Would you like a full rebuild next year or wait 1 more? Poll

[SlimShady83]

The problem with AD at the 4 is that we have yet to find a 5 that plays well next to him... And we've tried a lot.

Myles Turner?

[Kilroy]

The problem with AD at the 4 is that we have yet to find a 5 that plays well next to him... And we've tried a lot.

Myles Turner?

Why would it work?

Myles is a guy who's poised to break out and is looking for the right situation to showcase his potential... that's not playing D for AD...

On top of that, Indy just cleared the runway for him by trading Sabonis...

I like Turner... And was for trading for him during the season if possible, because I thought we had to try something. But with other options out there, I'm not sure he's the best we could do.

That said, if he and AD could figure it out, Myles compliments him in a lot of ways... I just don't know if having that much talent in the paint really is a good recipe for a contender.

[SlimShady83]

The problem with AD at the 4 is that we have yet to find a 5 that plays well next to him... And we've tried a lot.

Myles Turner?

Why would it work?

I would still go for Turner if Lakers can get him

Because as we all know AD doesn't play entire season and he'll probably go down in the first month with some sort of Injury (touch wood) so having a back up big Or another big who can be a starter, will be huge when/if that happens

Guards are easy to come by in today's game, should be going for Bigs IMO finding the right Bigs might be a lot tougher and should be a main focus in regards to players.

[SK21209]

Try to reload for next year. The 2027 and 2029 FRPs will have value some value this summer. I mentioned this on another thread a while back, but I could see Indiana going for a Russ/THT/picks for Brogdon/Hield package. Indiana refuses to do a full tear down, that package gives them a huge expiring in Russ, a young player in THT and two lottery tickets. Brogdon and Hield aren’t in their future plans anyway now that they have Haliburton and Duarte.

Next year’s roster could look something like this:

Brogdon/Nunn
Reaves/Hield
LeBron/Johnson
Davis/Melo/Gabriel
Cousins/Damian Jones

That team makes more sense than this roster and that’s without using the taxpayer MLE (I don’t think Monk is coming back). I agree that AD should go back to starting at the 4. We’ll probably have to chose from minimum contract centers again, I wouldn’t be surprised to see them go for Cousins and Jones if they’re available.

[Up-And-Coming]

As long as we have Lebron and AD you HAVE to try to compete. We're still just 18 months removed from winning a championship with Bron and AD + a combination of good players that fit. Lebron is still amazing when he plays and 29 teams would want him on their roster. I know it's hard to be positive right now but I think we should appreciate him a lot more while he's on our team. Trading Westbrook should be #1 priority.

Trade Westbrook to the Knicks for Kemba, Burks (can play KCP role), Fournier and Nerlens (still great defensively/switchable). Try to trade THT, Nunn + 1 FRP + 1 SRP for Jerami Grant. Not flashy deals but I like the fit/balance on offense (spacing) and defense. Sign a defensive guard like Delon Wright off the bench with the MMLE. Vet mins for Robin Lopez and Joe Ingles (good locker room guys). Average ages for rotation players are around their primes too (29/30 years old). A lot of lineup flexibility depending on matchups (more size, length, athleticism). These deals aren't that farfetched either.

Kemba (31)/Delon (30)
Burks (30)/Reaves (24)
Jerami (28)/Fournier (29)/Stanley (25)
Lebron (37)/Wenyen (25)/ Ingles (35)
AD (29)/Nerlens (28)/Lopez (34)

[wco81]

You'd have to get a big return of assets to even contemplate a rebuild.

Otherwise, no FRP until 2027?

Lebron is still a top 5 player. So next season, are they going to trade him as an expiring? Or extend him no later than the summer of 2023?

Even though he's a top 5 player, which teams would mortgage their future for a 38-year old? Is there a team for which he would be the last piece of 2-3 year championship run so they'd be willing to give up a lot of FRPs?

Teams would have to be wary about his durability. He missed big chunks of seasons during his tenure with the Lakers. He didn't suffer major injury this season, but there's talk about a sore knee. What if that's more chronic than an injury from which he could recover?

There are young players like Issacs who are missing over a season because of knee problems. Or players who never recovered their form. So even if a team believed Lebron could play like he has this season for a few more years, how do they know he won't miss a lot of games, including playoff games?


More than likely, Lakers keep AD and Lebron, give him an extension and try to use Westbrook's salary slot to add a cast around them. Worst case scenario, they're unable to trade WB so in summer of 2023, maybe they try to get another max contract FA and add minimum salary players around LBJ, AD and this third guy, assuming there is a big free agent due that summer.

Here are the 2023 free agents and potential free agents (they have a player option).

https://www.spotrac.com/nba/free-agents/2023/

Big names are Harden, Beal, Irving.

[danfantastk32]

You'd have to get a big return of assets to even contemplate a rebuild.

Otherwise, no FRP until 2027?

That pretty much sums it up. Unless Lebron signs off on a trade, and we're able to get a nice ransom for He and AD, whats the point?

Our picks are a little complicated. So we got nothing (no first, no second) this summer. 2023, the pelicans have the option to trade picks with us. So we will get a pick, but which one? Pelicans have options to take 2024, or 2025 first round pick from us. That's it. So we will get a first round pick of some sort in 2023, and we will get either our 2024, or 2025 pick, and we're good to go moving forward.

You can't trade back to back picks....so since the pelicans technically can wait till 2025, we can't legally trade our 2026 pick. But it's not like we don't have any picks until 2027.

We are also losing a few 2nd round picks mixed in there. So while it's not nearly as bad as people think, rebuilding through the draft is gonna be pretty unreal this go round.

prosportstransactions.com/basketball/DraftTrades/Future/Lakers.htm

[Ball so hard]

I'm all for doing a full rebuild next year. Over the years of watching the NBA I've learned it's better to rebuild a year too soon than a year too late.

The most important factors to consider are as follow:
-Lebron can no longer the floor raiser he's known to be for much of his career. This is not a bad thing. It simply means he needs to have a better supporting cast.
-AD has and will likely continue to been injury prone. It would be truly misguided to build around this guy. Even when healthy this guy is not a floor raiser.
-Rob is obviously a smart guy. However, his inexperience have been exposed. He doesn't seem competent at building a well-balanced competitive team.

On another note, THT has been a major disappointment. Where are all the people who called skeptics oblivious simpletons?

[sortpar]

I think that giving a career long self serving player like Melo the heave ho, would be a good start.

[chefy]

No way in hell I want our lakers to be one of those teams whose franchise player only play 20-30 games a season and then eventually leaves.

Not going through that BS. Sorry I was spoiled by Kobe.

[tamaraw08]

Full rebuild is extremely difficult esp with no picks and no current good pieces. Many star free agents didnt even consider this team before and nothing has changed imo.
I don’t see Lebron going elsewhere and Russ opting out anyway so it’s a moot point.
The biggest question is what they can they realistically get for Russ’ expiring contract. Brogdon and fillers are good but will they good enough?
Meh on Kemba and fillers.
A fully rested Lillard is very intriguing.

[Vae Victus]

I think a healthy Ibaka assuming we had signed him to a 1+1 MLE instead of Montrezl Harrell woulda been AD's ideal front court mate.

Large enough to play C, has defensive instincts, and can stretch the floor. Sadly we signed Montrezl Harrell instead, which hurt the defense and prevented him from playing much.

[TheHartBreakKid]

Wait one more year. Or to be more exact, wait atleast until the deadline next year.

Give the team one more chance.

Let's see the AD that starts next year. He would be well rested and in theory, motivated. Lebron will still be a beast, and he defnitely benefit from the rest. Figure out the Russell situation to the best of your ability. See where the team stands mid season, and go into full rebuild mode then. We aren't trading lebron unless he wants to be traded anyways, and AD doesn't exactly have his highest value.


I think it's very unlikely that we'll be contenders next year, but I want to see them give this team a chance.

[JVL]

I'm a massive Lebron fan but I'd opt for a full rebuild. There's nothing left to salvage here. Lebron is out of the league soon, AD is unreliable and Westbrook is dead weight. We've got no assets to build around next season and not be irrelevant.

Lakers should be all in on their future and trying to attract a new star as the future of the franchise to build around.

A rebuild is obviously a long term project and we're not doing any rebuilding as long as Lebron or Westbrook are on this team. I'll give AD the benefit of the doubt although I'have 0 faith in him right now.

[Hans1984]

Can't wait. Rebuild asap.

[Ball so hard]

Wait one more year. Or to be more exact, wait atleast until the deadline next year.

Give the team one more chance.

Let's see the AD that starts next year. He would be well rested and in theory, motivated. Lebron will still be a beast, and he defnitely benefit from the rest. Figure out the Russell situation to the best of your ability. See where the team stands mid season, and go into full rebuild mode then. We aren't trading lebron unless he wants to be traded anyways, and AD doesn't exactly have his highest value.


I think it's very unlikely that we'll be contenders next year, but I want to see them give this team a chance.

People said the same thing about AD coming into this season. AD's value though not at its peak could actually get worse if he doesn't rebound next season. Can you imagine what three consecutive injury riddled seasons from a 30 yr old big would fetch us?

[dAdo dA dEvil]

No way in hell I want our lakers to be one of those teams whose franchise player only play 20-30 games a season and then eventually leaves.

Not going through that BS. Sorry I was spoiled by Kobe.

Man, I miss Kobe.

[Kilroy]

We SHOULD blow it the **** up... Like in the middle of the Suns game, just send everyone home...

But will we? I doubt it... It'd take some real guts to say it's a disaster from top to bottom, ask LeBron where he wants to go, make it happen and then try trading AD and Westbrook... Then clearing house in the FO and coaching staff...

[Landsberger]

We SHOULD blow it the **** up... Like in the middle of the Suns game, just send everyone home...

But will we? I doubt it... It'd take some real guts to say it's a disaster from top to bottom, ask LeBron where he wants to go, make it happen and then try trading AD and Westbrook... Then clearing house in the FO and coaching staff...

Welcome to where I've been since we signed Melo....

The reality is that the FO has never truly transitioned after the boss passed away. Shrewd deals and a little good fortune put Kobe in positions to win with two groups which rarely happens. When he passed the wheels came off..... it's just taken this long to see it.

I have no idea how they get out of this hole but the thought of Bron and Davis winning again here should be put out of everyone's head. There is no way to prop those two up with a few good players and truly compete. The worst case scenario is a decent season next year IMHO. That would most likely extend LeBron and just do the same cycle over next summer.

We need new leadership from the top down and a plan to have success that's longer than the next trade deadline.

[wco81]

Didn’t realize, Lakers can offer LBJ a 2-year $97 million extension this summer, putting him under contract for 3 more seasons, though he’s talked about playing with his son — earning around $50 million a year in 2023-24 and the following season would make him difficult to trade though.

Will committing that kind of money to him help or hurt the chances at improving the team? Depends a lot on when they can get WB money off the books.