The LeBron James and Luka Doncic - 25-26 Thread

[ball_takes23]

Should trade Reaves while his value is still high.

Whats the trade?

from the looks of last night the rockets desperately need a ballhandling/playmaking guard and they have about 5 big men on their team so they would seem to make a lot of sense as a trade partner

maybe they can give you DFS back + one of their mid bigs

[eminence]

Reaves for some combo of Rockets wing/big makes a lot of sense for both squads to me. Probably need a third team to eat some money. If I'm the Lakers I think I might be able to get a little value back in such a deal as well to potentially look for another deal.

[homecourtloss]

There are some positive signs for them, but just like in years’ past, they don’t have many two-way players and can’t put together lineups of such players. They also don’t have players that shine on one end or the other, either. -9 deficit in threes made, -9 deficit in FTs made, -1 in FGA will usually lead to blowouts, but Luka kept them close for a while.

Luka was incredible, though. They were trying everything with defenders grabbing him and no,ding him and handchecking on just about every possession but he still scored.

[Ian Scuffling]

Didn't see the game, but has Luka learned how to play passable defense, yet? That backcourt, while lights out offensively, is seriously bad on the defensive side. I just don't see that working at all.

[thebigbird]

Didn't see the game, but has Luka learned how to play passable defense, yet? That backcourt, while lights out offensively, is seriously bad on the defensive side. I just don't see that working at all.

No lol. He still gets tricked out on the defensive end.

It’s a shame that LeBron is so obsessed with living in LA. He wasted so many championship caliber seasons on this dogwater organization. This team looks awful yet again, and now with LeBron’s lingering injury I think it’s finally too late for him. Sucky end to the GOAT career.

[Ian Scuffling]

Didn't see the game, but has Luka learned how to play passable defense, yet? That backcourt, while lights out offensively, is seriously bad on the defensive side. I just don't see that working at all.

No lol. He still gets tricked out on the defensive end.

It’s a shame that LeBron is so obsessed with living in LA. He wasted so many championship caliber seasons on this dogwater organization. This team looks awful yet again, and now with LeBron’s lingering injury I think it’s finally too late for him. Sucky end to the GOAT career.

Oh well. I didn't think, just because he got in shape, that he'd learn to play defense. I'm definitely of like mind when it comes to Lebron. Hope it was worth it to him. He doesn't seem like a dumb guy, so he had to see this coming.

[dcstanley]

I thought Luka played as well as you can reasonably expect defensively from a guy that was responsible for half of his team's points. Especially late in the game.

[TheGOATRises007]

Luka was good defensively considering the amount of effort he exerted offensively.

He looked way more active and spry last night.

[Caneman786]

As per BetMGM via sportsoddshistory.com, yesterday on October 21st:

The Lakers had -350 odds to make the playoffs and +275 odds to miss the playoffs. That translates to an implied probability:
A 74.5% chance the Lakers had to make the playoffs (vigorish 4.4%).

The Lakers' over-under for wins was 46.5 (7th in the West), with the over being at -120 odds, while the under was at +100 odds. Implied probability:
A 52.2% chance the Lakers had to have 47+ wins (vigorish 4.5%).

The Lakers' odds to win the finals stood at +1600 (7th highest in the league and 5th highest in the West), meaning an implied probability of:
A 4.6% chance the Lakers had to win the 2026 NBA title (vigorish 27.2%).

I expect all these numbers to decline precipitously as the season progresses. I'll be keeping track and giving updates.

[IG2]

He looked way more active and spry last night.

He really did. Way better mobility than he has shown in years.

[nzahir]

Reaves for some combo of Rockets wing/big makes a lot of sense for both squads to me. Probably need a third team to eat some money. If I'm the Lakers I think I might be able to get a little value back in such a deal as well to potentially look for another deal.

We would be losing too much talent

AR is a solid #3 imo, just not enough defense for us with Luka, Bron, and then having Ayton be your C and maybe closing with Rui too

Tari Eason is the only good player we would get, unless they want to move Jabari Smith as well, then that could be interesting

[nzahir]

Nothing new. Doncic and Reaves aren't a perfect fit, Doncic Reaves and Hachimura is a terrible fit and Ayton as a backline defender for these 3 is a complete joke. I'm not even sure he's an upgrade over Hayes. But Pelinka got his extension so who cares right?

Yup this was my worry

Need a defensive minded C

RW3 come on down?

Kessler still a pipe dream feels like. Dont think Knecht, a 1st and swaps are enough, but would do it. Maybe move Rui if he has value to someone

Vando and Gabe were basically useless again tonight. At least Gabe is an expiring

RW3 plays 30 games per season, he's not the answer

They lost this season in the summer. For whatever reason Rob thinks he's a genius who can build a team on the fly during the year. It doesn't work that way. But they probably decided to throw away another season even before the free agency opened up

Well gimme some options lol

Kessler just dominated the Clips....those hopes are gone probably

I mean we made moves this summer, cant do it all in one shot

Laravia to replace DFS
Ayton as starting C
Smart as an addition

I wonder if Lebron ends up back in Cle for 1-2 more years

He wont have the top end talent in Luka, but he would have a ton of solid guys around him C

Allen+Hunter+Strus for Bron+Bronny

Lakers some depth and a starting C

AR, Smart, Luka, Rui, Allen
Gabe, Strus, Hunter, Vando, Ayton
Laravia, Knecht?

Maybe Cavs ask for Knecht or Ayton?

Cavs get a vet and go all in

Garland, Mitchell, Bron, Mobley, Ayton/replacement C?
Lonzo, Knecht? Merrill, Wade, LNJ

Other option is move Garland+Hunter (maybe a 3rd team) and Cavs keep Allen and Strus

[ball_takes23]

Yup this was my worry

Need a defensive minded C

RW3 come on down?

Kessler still a pipe dream feels like. Dont think Knecht, a 1st and swaps are enough, but would do it. Maybe move Rui if he has value to someone

Vando and Gabe were basically useless again tonight. At least Gabe is an expiring

RW3 plays 30 games per season, he's not the answer

They lost this season in the summer. For whatever reason Rob thinks he's a genius who can build a team on the fly during the year. It doesn't work that way. But they probably decided to throw away another season even before the free agency opened up

Well gimme some options lol

Kessler just dominated the Clips....those hopes are gone probably

I mean we made moves this summer, cant do it all in one shot

Laravia to replace DFS
Ayton as starting C
Smart as an addition

I wonder if Lebron ends up back in Cle for 1-2 more years

He wont have the top end talent in Luka, but he would have a ton of solid guys around him C

Allen+Hunter+Strus for Bron+Bronny

Lakers some depth and a starting C

AR, Smart, Luka, Rui, Allen
Gabe, Strus, Hunter, Vando, Ayton
Laravia, Knecht?

Maybe Cavs ask for Knecht or Ayton?

Cavs get a vet and go all in

Garland, Mitchell, Bron, Mobley, Ayton/replacement C?
Lonzo, Knecht? Merrill, Wade, LNJ

Other option is move Garland+Hunter (maybe a 3rd team) and Cavs keep Allen and Strus

arent the cavs still over the second apron?

[dcstanley]

I think Lebron's goal should be to get through this season in one piece with enough juice for one final season of all-star level play and then sign with CLE, GSW, or NYK in the offseason for his final run.

[nzahir]

RW3 plays 30 games per season, he's not the answer

They lost this season in the summer. For whatever reason Rob thinks he's a genius who can build a team on the fly during the year. It doesn't work that way. But they probably decided to throw away another season even before the free agency opened up

Well gimme some options lol

Kessler just dominated the Clips....those hopes are gone probably

I mean we made moves this summer, cant do it all in one shot

Laravia to replace DFS
Ayton as starting C
Smart as an addition

I wonder if Lebron ends up back in Cle for 1-2 more years

He wont have the top end talent in Luka, but he would have a ton of solid guys around him C

Allen+Hunter+Strus for Bron+Bronny

Lakers some depth and a starting C

AR, Smart, Luka, Rui, Allen
Gabe, Strus, Hunter, Vando, Ayton
Laravia, Knecht?

Maybe Cavs ask for Knecht or Ayton?

Cavs get a vet and go all in

Garland, Mitchell, Bron, Mobley, Ayton/replacement C?
Lonzo, Knecht? Merrill, Wade, LNJ

Other option is move Garland+Hunter (maybe a 3rd team) and Cavs keep Allen and Strus

arent the cavs still over the second apron?

Yes you are right, forgot about that

Would need to get under first, pretty tough

[nzahir]

Nice bounceback game

Bron looked engaged on the bench

Luka was great again, but the difference was the others of course chipping in

Ayton looked solid and playing with some force, but tons of open dunks of course

Smart changed the game when he came in

Vando helped with his effort too, but still a black hole on offense

Still dont see us seriously competing w/o some moves though

[TroubleS0me]

Read on Twitter

Read on Twitter

Read on Twitter

Read on Twitter

[tone wone]

Huge turnaround from Tuesday. Hopefully they can keep it going.

[TroubleS0me]

Read on Twitter

[tone wone]

Austin Reaves give us 50!