Report: Anthony Davis traded to Lakers

[jterrell]

They were discussing the possibility of the Lakers drafting the player for Nola and then finalizing the trade after the draft. That would certainly help with the cap situation but I would have to think that Nola would need to get something out of that.

As far as if he would back out, I don't know how that's handled by the NBA if both teams have agreed to a deal. I haven't really seen the actual structure of the deal so I don't know if that is part of the agreement or not. I.E. Kuzma not coming to Nola is really interesting to me. I would have thought that he was a must in that trade. Now, if the deal is that he actually is part of the deal in that kind of agreement, that might be a possibility. I mean, I don't know what Nola gets out of this if they wait. That could be what they want, IDK.

Keeping Kuz was a LAL win for sure based on price but his 3PT woes last year, only 30% probably move4d him down the list of priorities for NOP.

I don't mean AD backing out I mean any max free agent that would have to wait 30+ days to sign a max deal and thus could potentially be courted by everyone with a max slot and if swayed sign that day.

All in all it just makes this all messy for the franchise.
It's been about 3-4 years where it seems like things fall great for LAL
1. Get hometown Lonzo Ball
2. Win LBJ sweepstakes
3. Find insane value in Kuz
4. Have PG13 begging to come home.
5. AD demanding trade to LA.

And yet with all that they seem to screw it up about as badly as possible.
It's kinda mind-boggling tbh.
I think the LAL MUST fire Pelinka and quick.
Maybe even before they consummate this AD trade

If the trade removes a max slot option it may well be far too one-sided.
AD is 26 and a potential superstar but he wasn't one last year.
And he's missed the playoff snow twice in 3 seasons.
That's not exactly Kawhi Leonard on court success.

BUT maybe, maybe LAL finds a path out the darkness here and can put a good, quick ball handler and a couple 3PT shooters next to those 2 scoring big men.
If they do they might even be as good as people pretend they already are.

Again the Lake Show is a must watch. But it doesn't alleviate that for a long time it's mostly been a train wreck.

 

[kev8822]

https://www.hotnewhiphop.com/lebron...ven-another-max-player-report-news.83370.html

Report: Lakers won't get 3rd max player.

Lots of conflicting information going on. CBA expert Larry Coon says the Lakers can sign a max FA on July 6th before they make a trade for Davis. Davis' trade kicker won't make any difference at all if that happens.

I will just let this play out. ESPN usually has no idea what they are talking about but they may be correct.

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

Keeping Kuz was a LAL win for sure based on price but his 3PT woes last year, only 30% probably move4d him down the list of priorities for NOP.

I don't mean AD backing out I mean any max free agent that would have to wait 30+ days to sign a max deal and thus could potentially be courted by everyone with a max slot and if swayed sign that day.

All in all it just makes this all messy for the franchise.
It's been about 3-4 years where it seems like things fall great for LAL
1. Get hometown Lonzo Ball
2. Win LBJ sweepstakes
3. Find insane value in Kuz
4. Have PG13 begging to come home.
5. AD demanding trade to LA.

And yet with all that they seem to screw it up about as badly as possible.
It's kinda mind-boggling tbh.
I think the LAL MUST fire Pelinka and quick.
Maybe even before they consummate this AD trade

If the trade removes a max slot option it may well be far too one-sided.
AD is 26 and a potential superstar but he wasn't one last year.
And he's missed the playoff snow twice in 3 seasons.
That's not exactly Kawhi Leonard on court success.

BUT maybe, maybe LAL finds a path out the darkness here and can put a good, quick ball handler and a couple 3PT shooters next to those 2 scoring big men.
If they do they might even be as good as people pretend they already are.

Again the Lake Show is a must watch. But it doesn't alleviate that for a long time it's mostly been a train wreck.

I don't think Great is the correct term here.

1. Get hometown Lonzo Ball

This was actually bad because Ball was not really a great player IMO. I mean, just from a talent standpoint, I think Russell was a much more talented Guard then was Ball. He just screwed the pouch in the locker room. I don't know if I would call that good luck necessarily.

2. Win LBJ sweepstakes

Without LBJ, no AD so I would agree here.

3. Find insane value in Kuz

Hard to call this luck to me. I mean, I know that the Lakers scouted Kuzma heavily when he was at Utah. I would not have been surprised if they would have drafted him but the fact that they traded for him and had interest in developing him is more of a smart basketball move more then a luck deal to me.

4. Have PG13 begging to come home.

Paul George, was begging for a max contract with the Lakers and it never really happened so I don't know if this was really lucky or not.

5. AD demanding trade to LA.

To me, that's more Nola then it is L.A. I mean, they had AD for like 6 years and they did almost nothing to help him build a team good enough to compete. To me, Nola did this to themselves. In terms of trades, it was only ever really between Boston and L.A. Boston because that's really who Nola wanted to trade with and L.A. because that's where AD's camp wanted to land, as opposed to Boston. I suppose that is lucky but again, Nola has only themselves to blame IMO. They should have done more to try and win IMO.

I honestly don't think it matters much because AD is light years better then almost anybody else out there IMO. Leonard is a great player but AD is much better. Last year was a injury season for AD and, he was not really interested in playing for the Pelicans after how they handled the trade requests so I'm not surprised that he did not have as good a year but I would expect that to continue. Players, IMO, are going to want to play with AD. The cap situation will work itself out. James will eventually be off the books and LA will have cap to bring more players to LA. I think it's really more of a question of how long it takes and not if it happens. JMO though.

Only think I see really stopping the train is if AD suffers a career ending type injury.

 

[jterrell]

Lots of conflicting information going on. CBA expert Larry Coon says the Lakers can sign a max FA on July 6th before they make a trade for Davis. Davis' trade kicker won't make any difference at all if that happens.

I will just let this play out. ESPN usually has no idea what they are talking about but they may be correct.

That's not conflicting.
Coon is a very sharp guy but he's an extreme Lakers homer.

They obviously have the cap space BEFORE they trade for AD but not after.
And if they conduct a draft they cant trade said player for 30 days after he signs with them.

So pick 4 which is a lynchpin in this deal is the issue.

NOP reportedly wants to move that pick but what 3rd team wants to wait until after summer league for their #4 overall rookie?
That guy likely needs to start this season for most people to make that trade.

The report isn't disagreeing with Coon. It is saying they won't wait to complete trade for AD.
Woj is the best there is and is confirming plan is to complete trade day 1 then use the 23-24M on TWO players to fill out starting lineup.

 

[Sarek]

I am not really sure how i feel/think about this yet. I hope it all works out. My biggest concern atm is can AD/LBJ stay healthy. LBJ older and Davis seems to get injured every season.

 

[kev8822]

That's not conflicting.
Coon is a very sharp guy but he's an extreme Lakers homer.

They obviously have the cap space BEFORE they trade for AD but not after.
And if they conduct a draft they cant trade said player for 30 days after he signs with them.

So pick 4 which is a lynchpin in this deal is the issue.

NOP reportedly wants to move that pick but what 3rd team wants to wait until after summer league for their #4 overall rookie?
That guy likely needs to start this season for most people to make that trade.

The report isn't disagreeing with Coon. It is saying they won't wait to complete trade for AD.
Woj is the best there is and is confirming plan is to complete trade day 1 then use the 23-24M on TWO players to fill out starting lineup.

It very well may be true. Anything with the Lakers reported by ESPN I take with a huge grain of salt. First the narrative was the 4th pick is completely worthless because this is only a 3 player draft and Ingram and Ball were nothing more than injury prone players...now that 4th pick is this great magical piece and Ingram and Ball will be great all stars to build around the future superstar Zion.

If I'm Pelinka I don't do this move unless its a July 30th date.

 

[jterrell]

It very well may be true. Anything with the Lakers reported by ESPN I take with a huge grain of salt. First the narrative was the 4th pick is completely worthless because this is only a 3 player draft and Ingram and Ball were nothing more than injury prone players...now that 4th pick is this great magical piece and Ingram and Ball will be great all stars to build around the future superstar Zion.

If I'm Pelinka I don't do this move unless its a July 30th date.

2 player draft for many tbh.
4 is soft this year but it's still 4 versus what are projected non-lottery picks over next few seasons.
Going from 10-4 was a huge part of the deal.
Lonzo was a soft trade entity as he had lost a lot of value last year. He's a non-shooter that needs the ball but does have great potential.
BI has really good value but you aren't trading AD for just that kid.

It is a trade the NOP "won" imho and I am a huge best player wins guy usually, BUT, I don't know that the Lakers had many better options once they waited.

LAL couldn't take back any bad money in the deal which makes really tough and gives them limited power.
AD wasn't gonna walk away from the max deal.
He'd have stayed and signed and then forced a trade after signing if it came to that.
LBJ is 34. MJ's last great year was when he was 34.

 

[darthseinfeld]

Keeping Kuz was a LAL win for sure based on price but his 3PT woes last year, only 30% probably move4d him down the list of priorities for NOP.

I don't mean AD backing out I mean any max free agent that would have to wait 30+ days to sign a max deal and thus could potentially be courted by everyone with a max slot and if swayed sign that day.

All in all it just makes this all messy for the franchise.
It's been about 3-4 years where it seems like things fall great for LAL
1. Get hometown Lonzo Ball
2. Win LBJ sweepstakes
3. Find insane value in Kuz
4. Have PG13 begging to come home.
5. AD demanding trade to LA.

And yet with all that they seem to screw it up about as badly as possible.
It's kinda mind-boggling tbh.
I think the LAL MUST fire Pelinka and quick.
Maybe even before they consummate this AD trade

If the trade removes a max slot option it may well be far too one-sided.
AD is 26 and a potential superstar but he wasn't one last year.
And he's missed the playoff snow twice in 3 seasons.
That's not exactly Kawhi Leonard on court success.

BUT maybe, maybe LAL finds a path out the darkness here and can put a good, quick ball handler and a couple 3PT shooters next to those 2 scoring big men.
If they do they might even be as good as people pretend they already are.

Again the Lake Show is a must watch. But it doesn't alleviate that for a long time it's mostly been a train wreck.

My thing with Kuzma is what is he exactly on a playoff teams. He is a very good scorer, however he isnt a good defender and probably wont ever be one and his shooting regressed. He is a guy that could be a matchup issue for a team in playoff games. To me is he a playoff starter, or a better version of Marcus Morris. I think he can mature into an at least adequate defender, but I dont think he has enough athletic upside to be a plus defender

 

[jterrell]

My thing with Kuzma is what is he exactly on a playoff teams. He is a very good scorer, however he isnt a good defender and probably wont ever be one and his shooting regressed. He is a guy that could be a matchup issue for a team in playoff games. To me is he a playoff starter, or a better version of Marcus Morris. I think he can mature into an at least adequate defender, but I dont think he has enough athletic upside to be a plus defender

His issue is shooting. If he gets that 3PT % back up there he becomes a 6'9" scoring machine.
Without that he has less threat and all-around game.
But all in all he's a very solid NBA player.

For LAL he is so cheap and thus a must keep.
A starter at that price is basically mandatory to build through free agency.
He's a piece they can trade later BTW once they get to overrating over the cap as I have suggested they do for 2 years now.

 

[jterrell]

David Lord of dallasbasketball.com thinks Lakers will have max and make day 1 trade.
Likely based on the Coon take.
How?
AD takes less than 4M of his trade kicker or less salary, max player takes slightly less, Lakers trade 2-3 players they own(Kuz plus) and some future 2nd round picks to a 3rd team on trade day.

That to me is rather crazy talk but LAL believes they have that all worked out.

Supposedly they'd chase Butler and Kawhi.

Again to me that is nuts stuff largely because Kawhi reportedly is interested in the Clippers or TOR not LAL and there are so many moving pieces.....
Butler is not the kind of teammate you want to be stuck with for AD IMO.

 

[dreghorn2]

Butler, Bron, and Davis, a MLE and vet ring chasers.. what could go wrong?

 

[darthseinfeld]

Butler, Bron, and Davis, a MLE and vet ring chasers.. what could go wrong?

They have alot going for them right now, they just have to finish it

 

[jterrell]

Butler, Bron, and Davis, a MLE and vet ring chasers.. what could go wrong?

That would be even more insane than last year's Lakers strategy of sharply declining vet rentals, kids and LBJ.
I'd love to see it though just for the entertainment value.
That team already fired its coach, Magic quit and they traded off the roster.
Who will be left to blame when it flames out?

 

[kskboys]

Lebron's going to be what, 37? And coming off his first injury plagued year.

 

[Rockport]

I don't think Great is the correct term here.

1. Get hometown Lonzo Ball

This was actually bad because Ball was not really a great player IMO. I mean, just from a talent standpoint, I think Russell was a much more talented Guard then was Ball. He just screwed the pouch in the locker room. I don't know if I would call that good luck necessarily.

2. Win LBJ sweepstakes

Without LBJ, no AD so I would agree here.

3. Find insane value in Kuz

Hard to call this luck to me. I mean, I know that the Lakers scouted Kuzma heavily when he was at Utah. I would not have been surprised if they would have drafted him but the fact that they traded for him and had interest in developing him is more of a smart basketball move more then a luck deal to me.

4. Have PG13 begging to come home.

Paul George, was begging for a max contract with the Lakers and it never really happened so I don't know if this was really lucky or not.

5. AD demanding trade to LA.

To me, that's more Nola then it is L.A. I mean, they had AD for like 6 years and they did almost nothing to help him build a team good enough to compete. To me, Nola did this to themselves. In terms of trades, it was only ever really between Boston and L.A. Boston because that's really who Nola wanted to trade with and L.A. because that's where AD's camp wanted to land, as opposed to Boston. I suppose that is lucky but again, Nola has only themselves to blame IMO. They should have done more to try and win IMO.

I honestly don't think it matters much because AD is light years better then almost anybody else out there IMO. Leonard is a great player but AD is much better. Last year was a injury season for AD and, he was not really interested in playing for the Pelicans after how they handled the trade requests so I'm not surprised that he did not have as good a year but I would expect that to continue. Players, IMO, are going to want to play with AD. The cap situation will work itself out. James will eventually be off the books and LA will have cap to bring more players to LA. I think it's really more of a question of how long it takes and not if it happens. JMO though.

Only think I see really stopping the train is if AD suffers a career ending type injury.

AD is much better than Leonard? The Uni-Brow is a great one dimensional player. He’s great offensively but just average for his size defensively.

 

[Rockport]

Butler, Bron, and Davis, a MLE and vet ring chasers.. what could go wrong?

Everything. No chemistry and no coach and no organizational leadership. Just a bunch of buffoons.

 

[PJTHEDOORS]

Everything. No chemistry and no coach and no organizational leadership. Just a bunch of buffoons.

No coach, Walton was the no coach. As for leadership, how many Superbowls since 1995 has the Cowboy leadership gotten them.

 

[kev8822]

David Lord of dallasbasketball.com thinks Lakers will have max and make day 1 trade.
Likely based on the Coon take.
How?
AD takes less than 4M of his trade kicker or less salary, max player takes slightly less, Lakers trade 2-3 players they own(Kuz plus) and some future 2nd round picks to a 3rd team on trade day.

That to me is rather crazy talk but LAL believes they have that all worked out.

Supposedly they'd chase Butler and Kawhi.

Again to me that is nuts stuff largely because Kawhi reportedly is interested in the Clippers or TOR not LAL and there are so many moving pieces.....
Butler is not the kind of teammate you want to be stuck with for AD IMO.

A supposed insider on lakersground says this stuff has already been worked out. People on there seem to think he is legit, but I have no idea.

Also talk about having only Lebron/Kuzma, and Deng's extended contract on the books, to leave LA with 38 million in cap space. Sounds too good to be true. Kawai is the only player I would give a max contract too.

 

[dogunwo]

Keeping Kuz was a LAL win for sure based on price but his 3PT woes last year, only 30% probably move4d him down the list of priorities for NOP.

His 3 PT % will be better simply because having better players on the floor. He forced a lot of contested 3s last season. With LeBron and AD, the floor spacing should be much better.

 

[kskboys]

AD is much better than Leonard? The Uni-Brow is a great one dimensional player. He’s great offensively but just average for his size defensively.

Yeah, and not only better, MUCH better. C'mooooooonnnnn!!!!