Y’all bum ass mafukkas don’t deserve a title: 2022 GOAT franchise Boss Angeles Lakers off-season thread

[Joe Sixpack]

Why do y’all treat Russ like he a cancer?

Russ been sacrificing his game for the last 5 years.

just make the shyt make sense

 

[CHERUB]

Russ gone

 

[Admiral Ackbar]

Russ probably going nowhere. Buyout coming after Christmas.

 

[Dipsey Doo]

Lakers are setting up to ask Russ to come off the bench and when they eventually send him home, they aren’t totally screwed.

 

[Professor Emeritus]

If Westbrook still on this roster when the season starts it has to be the biggest offseason fail for a potentially contending team that I can ever remember.

They were talking Kyrie, they were talking Hield + Turner, they were talking Bogan + Knicks pieces....if they end up keeping Westbrook then what's the fukking point of the season?

 

[Gil Scott-Heroin]

According to a high-level Lakers source, their refusal to do Westbrook deals with Indiana and Utah that have been discussed in various capacities for months has everything to do with this hopeful vision for their future beyond this season. In July 2023 the Lakers could not only be flushed with enough cash to add another maximum-salary-level player but also in possession of their first-round picks from 2027 and 2029.

As it stands, the Lakers only have James ($46.9 million), Davis ($40.6 million) and rookie Max Christie ($1.7 million) under contract for the 2023-24 campaign. (Jones also has a player option worth $2.6 million.) With the salary cap projected to be $134 million, Los Angeles could create upwards of $30 million to $35 million or so in cap space. If their widely known interest in Brooklyn’s Kyrie Irving isn’t satisfied via trade by then, Irving could reunite with James the easy way when he’s an unrestricted free agent. Other notable free agents could include Khris Middleton (player option), Fred VanVleet (player option), Andrew Wiggins, Tyler Herro (restricted) and Jordan Poole (restricted).

Add in that retaining the first-round picks could open up all sorts of impactful opportunities on the trade market, and you start to see why there’s such a strong reluctance to make any moves that would hinder this plan.

The obvious risk of this approach is that it leaves the 2022-23 season in serious limbo, a sacrificial lamb of sorts with the hopes of better times ahead (when James, by the way, would spend most of the season as a 39-year-old). So where does this optimism come from that a team involving Westbrook can still work? Sources say it all stems from hope surrounding Ham and Davis. This season’s supporting cast is much better on paper. As James’ late May tweet about Ham’s hiring made clear, players are excited to play for Ham and his coaching staff. If the Lakers are healthier — which is far from a certainty, obviously — next season’s team should enjoy better results.

As the Lakers prepare for the 2022-23 season, the organization is attempting to strike the tricky balance between contending in the short term and maintaining its options in the long term. The Lakers will only make a trade if they calculate that it’ll improve this season’s roster enough to warrant the possible downside of taking on longer-term salary and/or giving up their valuable picks at the end of the decade. As things stand, it seems unlikely they find a deal that reaches that lofty threshold. Their motivations could change as the season unfolds and they get a better sense of the roster’s potential. In the meantime, they are betting on Ham to figure out the Westbrook fit — including whether he’s most effective as a starter or off the bench — and improved health for James and Davis alongside a better, younger cast of role players.

It’s a gamble no matter which direction the Lakers choose, with long-lasting ripple effects that will likely shape the rest of their decade.

The Lakers’ Russell Westbrook quandary: The plan to handle this season and beyond

The Lakers are attempting to strike the tricky balance between contending in the short term and maintaining their options in the long term.

theathletic.com

 

[MenacingMonk]

 

[Guile]

If Lebron and AD stay healthy this team is proably a 5th seed.

 

[lib123]

It will be interesting to see if they move Westbrook before Bron’s minicamp this week. Hurry up and trade Westbrook + picks for Buddy Hield and Myles Turner.

 

[HollywoodP]

Schroeder!? This season is gonna be awful. Who else...Danny Green.

 

[Flex Luger]

 

[seraphx]

Bron finally went home. I do think its a filter though that nikka is very conscious of his hair lol.

 

[2Quik4UHoes]

Welcome to the brotherhood

 

[The God Poster]

Bron finally went home. I do think its a filter though that nikka is very conscious of his hair lol.

That’s most def a filter

He posted a pic instead of video for that reason

 

[Black Mamba]

BALD HEAD COMMUNITY