7-footer Christian Koloko is finalizing a return to the NBA | Lakers are the frontrunners to sign him

[Duffman100]

He worked out for 4 teams this off-season, including the raptors, yet the best contract he could field was a 2 way from the Lakers. Masai got a good look at him and felt that he isn't worth a full contract, I'll judge his and the other GM's assessment over the posters here.

The people being critical don't even care about Koloko as they've shat on him for years.

It's really about trying to find some other way to **** on Masai.

Because they like to **** on things.

Isn't this contradictory? They would have **** on Koloko for years, but now that the team has "lost" the player they **** on for years, the FO messed up?

Wouldn't it make more sense to say the people that were thinking he was a great prospect and we lost him, are **** on the FO for losing him?

Yes it would make more sense. Except that isn't the case.

[Scase]

The people being critical don't even care about Koloko as they've shat on him for years.

It's really about trying to find some other way to **** on Masai.

Because they like to **** on things.

Isn't this contradictory? They would have **** on Koloko for years, but now that the team has "lost" the player they **** on for years, the FO messed up?

Wouldn't it make more sense to say the people that were thinking he was a great prospect and we lost him, are **** on the FO for losing him?

Yes it would make more sense. Except that isn't the case.

Fair enough lol.

I can rationalize with the "I hate FVV, but the FO screwed up getting nothing for him." cause he's still a good player. But I guess I can't wrap my head around giving the FO **** for losing a player that was basically a nothing.

I guess I need to up my intake of haterade

[C_Money]

The signs point to Masai being out of here in 2 years when Larry T gets bought out. It would also be the 5 year mark of his contract which is typically the length. I’m looking forward to it tbh.

The moves he made were logical in terms of the Thad and Koloko, OG, and Siakam trade. We didn't offer Koloko a roster spot either.

Koloko won't be a good player for at least the next two years. He's going to be the same as his rookie season best case scenario with a chance of reoccurring health problems. In comparison Fernando is 26, which is 2 years older than Koloko, and he could probably produce for us immediately in a rotation role.

Then ultimately we have Chomche who we dropped money for to buy as a prospect. He has a higher ceiling than Koloko and at the same age could be a core piece on our team.

There hasn't been any firable offenses from Ujiri he still ranks in the top ten in the league. There isn't another GM who had as much pitted against him. He built a contender in the cold foreign north where no one wanted to play.

You’re right he doesn’t have any massive screw ups like say the Carolina Panthers franchise. But he does have a long list of small failures that continue to keep happening. Overall I’m ready for a change which I think will come in 2026.

[ForeverTFC]

The signs point to Masai being out of here in 2 years when Larry T gets bought out. It would also be the 5 year mark of his contract which is typically the length. I’m looking forward to it tbh.

The moves he made were logical in terms of the Thad and Koloko, OG, and Siakam trade. We didn't offer Koloko a roster spot either.

Koloko won't be a good player for at least the next two years. He's going to be the same as his rookie season best case scenario with a chance of reoccurring health problems. In comparison Fernando is 26, which is 2 years older than Koloko, and he could probably produce for us immediately in a rotation role.

Then ultimately we have Chomche who we dropped money for to buy as a prospect. He has a higher ceiling than Koloko and at the same age could be a core piece on our team.

There hasn't been any firable offenses from Ujiri he still ranks in the top ten in the league. There isn't another GM who had as much pitted against him. He built a contender in the cold foreign north where no one wanted to play.

You’re right he doesn’t have any massive screw ups like say the Carolina Panthers franchise. But he does have a long list of small failures that continue to keep happening. Overall I’m ready for a change which I think will come in 2026.

You and Scase looking forward to Ed Rogers taking over this franchise is very on brand.

I'm personally dreading the day Larry leaves and Masai goes with him. Ask the Blue Jays fans (the ones not on Ed's payroll) how Ed has run their franchise and how that Anthopolous to Shapiro/Atkins transition has worked out for them.

[GP2]

We released him, but made sure his contract was paid out in full. I'm sure we gave him some much needed contacts instead of leaving him high and dry.

Not gonna lie. Feeling a bit spurned here.

Lmao what? We paid out what we were contractually obligated to pay him. We paid out the only guaranteed year of the deal, we did nothing more than what was legally required by the CBA. Get outta here with this junk.

Either we didn't offer him what he wanted, or he decided that playing in LA, playing with Lebron, likely making/playing in the playoffs, and having a legit amount of minutes, was better than playing here and being on a crappy team.

Or realistically, both.

We kept his situation completely under wraps. Not saying we're the only team that would do that, but do you seriously think the gong show that is the Lakers would?

All I'm really saying is that we should retain his rights or have the right to match any offer since this was a medical emergency. Makes no sense.

[Scase]

The moves he made were logical in terms of the Thad and Koloko, OG, and Siakam trade. We didn't offer Koloko a roster spot either.

Koloko won't be a good player for at least the next two years. He's going to be the same as his rookie season best case scenario with a chance of reoccurring health problems. In comparison Fernando is 26, which is 2 years older than Koloko, and he could probably produce for us immediately in a rotation role.

Then ultimately we have Chomche who we dropped money for to buy as a prospect. He has a higher ceiling than Koloko and at the same age could be a core piece on our team.

There hasn't been any firable offenses from Ujiri he still ranks in the top ten in the league. There isn't another GM who had as much pitted against him. He built a contender in the cold foreign north where no one wanted to play.

You’re right he doesn’t have any massive screw ups like say the Carolina Panthers franchise. But he does have a long list of small failures that continue to keep happening. Overall I’m ready for a change which I think will come in 2026.

You and Scase looking forward to Ed Rogers taking over this franchise is very on brand.

I'm personally dreading the day Larry leaves and Masai goes with him. Ask the Blue Jays fans (the ones not on Ed's payroll) how Ed has run their franchise and how that Anthopolous to Shapiro/Atkins transition has worked out for them.

My concern is more with Larry gone, and much less with Masai gone. I don't have any hate for Masai, I just think it's time for a change, or it was all Bobby's doing the last 4 years, in which case I would happily have Masai back to right the ship. I just think the last 4 years have been such a massive fumble and waste of time that I think we need a major change.

And for the record, ain't no one looking forward to little Eddy. But just because Ed is a pile of crap, doesn't mean Masai is a golden child either.

[kalel123]

The signs point to Masai being out of here in 2 years when Larry T gets bought out. It would also be the 5 year mark of his contract which is typically the length. I’m looking forward to it tbh.

The moves he made were logical in terms of the Thad and Koloko, OG, and Siakam trade. We didn't offer Koloko a roster spot either.

Koloko won't be a good player for at least the next two years. He's going to be the same as his rookie season best case scenario with a chance of reoccurring health problems. In comparison Fernando is 26, which is 2 years older than Koloko, and he could probably produce for us immediately in a rotation role.

Then ultimately we have Chomche who we dropped money for to buy as a prospect. He has a higher ceiling than Koloko and at the same age could be a core piece on our team.

There hasn't been any firable offenses from Ujiri he still ranks in the top ten in the league. There isn't another GM who had as much pitted against him. He built a contender in the cold foreign north where no one wanted to play.

You’re right he doesn’t have any massive screw ups like say the Carolina Panthers franchise. But he does have a long list of small failures that continue to keep happening. Overall I’m ready for a change which I think will come in 2026.

It's death by thousand cuts. And I'm just about ready for it to die already. It being FO and death not being literal, for the sensitive beings out there.

Losing Koloko for nothing is basically the direct fallout from Siakam trade because we had to take bunch of garbage that are no longer here with us. So all that maneuvering to get something/anything out of Lowry then Dragic has come to nothing. Yeah, and Bruce Brown is still here. Can't wait to see what's next.

[SharoneWright]

The people being critical don't even care about Koloko as they've shat on him for years.

It's really about trying to find some other way to **** on Masai.

Because they like to **** on things.

That's a shat blanket diagnosis. You're shatting now.

[Thaddy]

The moves he made were logical in terms of the Thad and Koloko, OG, and Siakam trade. We didn't offer Koloko a roster spot either.

Koloko won't be a good player for at least the next two years. He's going to be the same as his rookie season best case scenario with a chance of reoccurring health problems. In comparison Fernando is 26, which is 2 years older than Koloko, and he could probably produce for us immediately in a rotation role.

Then ultimately we have Chomche who we dropped money for to buy as a prospect. He has a higher ceiling than Koloko and at the same age could be a core piece on our team.

There hasn't been any firable offenses from Ujiri he still ranks in the top ten in the league. There isn't another GM who had as much pitted against him. He built a contender in the cold foreign north where no one wanted to play.

You’re right he doesn’t have any massive screw ups like say the Carolina Panthers franchise. But he does have a long list of small failures that continue to keep happening. Overall I’m ready for a change which I think will come in 2026.

It's death by thousand cuts. And I'm just about ready for it to die already. It being FO and death not being literal, for the sensitive beings out there.

Losing Koloko for nothing is basically the direct fallout from Siakam trade because we had to take bunch of garbage that are no longer here with us. So all that maneuvering to get something/anything out of Lowry then Dragic has come to nothing. Yeah, and Bruce Brown is still here. Can't wait to see what's next.

The front office was in a difficult position. They tried to turnover the FVV, OG, and Siakam era into a clean rebuild while also giving them a chance to compete. If they pulled the plug early on that trio we would have been wondering "what if".

We juiced Lowry for his entire prime. It was apparent we wouldn't get great value back for him. The Dragic pipeline wasn't terrible considering that we gave up an aged out all star (not superstar). The OG pipeline is looking pretty good from a value standpoint. We can likely sell Barrett or IQ for much more than we gave up. In 3 years they will be some of the better assets in the league. The Siakam trade is still up in the air if Walter or the 2026 1st turn into good pieces it would be worth it. We have also been led to believe Brown will turn into another pick. The front office has been good at drafting and I would argue there's a decent chance we hit a home run with one of the picks from the Siakam pipeline.

[Chandan]

i cant tell which is it. Did Masai **** up by trading down 13 spots and got koloko (apparently he's not that good) or did masai **** up by waiving Koloko who actually matches our timeline and still have untapped potential?

[edgehead411]

i cant tell which is it. Did Masai **** up by trading down 13 spots and got koloko (apparently he's not that good) or did masai **** up by waiving Koloko who actually matches our timeline and still have untapped potential?

Koloko is a finished player lol don’t lose sleep over this

[Los_29]

I can’t recall seeing a GM strike gold year in and year out. Even with the best ones there are always a stretch of years where the team underperforms and they make lackluster moves. As good as Masai is, he has made mistakes. To his credit, the mistakes he’s made are nowhere near as bad as the mistakes other GMs in his tier have made (Riley, Presti, Ainge etc.).

[Duffman100]

i cant tell which is it. Did Masai **** up by trading down 13 spots and got koloko (apparently he's not that good) or did masai **** up by waiving Koloko who actually matches our timeline and still have untapped potential?

You tell us, you seem to use whatever argument you want depending on the thread.

Maybe it's possible this situation is just unfortunate? That any team would have waived Koloko under the assumption his career was over and that the NBA lacks any rule to allow rights to be maintaining in case of a medical situation like this?

Not everything has to have 'fault'.

[bluerap23]

None of this is true, even a little. Dude was medically unfit to play basketball, the league didn't tell us to waive him. We chose to do that, we weren't "waiting on the league to clear him". That was after he was waived starting late this summer.

We needed a roster spot to facilitate the Siakam trade, so he was waived, that's it.

Yes, it absolutely is. Raptors management was quoted as saying that they had exhausted all their options to try to get him medically cleared. It was definitely the league's Fitness-to-Play Panel that would not clear him to play. Not sure why this is something that you're choosing to argue about.

Now, the Raptors then did decide to waive him. That much is true. But that only happened after they had tried to get him medically cleared several times and it didn't happen.

You can argue about whether or not the Raptors should have hung onto an asset that they were unsure would ever be able to play again. I actually would have liked to see them hang onto him until the end of the year and see what happened in the off-season, but to say that it's "not even a little true" that the league wouldn't clear him is just wrong.

Gonna need to see the source on this claim.

Let's revisit the Koloko timeline here...

We made a bad trade - giving up a 1st round pick to SA for an old guy who wasn't even playing for them. But Masai is excused: we just moved down 13 rungs in the draft ladder and we would've selected Koloko at #20 anyway, you guys are too negative.

Then he didn't play that well and excuses were: but he was only a #33 second round pick and besides, Masai was right, he's young with oodles of potential on defense... anyway you guys are too negative.

Then the blood clot issue and justification was Masai was absolutely right to cut him and besides he'll be loyal and great fit for us and he'll choose us anyway because we drafted him and he's practicing with us... you guys are too negative.

Then Koloko signs with LA... but Masai is still right and it's the system's fault, the system should've allowed us to keep his rights and besides he wasn't any good anyway, Masai was right to cut him, in Masai we trust!

Possible next excuse on the excuse train: but #20 / #33 picks don't pan out anyway so no big loss, Thad was great, look how many players he mentored!

Raptors still have an open roster spot and could have signed him if they wanted to. They didn’t want to give him a guaranteed deal.

He is signing a 2-way with LA. No way he turned down a guaranteed deal for a 2-way.

Thanks for proactively giving him the next goalpost move

WTAF are you even talking about?

[Got Nuffin]

It is really is the depths of the off season.

People crying a mountain of tears about losing Koloko, who hasn't even played in how long (??) and was a marginal prospect to begin with - yes, he was a nice shot blocker. 3.1ppg, 2.9rb. That's about it. Now he has barely trained in years. He's not even on a full contract. If Masai loved him where he is right now - he could have just offered him a contract and Koloko would be a Raptor now.

What are the chances Koloko even gets through the season? Didn't he have blood clots??

Jeezus, who cares good luck to the young man. I hope he can actually play enough NBA to get that veterans pension.

[Scase]

It’s more about HOW the Toronto Raptors lost Christian Koloko
Don’t be upset about losing Christian Koloko to the Lakers, be upset about how we lost Koloko to the Lakers.

We shouldn’t be upset at Christian Koloko and his agent for choosing the Lakers. I’m pretty sure the Klutch agent made the best decision for his client. Right? Despite several teams showing interest, they felt that the Lakers’ Two-Way contract offer was the best situation for Koloko. The LA Clippers and the San Antonio Spurs have Two-Way contract spots available, while the Raptors and the Lakers don’t. In his situation, getting a standard contract is a long shot, but if someone offered him a spot, his agent would be crazy not to take it. We don’t know if the Raptors, Clippers, or Spurs offered Koloko at least a Two-Way contract, so it’s good for him to take the Lakers’ offer if that’s the only offer on the table.

[WuTang_CMB]

still with fit to play panel hasnt been cleared yet but lakers doctors optimistic

https://youtu.be/hBoAjIAswWU?t=1597

[DreamTeam09]

Interestingly enough, I'm looking foward to Fernando. It's been a while since we've had some brute force at the 5 spot.

[Tor_Raps]

Interestingly enough, I'm looking foward to Fernando. It's been a while since we've had some brute force at the 5 spot.

The bar has been so damn low since the Baynes/Len experiment that any Center we've gotten seems better than they truly are.

Vision 6'9 was a hot mess so we just need to up our standards again lol.

[nikster]

It’s more about HOW the Toronto Raptors lost Christian Koloko
Don’t be upset about losing Christian Koloko to the Lakers, be upset about how we lost Koloko to the Lakers.

We shouldn’t be upset at Christian Koloko and his agent for choosing the Lakers. I’m pretty sure the Klutch agent made the best decision for his client. Right? Despite several teams showing interest, they felt that the Lakers’ Two-Way contract offer was the best situation for Koloko. The LA Clippers and the San Antonio Spurs have Two-Way contract spots available, while the Raptors and the Lakers don’t. In his situation, getting a standard contract is a long shot, but if someone offered him a spot, his agent would be crazy not to take it. We don’t know if the Raptors, Clippers, or Spurs offered Koloko at least a Two-Way contract, so it’s good for him to take the Lakers’ offer if that’s the only offer on the table.

I still dont see what we're supposed to be upset about. What's wrong with how we lost him, other than the fact that the league should have some medical exemptions in place?