Guesses on what the Pels could look like a year from now??

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Is Jrue the only player that is completely locked in for this team next year?

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The answers to your questions is it's going to vary widely based on a lot of external factors like who wins the lottery and what happens in the Eastern Playoffs this year.

Best Case Scenario is the Knicks win the #1 pick in the lottery (14% chance) and get in a bidding war with Boston over AD.

Knicks' best offer
Zion Williamson, Kevin Knox, Frank Ntilikina, Dennis Smith Jr., filler, and future Knicks picks and the 2 future Mavs picks they own.

Boston's best offer
Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Marcus Smart, Filler 3-4 1sts including Memphis' 1st which is unprotected in 2021.

The worst case scenario is the Knicks don't get a top pick, Boston doesn't offer Tatum. Then you're looking at deals from teams that will pay less to have AD as a rental hoping it works out. Maybe you could get McCollum from Portland but you'd probably be looking at a package of lower tier players like Gary Harris, Will Barton and prospects from Denver. Or Boston offering a package built around Jaylen Brown and picks, or whatever the Lakers can flip their players for since none of them want to come play here.

What is most likely to happen IMO is a deal with Boston built around Tatum. But I don't think it will be as good as the best case scenario I outlined above. I think it will look like Tatum + Smart + Filler + the Sacramento pick, the Clippers pick and future Boston picks. I think they keep Jaylen Brown and the Memphis pick for other moves to land another All Star caliber player.

My wish:



Likely, it will be something like this:

Smart/Jackson
Jrue/Moore/Clark
Tatum
Doumbouya (R)/Diallo/Smiht
Okafor/Bol Bol (R)


I’d like Randall to stay, but I don’t think he does.

A veteran like Marvin Williams would be a good get

I really like that kid from Gonzaga, Rui Hachimura. He can't shoot, but otherwise he is a monster and has really showed out this year. If we get Tatum or another good wing in a trade, I'd love to use our pick on him. He is the perfect new age PF and fans are going to love him..

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TigerinATL

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I'm curious, could the Lakers use their cap space to sign and trade someone like Tobias Harris in an AD deal? I've read up on it. I'm just wondering if that is an option to the Lakers to sweeten any deal if the Pels want to overpay a very good but not great free agent. That team could potentially be competitive enough to take the Lakers assets back and convince them it's not so bad.

I'm not particularly worried much about Lonzo. I think he'd be fine once he gets the chance to be the starting 1 and put up bigger numbers next to a player like Jrue Holiday, especially if it falls apart in LA to close the year.

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could the Lakers use their cap space to sign and trade someone like Tobias Harris in an AD deal?

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No, they can't S&T someone and then redirect them to the Pels. That person would have to want to go to the Pels. Technically a S&T could be part of a 3 way for salary matching purposes, and maybe Philly decides they won't make an offer to Harris based on sweetener the Lakers send, but practically I would say no. If a FA actually wants to play for the Pels then the Lakers wouldn't be involved.

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What is most likely to happen IMO is a deal with Boston built around Tatum. But I don't think it will be as good as the best case scenario I outlined above. I think it will look like Tatum + Smart + Filler + the Sacramento pick, the Clippers pick and future Boston picks. I think they keep Jaylen Brown and the Memphis pick for other moves to land another All Star caliber player.

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tatum, brown, williams, smart and semi ar the only tradeable players they have. smart is required in the deal to match salary. we aint getting them all, and we aint getting all the picks

so...i think you are right on

I just can't see Okafor as a starting center. And definitely not a closing one.

I would be more than thrilled if he became a nice 8th man who plays 8-10 minutes per half and scores while Tatum and Jrue catch a breather.

For a starter, I'd love a rebounder and rim runner. I hope the Clippers have to shed guys to create cap space and just give up Harrell. He would be my ideal with our new blue collar, scrappy team. But we might need a stretch big if Jrue and Smart are going to be the back court. Brook Lopez would be nice for that.

Oh this is fun to do while we tank the season. Given the choice between the Knicks and Celtics deal, I would choose the Celtics (Smart, Tatum, and the draft picks) right now because it’s the most realistic right now. My projected picks would draft Reddish with the top, Garland with the second, and Naz with the last first round pick. In FA, I would make a splash for ticket prices and a guy who I liked to bring an edge to the team.... Boogie on a 2 year 40 mil deal and I would sign maybe Marvin Williams as a stopgap 4 or see if Mirotic wants to come back (don’t know how realistic that is) resign Miller as a stretch 4.

My project lineup:
PG- Smart/Garland/ Jackson
SG- Holiday/ Reddish/ Jackson
SF- Tatum/ Kenrich Williams/ Reddish
PF- Marvin Williams /Naz/Miller
C- Boogie/ Okafor