Post Mortem 2023/24 - Los Angeles Lakers (Eliminated in 1st Round)

[jc23]

If lebron does care bout wining he would sign for the MINIMUM.

If he wants money, lakers need to sign and trade him to wherever he wants for expiring contracts and 3 unprotected picks.
then proceed to send davis away the same way, expirings one or two nice young players and as much unprotected first as psosible.

then proceed to rebuild with young players and eventually trade picks for an star and sign in fa the next disgruntled star that goes there, doncic? giannis?

he does but that team in Vegas is not going to be cheap and every 50 million dollar paycheck counts.

[Clav]

A lot hinges on who opts in or not. There's a lot of ways to improve if James re negotiates with a lesser salary and DLO opts out, but v low chance of both happening i think. There's massive money to offer basically any FA at that point if it does happen that way

Otherwise, what is Vincent doing, what about Vando and Wood, Hayes, or Reddish ? None of these guys really helped much during the year. If the Lakers are smart, they need to prioritize better signings and somehow jettison these non-winning parts.

They played tough vs Denver and I fully expect them to change some peripheral rostered players, because there's at least 1-2 years left of LeBron not completely falling apart and giving them a chance.

Also, sadly AD was a bit banged up in G5 vs DEN, but he had a great year of health. Hopefully he gets another solid year of health because he is a major difference maker in each game.

[makubesu]

Lakers plan for next season:

1) don’t play Denver in the playoffs

It’s hard to judge this team fairly when Jokic won’t be denied.

[meatwad4343]

If they were smart they'd blow it up and start over. 40 year old LeBron and ad and a bunch of mid role players has a ceiling of just this. First round exit. They don't have the assets to get a star either.

[doogie_hauser]

If they were smart they'd blow it up and start over. 40 year old LeBron and ad and a bunch of mid role players has a ceiling of just this. First round exit. They don't have the assets to get a star either.

The Days of gullible teams trading star/franchise players to the Lakers for 'unders' has gone the way of the Dodo.

Problem is, they seem committed (wrongly imo) in keeping their 24 pick and drafting Bronny James.

Lakers are done challenging for a ring under current ownership/front office.

One of Jamie Jaquez Junior, Podziemski or Cam Whitmore would have been invaluable in their series against The Nuggets, and took a project player still a couple of years away from being NBA ready.

Rob Pelinka is not getting anywhere enough blame for another fizzer of a Lakers season and inglorious playoff exit.

Lebron's obsession with playing his son is going to hurt the Lakers and their ability to be a contender going forwards.

[LaLover11]

If they were smart they'd blow it up and start over. 40 year old LeBron and ad and a bunch of mid role players has a ceiling of just this. First round exit. They don't have the assets to get a star either.

The Days of gullible teams trading star/franchise players to the Lakers for 'unders' has gone the way of the Dodo.

Problem is, they seem committed (wrongly imo) in keeping their 24 pick and drafting Bronny James.

Lakers are done challenging for a ring under current ownership/front office.

One of Jamie Jaquez Junior, Podziemski or Cam Whitmore would have been invaluable in their series against The Nuggets, and took a project player still a couple of years away from being NBA ready.

Rob Pelinka is not getting anywhere enough blame for another fizzer of a Lakers season and inglorious playoff exit.

Lebron's obsession with playing his son is going to hurt the Lakers and their ability to be a contender going forwards.

Nope Lakers will draft Bronny and let him learn under LeBron the next 3yrs. Max Christie didn't play 1 minute the whole Denver series...Bronny takeover that roster spot. Max is most likely gone next season in a trade including Reaves/Rui/Gabe/Vando & Maybe DLo in a sign and trade for a 3rd star, no matter if you deny it.. it's going to happen.

They can easily get Durant, Mitchell, Trae, Lauri, Lillard
All very attainable that would compliment AD/LeBron

Jalen Lakers draft pick is 1000% percent worse than Bronny and Pelinka drafted him. You don't think they are you going to draft Bronny to Keep LeBron for 3 more seasons????? Bronny can turn into a great defender off the bench and can hit spot up 3's. That's a perfect role for him and the Lakers can slowly start turning him into a scorer in a few seasons if he gets better and stronger

[kg01]

They can easily get Durant, Mitchell, Trae, Lauri, Lillard
All very attainable that would compliment AD/LeBron

Huh? How would they "easily" get Trae or really any of them blokes?

LAL could maybe get Beal but even that won't be easy.

[Godymas]

it is done imo, the era is over, the Lakers cannot compete for a ring. As good of a year as AD had, the roster was never built correctly around AD. It's time to fully move on from the LeBron James era. LeBron is still an amazing basketball player, but the Lakers and him really don't seem to have that future in place. LeBron should really consider taking his talents up the road to team up with his enemies turned friends in Draymond Green/Steph Curry as well as one of his true best friends Chris Paul. The basketball fit, the time line, and just everything about that team and the coach makes complete sense for what LeBron is right now.

[LaLover11]

They can easily get Durant, Mitchell, Trae, Lauri, Lillard
All very attainable that would compliment AD/LeBron

Huh? How would they "easily" get Trae or really any of them blokes?

LAL could maybe get Beal but even that won't be easy.

Whatever dude

[GeorgeSears]

Lakers had a good team that was derailed by injuries. AD and LeBron were healthy, but the role players missed a lot of time. The team showed its capabilities when it was whole. It's a tough pill to swallow, but I think you have to run it back at least one more year and hope you can keep those players healthy.

[hauntedcomputer]

Lebron can easily play five more seasons. He shot 42 percent from three on volume-- that skill alone is valuable enough to roster him at $20 million. And he could be a valuable post player if he set his mind to it. He could even be a decent defender if he focused on that as a role. I'd guess he'd keep signing one-year deals but I'd have no problem paying him Bradley Beal money for the next three years. He's not signing any vet mins or MLEs.

Dude is box-office gold. Half the jabber here is about Lebron and the Lakers. Who'd give that up?

I'm far from a fanboi but he's not going anywhere, and it makes zero sense for the Lakers to not keep him from a business perspective. There's no magic formula to build a contender anyway, so sitting around cashing checks is in everyone's best interest, including the NBA's and the real owner of the sport, the gambling partners.

[kg01]

They can easily get Durant, Mitchell, Trae, Lauri, Lillard
All very attainable that would compliment AD/LeBron

Huh? How would they "easily" get Trae or really any of them blokes?

LAL could maybe get Beal but even that won't be easy.

Whatever dude

It's a fair question. Care to elaborate on your premise?

[FarBeyondDriven]

Fire
Fire
As expected
Treadmill

It's a shame they missed so badly on last year's 1st round pick. They really could have used another solid contributor.

They still have two arguably top 10 players, decent role players and a 1st rounder (if they choose). I'm sure they can convince some vets to join the cause and improve slightly over this year. They're clearly not too far off as they played the defending champs really tough. That's why they're a treadmill instead of waning.

[Jamaaliver]

Read on Twitter

[Bobbymcgee]

DLO coming back better than ever next year!

Remember, public humiliation only makes him stronger.

That's the secret to his success. He has to publicly humiliate himself in order to get better.

[Liam_Gallagher]

The problem with the Lakers this year was that they didn't have any 3 and D players. I know they're not easy to come by, but they were often struggling with putting lineups together that performed well both on offense and defense. Was usually one or the other.

Vanderbilt - All D, no offense
Redish - good on D, no offense
Dinwiddie - good on D, no offense
Vincent - lost season
Prince - closest thing to a 3D, average at both

[Liam_Gallagher]

Lakers had a good team that was derailed by injuries. AD and LeBron were healthy, but the role players missed a lot of time. The team showed its capabilities when it was whole. It's a tough pill to swallow, but I think you have to run it back at least one more year and hope you can keep those players healthy.

I think they're at a fork in the road moment.

Option 1: rebuild, trade AD+Lebron while their stock is high, etc. Hit the reset button.

Option 2: trade for a 3rd star like Trae, Mitchell, or Durant. It's going to take multiple contracts plus three first round picks.

IMO they have to pick one of these. You can't run it back with this team. People say they had injuries, but LeBron and AD had their healthiest seasons since joining the Lakers and Reaves played all 82 games. You can't use the injury excuse IMO.

[KembaWalker]

Read on Twitter

Will the Lakers do what their daddy tells them?

[LaLover11]

Huh? How would they "easily" get Trae or really any of them blokes?

LAL could maybe get Beal but even that won't be easy.

Whatever dude

It's a fair question. Care to elaborate on your premise?

They could trade Reaves, Rui, Vando, Gabe, Jalen & Pick for Trae. Hawk are happy with Murray for half the price

They need good rotational players with a bit more size like AR/Rui & Gabe/Vando are great defenders off the bench. This trade would make the Hawks a playoff team with depth and not relaying on 160lb Trae Young

[JXL]

- D'Lo is a free agent this offseason, he's gone.
- Trade Rui and Reaves for a bloated contract (Ben Simmons?) and 2 picks.
- Trae isn't going to LA, neither is Dejounte.
- Try to convince CP3 to join.
- Fire Darvin Ham, hire Lionel Hollins.