NBA 2018-2019 Season

[KJE]

 

[GhostMachine]

16 hours ago, Eric Buschenhagen said:

Can't wait for the Knicks to strike out on everybody.

Oh, come on. I'm sure someone will value the `prestige' of playing in New York over the chance of playing for a championship.

[RoHitman Reigns]

Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram, Josh Hart and 3 first round picks including the 2019 4th pick to New Orleans for Davis to Lakers

[Pooker]

Not a bad haul for the Pelicans. Figured it was coming soon. Lakers are going to be a force next year.

Until their bench comes in. Then they will suck.

[Your Mom]

Not that it's a bad deal but they just traded all their decent non-Lebron guys. They better hope some Free Agents go there

[Pooker]

I'm sure they will get the same ring chasing veterans that seem to sign wherever Lebron is playing. But it won't help in the west. They might finish top five in the west, but won't do much else. 

[GhostMachine]

I like the trade except for them giving up Ingram.

 

[The Buscher]

20 hours ago, Eric Buschenhagen said:

Can't wait for the Knicks to strike out on everybody.

As I was saying.

[Meacon Keaton]

4 minutes ago, Eric Buschenhagen said:

As I was saying.

[JasonM]

LeBron James for all his basketball talent and being one of the best ever has truly become a pestilence for every franchise he is in.

The Cavs sold the house to get LeBron title teams, and now without LeBron they are nowhere to be found anymore. Now the same is happening to the Lakers as they go out of their way to get their star power in the hopes that they can appease LeBron and get him a team that will get him into the playoffs.

But a title team in the west? In no way they can get that together, even if they now get Kawhi Leonard via Free Agency the depth of this Lakers team has gone from bad to worse. Lonzo for all his issues is a future starting PG, and now the only guy they have is a blasé Rajon Rondo who is a coin flip whether or not he wants to show up in any given game.

Ingram had a great season cut short by a bad injury, but he'll be back and given his progress he is a loss to the Lakers because he was one of the few hands providing some flexibility to a team that had zero flexibility.

Now the Lakers have a LeBron and a Davis, but they've given up their entire future to get that. Four first round picks is insane, including this year's fourth overall pick!

Whilst the Pels lose a superstar, they have gained one in Zion Williamson and the Lakers just given them another huge pick in the same draft. A weak draft some say, but fourth pick in a weak draft is still a huge pick.

And they stay young, they get Lonzo who I feel might be better off in a place that isn't Los Angeles. Josh Hart has potential to be more, and Ingram could come back and continue his impressive growth.

I honestly got to give this to the Pels because they'll have some significant depth and still have trade value in their roster if they need to move a few pieces around. (or example, they have Lonzo AND Elfrid Payton)

[Chris2K]

As of right now this trade works for everybody, with the possible exception of the Ball family; Pelicans get a huge haul of future picks and good talent, Lakers get AD and momentum, AD gets the merchandise deals he wants, LeBron gets someone else to blame someone who can dominate a game. 

In three years time when LeBron is retired and the Lakers haven't had a first round pick in forever, the only way they can be winners in the trade is if they win a championship in that time. And I don't think they will.

I just hope Kyle Kuzma doesn't spend those three years sitting on the bench watching LBJ and AD on the court, although given the lack of depth in the squad I expect he'll be playing 45 minutes a game.

[Lowerdeck]

This feels like it's the Garnett/Pierce deal 2.0.  The Lakers will pushing to make a title run, they'll (at best) lose in the West finals, and then need like 5-6 years to recover from one bad trade.

If this was an Eastern team, it may have worked out better.  But when you still got Houston, Denver, Portland, OKC, and 3/5ths of Golden State to contend with - it's still a tough road to fight through.

[JasonM]

1 hour ago, Lowerdeck said:

This feels like it's the Garnett/Pierce deal 2.0.  The Lakers will pushing to make a title run, they'll (at best) lose in the West finals, and then need like 5-6 years to recover from one bad trade.

If this was an Eastern team, it may have worked out better.  But when you still got Houston, Denver, Portland, OKC, and 3/5ths of Golden State to contend with - it's still a tough road to fight through.

Also Dallas might have a mini-resurgence themselves if Kristaps end up getting healthy and back to his old level. They have a decent (but not particularly scary) team, but most importantly they have a shitload of cap to play with and make a few moves for themselves.

I know as a Mavs fan i'm mostly just being overly positive, because I doubt a KP/Doncic team would put a dent into anything.

[Your Mom]

I saw that NO is shopping the 4th pick. What could they even get for it?

[Meacon Keaton]

In what is essentially a "three-person draft" I'm not sure what they're expecting. The Knicks having the #3 pick was a big reason why I thought we'd get AD over the Lakers. The Pelicans could have walked away with Zion and RJ Barrett, along with whoever else they wanted from NYK. 

[Maxx]

21 minutes ago, Meacon said:

In what is essentially a "three-person draft" I'm not sure what they're expecting. The Knicks having the #3 pick was a big reason why I thought we'd get AD over the Lakers. The Pelicans could have walked away with Zion and RJ Barrett, along with whoever else they wanted from NYK. 

Well there’s your problem 

[Chris2K]

1 hour ago, The Chiksrara Special said:

I saw that NO is shopping the 4th pick. What could they even get for it?

Given the way the Knicks are run, the #3 pick.

[Meacon Keaton]

You both can bite me!

[GhostMachine]

Stephen A Smith is saying that Chris Paul wants out of Houston.

Master of the Obvious!!!

[Pooker]

So the Lakers currently have 6 players under contract, after the deal with the Pelicans. If the deal is completed the first week of July, Davis has a trade kicker that increases his salary. That will leave the Lakers with $25 million to finish signing their team. If the deal is completed the last week of July, the trade kicker doesn't happen, and the Lakers have just enough to sign one more max player, then go into the luxury tax to finish signing their team.

Absolute craziness that a team can even put itself into that kind of position. I'm sure the Lakers don't mind going into the luxury tax, especially if they some how manage to win another title in the next three or so years (doubtful) but it really leaves them in a bad position after Lebron decides he is done there.