Post Mortem #19: Los Angeles Lakers

[SlimShady83]

Los Angeles will be perfectly fine. They have teams lining up to help them get better.

I fully expect Kevin Durant and Giannis to be traded there for free

No on KD ... But Yes on Giannis

But In saying that I want younger and hungeria Kessler/Collins

[SlimShady83]

I hear Ainge still wants; Reaves/Knecht.

[sp6r=underrated]

This season was a massive success. They off-loaded an often injured 32 year old, who admittedly does play at a HOF level when healthy for a better, more durable player in his mid 20s. And they did it without gutting the roster.

Yeah their season was basically the same, out in WC1 in 5. But the roster change is a massive success.

[KyRo23]

Backing out of the Mark Williams trade was stupid as hell.

Definitely. It’s odd that everyone called it rigged that the Lakers backed out of it like they had lost the trade or something. It was a no brainer move

[Marvin Martian]

LeBron will do what he wants, so I assume he'll continue (I hope at least he takes a discount... just for show...). Austin has to go, nothing against him, just the best trade card. Keep DFS/Hachimura and trade everyone else.

Reaves for Herb Jones.

Vando+Maxi+Knecht+FRP 31 (unprotected) + Swap 30 for Claxton + worse FRP 25 (Knicks)

Vincent+Milton+SRP for Clarkson

Claxton
LeBron/DFS
Hachimura
Herb Jones/Clarksson
Luka/Goodwin/Bronny

Claxton can't hang with elite frontcourt players and he can't shoot.

[SlimShady83]

LeBron did not sign a 1 + 1 right? So he can’t take a cut yet for next season?


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Some are saying yes he can take a paycut, I'm unsure about this, but pretty sure he can take a paycut.

[DonaldSanders]

JJ was absolutely horrific this series. Last season when it ended, every Laker fan blamed Ham and said if only we had an average coach then the Lakers would be so much better. Then JJ was hired and quickly praised as a savant.

The reality? One of the worst coached playoff series I've ever seen. Playing a 40 year old 46 minutes, a guy recovering from an illlness 46M, just wild. Then game 5 playing a guy with no practice, no chemistry with the team, no conditioning in Maxi Kleber instead of Jaxon Hayes was insane. If the Wolves hadn't been cold from 3, it would have been a 20-30pt blowout. They missed wide open 3s over and over and the Lakers were lucky to be in it.

And the proof is in the stats -- just as I predicted, LeBron ran out of gas in the 4th. Combined totals in games 4 and 5 LeBron had a total of 5 points. A 40 year old needs to be playing 30-35 minutes in the playoffs, not 40+ minutes. We saw this same pattern the past few years where LeBron got gassed vs. the Nuggets and the team fell off in 2nd halves. But has JJ actually been watching the Lakers the past few years? Looked at the stats? It's embarrassing.

And no shade on LeBron, amazing for his age -- but JJ did him and the Lakers dirty. I think JJ needs to go, and they obviously need to trade Reeves for a real center.

[kaansunman]

LeBron did not sign a 1 + 1 right? So he can’t take a cut yet for next season?


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Some are saying yes he can take a paycut, I'm unsure about this, but pretty sure he can take a paycut.

He did that in his prime to win it, I don't think he will do that before retirement. He is a big time investor, businessman why leave money on the table.

[SlimShady83]

Straight up love all the Luka/Laker threads loving IT

[Tottery]

Despite being eliminated in the first round, this was a good year for Laker fans. They acquired Luka. If he can avoid serious injury, can compete for the next decade. So much was in the air about what would happen when James retires, but now it's not a worry.

They have a young coach who did well for no NBA experience (not even as an assistant). Get a solid big during the offseason and bring Reaves off the bench to inject some scoring and they'll do a lot better. If it's possible to get better role players, great.

[Astaluego]

LeBron will do what he wants, so I assume he'll continue (I hope at least he takes a discount... just for show...). Austin has to go, nothing against him, just the best trade card. Keep DFS/Hachimura and trade everyone else.

Reaves for Herb Jones.

Vando+Maxi+Knecht+FRP 31 (unprotected) + Swap 30 for Claxton + worse FRP 25 (Knicks)

Vincent+Milton+SRP for Clarkson

Claxton
LeBron/DFS
Hachimura
Herb Jones/Clarksson
Luka/Goodwin/Bronny

Claxton can't hang with elite frontcourt players and he can't shoot.

No, but he can defend 3/5 at a high level, offers vertical spacing, is excellent at catching lobs, is on Luka's timeline, and plays for a rebuilding team, which means the Lakers could probably get him with their limited assets. I'd go with Zubac too, but...

[jbk1234]

LeBron did not sign a 1 + 1 right? So he can’t take a cut yet for next season?


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Some are saying yes he can take a paycut, I'm unsure about this, but pretty sure he can take a paycut.

Yeah, he's could always opt out and sign for less, but the Lakers are so far over the cap, it's going to be opt out to duck the 2nd apron pay cut. There will also be an issue if he wants that 2nd year guaranteed at 42 when there's a good free agent class in exchange for taking less this summer.

[Astaluego]

There will be excellent coaches available this summer...what would Malone look like coaching Luka?

[Marvin Martian]

JJ was absolutely horrific this series. Last season when it ended, every Laker fan blamed Ham and said if only we had an average coach then the Lakers would be so much better. Then JJ was hired and quickly praised as a savant.

The reality? One of the worst coached playoff series I've ever seen. Playing a 40 year old 46 minutes, a guy recovering from an illlness 46M, just wild. Then game 5 playing a guy with no practice, no chemistry with the team, no conditioning in Maxi Kleber instead of Jaxon Hayes was insane. If the Wolves hadn't been cold from 3, it would have been a 20-30pt blowout. They missed wide open 3s over and over and the Lakers were lucky to be in it.

And the proof is in the stats -- just as I predicted, LeBron ran out of gas in the 4th. Games 4 and 5 LeBron had a grand total of 5 points. A 40 year old needs to be playing 35 minutes in the playoffs, not 40+ minutes. We saw this same pattern the past few years where LeBron got gassed vs. the Nuggets and the team fell off in 2nd halves. But has JJ actually been watching the Lakers the past few years? Looked at the stats? It's embarrassing.

And no shade on LeBron, amazing for his age -- but JJ did him and the Lakers dirty. I think JJ needs to go, and they obviously need to trade Reeves for a real center.

Unfortunately, there will be no pressure for JJ to win with this team until LeBron retires.

[OxAndFox]

A lot of work this offseason to build around Luka.
And they also have to have a good conversation with Luka first because all that is moot if Luka has other places in mind...

I heard he's eyeing the Raptors.

He loves Europe.

[giberish]

By SYS they were only +1.45. 14th in the NBA, 8th in the west. They finished 6 games above their 'Pythagorean record' - the biggest overachievement in the league. Which generally means that they were unusually good in close games during the regular season - but that rarely translates into the playoffs (in contrast Minny is 4th in SRS, 2nd in the west).

In summary, they weren't as close to a title contender as their media hype or playoff seeding would lead you to believe.

Overall that's reasonably to be expected. While LeBron is amazing for his age, he is no longer an elite player (he shouldn't make an all-NBA team). The Lakers did have a solid all-NBA quality player between AD and Luka but their overall talent really wasn't that great.

Their Vegas O/U line was 43.5 wins. Their 'Pythagorean record' was 44 wins. They overachieved in close games during the regular season to get to 50 wins but overall were about where they were expected to be.

The big Luka trade was a huge win - for the long term. Before the season felt they should try to win as much as possible this year without dealing future picks, then send out AD in a rebuilding deal. Luka is a better long-term guy than any rebuilding package they were going to get for AD. They now need to build a title contender around Luka, which won't be easy but a guy playing at an MVP tier level makes it plausible even without great assets (and they at least have some).

What was their SYS after the Luka trade?

I don't have the breakdown. They were perhaps a little bit better. They had a very surprising run of very strong defense from slightly before the trade to the stretch after that did push them up some. The Luka was more of a push for this year (unless you take into account AD getting injured immediately after) as AD was an all-NBA level player for the Lakers and the roster made more sense around him.

[SlimShady83]

LeBron did not sign a 1 + 1 right? So he can’t take a cut yet for next season?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Some are saying yes he can take a paycut, I'm unsure about this, but pretty sure he can take a paycut.

Yeah, he's could always opt out and sign for less, but the Lakers are so far over the cap, it's going to be opt out to duck the 2nd apron pay cut. There will also be an issue if he wants that 2nd year guaranteed at 42 when there's a good free agent class in exchange for taking less this summer.

Good to know, so will most likely come down to the right trades? as much as I'd like Giannis over KD, I want Lakers to go after Kessler/Collins, Duren from Pistons and maybe I state maybe Ayton from Blazers who needs a new team.

[Marvin Martian]

LeBron will do what he wants, so I assume he'll continue (I hope at least he takes a discount... just for show...). Austin has to go, nothing against him, just the best trade card. Keep DFS/Hachimura and trade everyone else.

Reaves for Herb Jones.

Vando+Maxi+Knecht+FRP 31 (unprotected) + Swap 30 for Claxton + worse FRP 25 (Knicks)

Vincent+Milton+SRP for Clarkson

Claxton
LeBron/DFS
Hachimura
Herb Jones/Clarksson
Luka/Goodwin/Bronny

Claxton can't hang with elite frontcourt players and he can't shoot.

No, but he can defend 3/5 at a high level, offers vertical spacing, is excellent at catching lobs, is on Luka's timeline, and plays for a rebuilding team, which means the Lakers could probably get him with their limited assets. I'd go with Zubac too, but...

League has changed. Claxton would've been a fantastic player 7 years ago. Now we have highly skilled big C/PFs that will break Claxton's frail body in half.

[Catchall]

I'm not seeing how the Lakers have significant assets to improve their team.

[facothomas22]

Things basically played out as expected.The Timberwolves outmatched the Lakers in basically every way. The Lakers are basically the West coast Bucks. No spending power(I assume they will be near the 2nd tax apron once again), no assets, no picks, and a team that's no where close to being even a fringe contender.I don't see Luka Doncic having enough patience to wait 5-6 years for them to build a competent roster since he just went to the finals last year. So the next question what do they do now? As crazy as it sounds, they should look to trade Luka Doncic for a decent haul. Due to his uncertain contract status, they won't be able to get full value for him, but it's better for them than inevitably lose him for nothing in the 2026 off season.