MIKE LOWERY
formerly chuck finster
- Mar 1, 2007
- 7,674
- 4,862
NOP 
sale incoming....
sale incoming....**LA LAKERS THREAD** Sitting on 17! 2023-2024 offseason begins
- Thread in 'Sports & Training' Thread starter Started by licensed to ball,
- Start date
- Feb 17, 2019
- 16,990
- 18,024
Savini sounds European (Italian) to me.nah.
That's not him
LA Superfan is middle eastern/European not latino
"alot of folks dont know"
But I could be wrong it may not be Savini because I’ve also heard it’s some partner at a LA law firm
Looks like Savini to me though and until we see an official name for the Superfan, I’m going with Savini
MVP
Supporter
- Feb 28, 2008
- 83,182
- 86,053
Yes bring my son byke and that's how you get LaMelo out here eventually.
- Sep 5, 2010
- 94,260
- 131,782
It would be a fireable offense to give up anything for him. Wait until the summer and sign him for the minimum if you're such a big fan of his.
MVP
Supporter
- Feb 28, 2008
- 83,182
- 86,053
Figure they can do something with him and Vuc in a package but yea alone, you're right.
- Feb 16, 2011
- 8,457
- 8,213
It aint him, I saw him last week face to face he was short af tooSavini sounds European (Italian) to me.
But I could be wrong it may not be Savini because I’ve also heard it’s some partner at a LA law firm
Looks like Savini to me though and until we see an official name for the Superfan, I’m going with Savini
not the same dood, but g'head with the false reddit info
- Sep 5, 2010
- 94,260
- 131,782
While we're on the subject of former Lakers, I've come to the conclusion that Brandon Ingram is the best bet on talent and the immediate future (three years and out) for this group. I feel like if they want any chance to get past the Thunder or Mavs or T'Wolves, having another big wing shot maker/creator would go a long ways. And there's the Klutch connection and Pelinka/Jeanie love their former Lakers. But of course, he's injury prone and not exactly a seamless fit.
- Apr 24, 2006
- 18,868
- 13,205
Bring back Lonzo as long as he hoops in Nikes only
- Jul 29, 2012
- 4,769
- 5,544
Injured every year (injured right now), never figured it out defensively despite being 6'8. He probably wants a max or near max contract again next year
- Sep 5, 2010
- 94,260
- 131,782
Totally fair. Wouldn't pull the trigger until he returns and looks healthy. I think with AD, Bron and AR, he'd be asked to do less and exert more effort-focus on defense.
Ideally they get him for less than his max. Dip into the second apron next season, but then Bron retires afterwards.
- Aug 6, 2012
- 58,194
- 62,245
I like a BI and AD combo. Just don't know how it works with Bron.
- Sep 5, 2010
- 94,260
- 131,782
I wanna see how these next few weeks go, but I think Bron is going to play less minutes (five minute spurts, less seven minute spurts) and games moving forward (no more back to backs).
freeze
Supporter
- Jan 5, 2011
- 68,498
- 79,866
So basically JJ isn’t doing any of the things that he said he would to get the job
- Sep 5, 2010
- 94,260
- 131,782
- Aug 2, 2008
- 37,752
- 13,174
Exactly the picture I was thinking about when I posted.
- Aug 2, 2008
- 37,752
- 13,174
Nets clear 4 mil. Get 4- 2nds.
Raptors get a guy they genuine like, 5 years younger with another year and his next contract will likely be similar money on a higher cap. And he won’t impact the tank.
And one of these two trades
Low protection for Richards because I’m not sure they are interested in trading him. And I think there’s some growth potential. I’m guessing on top 5 protection. Top 8 or 10 is more likely.
w/ POR 1st is to get off Gabe and get Rob. Not totally sure I’d trade a 1st for Rob. But to offload Gabe, probably worth it.
Then from there you have Reddish, Woods or Hayes, Lewis to get a cheap veteran guard. Orrrr stay put and have a roster space.
If they have higher sights, include Vando.
- Sep 5, 2010
- 94,260
- 131,782
They trade a first for Nick ******* Richards, I'll go to Disneyland myself to drown Pelinka at Pirates of the Carribean.
- Aug 2, 2008
- 37,752
- 13,174
Gotta catch him first. He has fast pass.
I think that’s where it ends up if they move him. Not sure they do. Because no one ever knows what the hell the Hornets do or are thinking.
But Lakers may end up dealing a 1st to someone who may not totally be worth it because that’s where the market is for them.
Because these morons can’t keep from leaking their desire for 8000000 trades.
It’s why I think DLo was always going to stay last trade deadline. Why they weren’t going to move him in the off season. And why it’s a long shot they move him at the deadline (less of a long shot than last time, certainly possible, but more unlikely than it is likely). Because Rob or Jeanie or somebody in the organization can’t shut the **** up.
- Sep 5, 2010
- 94,260
- 131,782
Lakers trade season primer: What I’m hearing about Los Angeles’ plans
Dec. 15 marked the unofficial start of the NBA’s trade season.
As of Sunday, many free agents signed over the 2024 offseason became eligible to be traded. The league already saw two trades happen — Thomas Bryant from Miami to Indiana and Dennis Schröder from Brooklyn to Golden State — to shore up playoff hopefuls decimated with injuries at specific positions.
The Los Angeles Lakers are expected to be one of the more active buyers leading into the Feb. 6 trade deadline as they try to maximize the final seasons of the LeBron James–Anthony Davis partnership.
Los Angeles is currently 14-12, tied for ninth in the Western Conference, and 22nd in net rating. The Lakers clearly need to make multiple upgrades to have a shot at actualizing the championship aspirations vice president of basketball operations and general manager Rob Pelinka and coach JJ Redick laid out at the beginning of the season.
Yet, as their quiet 2024 trade deadline and offseasons showed, the Lakers’ activity doesn’t always translate to action. In the coming weeks, they will have to be more open to using their draft capital to substantially improve their roster.
Let’s dive into some questions and topics that will dominate discussions ahead of the deadline.
Are the Lakers likely to make a move?
Yes. At least that’s the operating assumption around the league. However, the magnitude of the move is unclear given the uncertainty of how much draft capital the Lakers are willing to use in a trade, according to team and league sources.
It’s worth noting that many expected the Lakers to make a move last season ahead of the trade deadline, and they stood pat. The closest they got was talks with Atlanta for Dejounte Murray, though Atlanta’s insistence on Austin Reaves being in the trade was a sticking point at the time for the Lakers, as The Athletic previously reported.
Pelinka said at media day that he wanted to evaluate the team after the 30-game mark. The Lakers play their 30th game of the season on Christmas Day at Golden State. The Lakers’ recent skid — they’ve lost eight of 12 games — hasn’t exactly been a ringing endorsement for investing in this group. The results in the next few weeks will determine how much pressure is on the front office to upgrade this roster.
As has become the recent league-wide trend, there project to be more buyers than sellers on the trade market. That can drive up the prices from sellers for quality starters and high-level role players, as it did last trade deadline. With that said, the Warriors giving up three second-round picks for Schröder, who is having a career year statistically, could signify a shift toward that caliber of player going for multiple second-round picks rather than a first-round pick, according to league sources.
Who are realistic trade targets?
Similar to last season, the Lakers believe they have three positional needs at the trade deadline:
The buzziest name in league circles, who’s been attached to the Lakers dating back to the summer, is Washington Wizards center Jonas Valančiūnas ($9.9 million salary this season). He checks the box of a big, bruising, physical center, though his defensive mobility is limited and he can be targeted on that end (as the Lakers did twice in high-stakes games to close the 2023-24 regular season and in the Play-In game).
Valančiūnas is averaging 12.0 points (55.8 percent shooting), 7.6 rebounds and 0.8 blocks in 19.7 minutes per game with the Wizards. He’s started 833 of his 880 career games but has only started six of 24 games for the Wizards this season.
Valančiūnas was on James’ list of players he’d be willing to take a pay cut for over the offseason, as The Athletic reported over the summer, signifying how highly James viewed him as a conceivable fit. Shortly after, Redick mentioned the Lakers’ need for a brutish, physical big man. Davis has long wanted more reliable center help alongside him in the frontcourt.
The Brooklyn Nets, who are currently in the Play-In mix in the East, are looking to trade parts of their core to prioritize their future. After trading Schröder, Brooklyn is expected to make wings Cam Johnson ($22.5 million but with a likely cap hit of $27 million) and Dorian Finney-Smith ($14.9 million) available — and much sooner than the Feb. 6 deadline. Both have been tied to the Lakers for months. The Lakers have been interested in Finney-Smith for at least a couple of years.
As The Athletic has previously reported, a Lakers move is more likely later in January or early in February leading into the deadline, allowing Los Angeles more time to evaluate the roster and see if injured players like Jarred Vanderbilt and Christian Wood can plug some of the holes within the rotation. But it appears that, if the Lakers make a move on the sooner end, trading for Valančiūnas, Johnson and/or Finney-Smith would be the most realistic exceptions.
Other names that have come up in talks with team and league personnel over the past few weeks include Utah’s Walker Kessler and Collin Sexton, Toronto’s Bruce Brown Jr., Portland’s Jerami Grant and Robert Williams III and Washington’s Kyle Kuzma. The Lakers are not anticipated to be heavily in the mix for Miami’s Jimmy Butler, New Orleans’ Brandon Ingram or Chicago’s Zach LaVine.
The Lakers have a recent history of covertly navigating the trade market. It can’t be ruled out they make a trade for a player and/or with a team that no one sees coming.
Which Lakers players are eligible to be traded?
The entire 15-man roster is eligible to be traded this season.
James became eligible to be traded on Dec. 15. He is one of two players in the NBA with a no-trade clause, meaning he’s in charge of his future.
Max Christie will become eligible to be traded on Jan. 15. Otherwise, the other 13 players can be traded immediately.
Are any players untouchable?
Two players who almost certainly won’t be traded, barring them asking out of Los Angeles, are Davis ($43.2 million) and James ($48.7 million).
Despite the recent groundswell from certain media and fans to blow up the roster, the Lakers are not currently considering trading either superstar, according to team and league sources. They want to bolster their supporting cast and continue building around Davis and James.
Of course, Bronny James ($1.2 million) would not be included in a trade that doesn’t include LeBron, team and league sources told The Athletic.
The Lakers continue to have a high bar for trading Reaves ($13 million) considering his importance as the third option and his team-friendly contract (he’s making less than $27 million combined over the next two seasons before likely opting out in 2026). Similarly, rookie Dalton Knecht ($3.8 million) and Max Christie ($7.1 million) are two players the Lakers view as longer-term core pieces.
Which players are likely to be traded?
The Lakers have four medium-sized contracts — D’Angelo Russell ($18.7 million), Rui Hachimura ($17.0 million), Gabe Vincent ($11 million) and Vanderbilt ($10.7 million) — that will be the foundation of any trade requiring double-digit outgoing salary.
Redick and Pelinka have both spoken highly of Hachimura, often implying they view him as a longer-term piece and that he’d be the least likely of that group to be moved. The Lakers tried to trade Russell ahead of the 2024 trade deadline and this past offseason after he opted into his player option but couldn’t find any suitors. Vincent has been playing better lately but has underwhelmed offensively as the Lakers’ Schröder replacement. Vanderbilt is currently out with left knee effusion after missing the start of the season because of offseason surgeries on both feet.
The Lakers didn’t pick up the third-year option on Jalen Hood-Schifino ($3.9 million), which is rare for a player drafted as high as the Lakers selected him in 2023 (No. 17). That sets him up as an expiring contract and a potential low-risk gamble for an opposing front office.
There is also a chance the Lakers use a smaller contract, like Wood ($3 million), Cam Reddish ($2.5 million) or Maxwell Lewis ($1.9 million) as a matching salary in a deal or to clear a roster spot.
What will teams want from the Lakers?
The same things they wanted last season: Reaves and first-round picks.
The Lakers have three first-round picks they can trade individually: 2029, 2030 or 2031. If they want to use more than one first-round pick, they can trade the 2029 and 2031 first-round picks (and not the 2030 first).
They also have years of swap rights (2026, 2028 and 2030, depending on how they use the 2029 and 2031 first-round picks) and five second-round picks to trade (2025, 2027, 2030, 2031 and the LA Clippers’ 2025 second-round pick). The Lakers will likely offer a pick swap or second(s) in place of one of their picks in negotiations.
Rival teams will surely ask for Knecht and Christie, but again, those are two players the Lakers will prioritize keeping. Teams will also likely sniff around on James and Davis, seeing if they can try to pry them away from Los Angeles with an enticing offer of picks and young talent.
What are the Lakers’ financial and roster constraints?
The Lakers have a full roster with 15 players with guaranteed contracts, meaning they can’t take back more players than they send out in a trade. If they make a multi-player deal and temporarily dip below 14 players, they’d have two weeks to return to the league’s 14-player minimum.
Los Angeles also can’t take back more salary than it sends out, which is a limiting factor in any potential deal. Depending on the estimation, the Lakers are between $30,000 to $45,000 under the collective bargaining agreement’s second apron, giving them little wiggle room financially. They will not go above the second apron.
Dec. 15 marked the unofficial start of the NBA’s trade season.
As of Sunday, many free agents signed over the 2024 offseason became eligible to be traded. The league already saw two trades happen — Thomas Bryant from Miami to Indiana and Dennis Schröder from Brooklyn to Golden State — to shore up playoff hopefuls decimated with injuries at specific positions.
The Los Angeles Lakers are expected to be one of the more active buyers leading into the Feb. 6 trade deadline as they try to maximize the final seasons of the LeBron James–Anthony Davis partnership.
Los Angeles is currently 14-12, tied for ninth in the Western Conference, and 22nd in net rating. The Lakers clearly need to make multiple upgrades to have a shot at actualizing the championship aspirations vice president of basketball operations and general manager Rob Pelinka and coach JJ Redick laid out at the beginning of the season.
Yet, as their quiet 2024 trade deadline and offseasons showed, the Lakers’ activity doesn’t always translate to action. In the coming weeks, they will have to be more open to using their draft capital to substantially improve their roster.
Let’s dive into some questions and topics that will dominate discussions ahead of the deadline.
Are the Lakers likely to make a move?
Yes. At least that’s the operating assumption around the league. However, the magnitude of the move is unclear given the uncertainty of how much draft capital the Lakers are willing to use in a trade, according to team and league sources.
It’s worth noting that many expected the Lakers to make a move last season ahead of the trade deadline, and they stood pat. The closest they got was talks with Atlanta for Dejounte Murray, though Atlanta’s insistence on Austin Reaves being in the trade was a sticking point at the time for the Lakers, as The Athletic previously reported.
Pelinka said at media day that he wanted to evaluate the team after the 30-game mark. The Lakers play their 30th game of the season on Christmas Day at Golden State. The Lakers’ recent skid — they’ve lost eight of 12 games — hasn’t exactly been a ringing endorsement for investing in this group. The results in the next few weeks will determine how much pressure is on the front office to upgrade this roster.
As has become the recent league-wide trend, there project to be more buyers than sellers on the trade market. That can drive up the prices from sellers for quality starters and high-level role players, as it did last trade deadline. With that said, the Warriors giving up three second-round picks for Schröder, who is having a career year statistically, could signify a shift toward that caliber of player going for multiple second-round picks rather than a first-round pick, according to league sources.
Who are realistic trade targets?
Similar to last season, the Lakers believe they have three positional needs at the trade deadline:
- A tough, physical, defensive-minded center.
- A big 3-and-D wing who complements Davis and James as a starter/closer.
- A big, quick, athletic guard with point-of-attack defensive capabilities.
The buzziest name in league circles, who’s been attached to the Lakers dating back to the summer, is Washington Wizards center Jonas Valančiūnas ($9.9 million salary this season). He checks the box of a big, bruising, physical center, though his defensive mobility is limited and he can be targeted on that end (as the Lakers did twice in high-stakes games to close the 2023-24 regular season and in the Play-In game).
Valančiūnas is averaging 12.0 points (55.8 percent shooting), 7.6 rebounds and 0.8 blocks in 19.7 minutes per game with the Wizards. He’s started 833 of his 880 career games but has only started six of 24 games for the Wizards this season.
Valančiūnas was on James’ list of players he’d be willing to take a pay cut for over the offseason, as The Athletic reported over the summer, signifying how highly James viewed him as a conceivable fit. Shortly after, Redick mentioned the Lakers’ need for a brutish, physical big man. Davis has long wanted more reliable center help alongside him in the frontcourt.
The Brooklyn Nets, who are currently in the Play-In mix in the East, are looking to trade parts of their core to prioritize their future. After trading Schröder, Brooklyn is expected to make wings Cam Johnson ($22.5 million but with a likely cap hit of $27 million) and Dorian Finney-Smith ($14.9 million) available — and much sooner than the Feb. 6 deadline. Both have been tied to the Lakers for months. The Lakers have been interested in Finney-Smith for at least a couple of years.
As The Athletic has previously reported, a Lakers move is more likely later in January or early in February leading into the deadline, allowing Los Angeles more time to evaluate the roster and see if injured players like Jarred Vanderbilt and Christian Wood can plug some of the holes within the rotation. But it appears that, if the Lakers make a move on the sooner end, trading for Valančiūnas, Johnson and/or Finney-Smith would be the most realistic exceptions.
Other names that have come up in talks with team and league personnel over the past few weeks include Utah’s Walker Kessler and Collin Sexton, Toronto’s Bruce Brown Jr., Portland’s Jerami Grant and Robert Williams III and Washington’s Kyle Kuzma. The Lakers are not anticipated to be heavily in the mix for Miami’s Jimmy Butler, New Orleans’ Brandon Ingram or Chicago’s Zach LaVine.
The Lakers have a recent history of covertly navigating the trade market. It can’t be ruled out they make a trade for a player and/or with a team that no one sees coming.
Which Lakers players are eligible to be traded?
The entire 15-man roster is eligible to be traded this season.
James became eligible to be traded on Dec. 15. He is one of two players in the NBA with a no-trade clause, meaning he’s in charge of his future.
Max Christie will become eligible to be traded on Jan. 15. Otherwise, the other 13 players can be traded immediately.
Are any players untouchable?
Two players who almost certainly won’t be traded, barring them asking out of Los Angeles, are Davis ($43.2 million) and James ($48.7 million).
Despite the recent groundswell from certain media and fans to blow up the roster, the Lakers are not currently considering trading either superstar, according to team and league sources. They want to bolster their supporting cast and continue building around Davis and James.
Of course, Bronny James ($1.2 million) would not be included in a trade that doesn’t include LeBron, team and league sources told The Athletic.
The Lakers continue to have a high bar for trading Reaves ($13 million) considering his importance as the third option and his team-friendly contract (he’s making less than $27 million combined over the next two seasons before likely opting out in 2026). Similarly, rookie Dalton Knecht ($3.8 million) and Max Christie ($7.1 million) are two players the Lakers view as longer-term core pieces.
Which players are likely to be traded?
The Lakers have four medium-sized contracts — D’Angelo Russell ($18.7 million), Rui Hachimura ($17.0 million), Gabe Vincent ($11 million) and Vanderbilt ($10.7 million) — that will be the foundation of any trade requiring double-digit outgoing salary.
Redick and Pelinka have both spoken highly of Hachimura, often implying they view him as a longer-term piece and that he’d be the least likely of that group to be moved. The Lakers tried to trade Russell ahead of the 2024 trade deadline and this past offseason after he opted into his player option but couldn’t find any suitors. Vincent has been playing better lately but has underwhelmed offensively as the Lakers’ Schröder replacement. Vanderbilt is currently out with left knee effusion after missing the start of the season because of offseason surgeries on both feet.
The Lakers didn’t pick up the third-year option on Jalen Hood-Schifino ($3.9 million), which is rare for a player drafted as high as the Lakers selected him in 2023 (No. 17). That sets him up as an expiring contract and a potential low-risk gamble for an opposing front office.
There is also a chance the Lakers use a smaller contract, like Wood ($3 million), Cam Reddish ($2.5 million) or Maxwell Lewis ($1.9 million) as a matching salary in a deal or to clear a roster spot.
What will teams want from the Lakers?
The same things they wanted last season: Reaves and first-round picks.
The Lakers have three first-round picks they can trade individually: 2029, 2030 or 2031. If they want to use more than one first-round pick, they can trade the 2029 and 2031 first-round picks (and not the 2030 first).
They also have years of swap rights (2026, 2028 and 2030, depending on how they use the 2029 and 2031 first-round picks) and five second-round picks to trade (2025, 2027, 2030, 2031 and the LA Clippers’ 2025 second-round pick). The Lakers will likely offer a pick swap or second(s) in place of one of their picks in negotiations.
Rival teams will surely ask for Knecht and Christie, but again, those are two players the Lakers will prioritize keeping. Teams will also likely sniff around on James and Davis, seeing if they can try to pry them away from Los Angeles with an enticing offer of picks and young talent.
What are the Lakers’ financial and roster constraints?
The Lakers have a full roster with 15 players with guaranteed contracts, meaning they can’t take back more players than they send out in a trade. If they make a multi-player deal and temporarily dip below 14 players, they’d have two weeks to return to the league’s 14-player minimum.
Los Angeles also can’t take back more salary than it sends out, which is a limiting factor in any potential deal. Depending on the estimation, the Lakers are between $30,000 to $45,000 under the collective bargaining agreement’s second apron, giving them little wiggle room financially. They will not go above the second apron.
- Jan 18, 2006
- 40,628
- 45,626
And will probably be the 1st one traded...lol
- Aug 2, 2008
- 37,752
- 13,174
So they don’t want to trade Bron, AD, Reaves, Rui, Knecht and Christie.
Really giving teams a lot of options.
Also my guess is that is a “hey look we love this guy. He’s great. Please trade for him.”
Really giving teams a lot of options.
Also my guess is that is a “hey look we love this guy. He’s great. Please trade for him.”
- Aug 6, 2012
- 58,194
- 62,245
I'm not down on Rui like some of ya'll. I'm not against trading him but I don't want to trade him for a DFS or somebody who isn't gonna make us better. The deal should be worth it if we're going to part ways.
I hope I'm wrong, but it gives a sense of "We made X deals at the deadline to try and improve the team"
"Oh well, we came up short in the playoffs, we'll try again next year with a full year of everybody we've assembled and see how it goes......."
Rinse
Repeat
Rinse
Repeat
Etc etc etc.
Bron would be 41+, AD now entering his early 30's getting close to 32-33 age
Then they fire JJ, and we start again.......
Prolly just me bein dramatic tho. Nothin to see here.
"Oh well, we came up short in the playoffs, we'll try again next year with a full year of everybody we've assembled and see how it goes......."
Rinse
Repeat
Rinse
Repeat
Etc etc etc.
Bron would be 41+, AD now entering his early 30's getting close to 32-33 age
Then they fire JJ, and we start again.......
Prolly just me bein dramatic tho. Nothin to see here.
- Jan 4, 2012
- 11,439
- 12,694
Solid win
E would do anything to not trade D Lo away
Nets clear 4 mil. Get 4- 2nds.
Raptors get a guy they genuine like, 5 years younger with another year and his next contract will likely be similar money on a higher cap. And he won’t impact the tank.
And one of these two trades
Low protection for Richards because I’m not sure they are interested in trading him. And I think there’s some growth potential. I’m guessing on top 5 protection. Top 8 or 10 is more likely.
w/ POR 1st is to get off Gabe and get Rob. Not totally sure I’d trade a 1st for Rob. But to offload Gabe, probably worth it.
Then from there you have Reddish, Woods or Hayes, Lewis to get a cheap veteran guard. Orrrr stay put and have a roster space.
If they have higher sights, include Vando.
