up pick at this point although they should. They’ll most likely wait until trade deadlne. Having Wiggins in camp and for the full season is worth the pick ino.

Lakers need 7 or 8 great role players to make Luka a champion. Not more big name superstars to take the ball out of his hands. And frankly, that should include Austin Reaves.