Trade & FA 2025-26: Free Agency Starts 5pm CST/6pm EST

[SleepingHero]

Brett Siegel (@BrettSiegelNBA)
The Lakers' biggest problem: No more second-round picks.

Hard to do any salary-dump moves without them.

Have to wonder if Dalton Knecht remains in LA, even if he isn't traded.

[SleepingHero]

Jake Weinbach (@JWeinbachNBA)
There’s a real plot twist scenario where the Bucks keep Giannis Antetokounmpo AND trade for Ja Morant today.

Milwaukee’s front office might have something up their sleeve on deadline day.

[FireNicoHarrison]

Oh wow.

Lakers making a move for a shooter. Kennard is a great one, but doesn't really help their defensive woes.

Good luck for the Luka-Reaves-Kennard back court in the PO...

[omahen]

Brett Siegel (@BrettSiegelNBA)
The Lakers' biggest problem: No more second-round picks.

Hard to do any salary-dump moves without them.

Have to wonder if Dalton Knecht remains in LA, even if he isn't traded.

Spending an asset just to dump Knecht would be even bigger waste of assets. Knechts 4 mil deal is almost a zero factor in cap calculations.

[Chicagojk]

Kennard has always been better in theory, then on the court.   Don't have any issue with this though.   Vincent has been pretty disappointing and is small.  Kennard is bigger and a better shooter.   He will get good looks and probably be an 18-22 minute player.

No second round picks is a little worrisome...not huge.   You have to figure teams will think the Lakers will be good moving forward and will probably discount picks.    They do have a lot of cap room to improve this summer.  My question is while the Lebron fit is no longer great, you may be able to find better fits, but will you ever find the level of talent that Lebron brings?  Even at his advanced age.

[Chicagojk]

And 4 SRPs, it seems. Steep price for a player that will be UFA. Chicago might not be done yet, as they now have Giddey, Dillingham and Ivey at PG. I would try to trade one of Dillingham or Ivey today, if I could get at least something for him.

Edit: sorry, it looks like Ivey is a SG. I always thought he is a PG.

Wow that is surprising.  Miller, like a lot of these athletic wings, never hit.   He has the size and athleticism.  Not sure there will be playing time in Chicago.   Dillingham was a rare miss by that GM.   Seems like a lot of Ayo but will fill in the minutes the Conley wasn't making great or Dillingham couldn't fill.

[RasheedsBigWhiteSpot]

Jake Weinbach (@JWeinbachNBA)
There’s a real plot twist scenario where the Bucks keep Giannis Antetokounmpo AND trade for Ja Morant today.

Milwaukee’s front office might have something up their sleeve on deadline day.

Oh, please please please please!!!!!!!

[omahen]

Kennard has always been better in theory, then on the court.   Don't have any issue with this though.   Vincent has been pretty disappointing and is small.  Kennard is bigger and a better shooter.   He will get good looks and probably be an 18-22 minute player.

No second round picks is a little worrisome...not huge.   You have to figure teams will think the Lakers will be good moving forward and will probably discount picks.    They do have a lot of cap room to improve this summer.  My question is while the Lebron fit is no longer great, you may be able to find better fits, but will you ever find the level of talent that Lebron brings?  Even at his advanced age.

Exactly the role Kennard will have. He will replace Vincent in the rotation and will imho provide more than he did. But obviously this is not a move that makes Lakers much  more serious contender than they were before.

Lakers problem is not LeBron per se, it is the Luka-LeBron-Reaves trio. You can't have good defense with all three of them. Neither is a great catch and shoot player. Combined they will take roughly 60 shots per game, leaving only 20 or so for everyone else combined. Due to LeBron's age, he is the obvious odd man out and I will be really dissapointed if they resign him in the summer, even if it is for vet min. Pipedream would be a SnT to a team like Cleveland, hopefully for Allen. If he walks for nothing, I will not be dissapointed at all.

Even if they would want to, Lakers don't have the package to go after Giannis, as all they can offer is 3 FRPs and cap space. Even if that would be a good enough package, they would have extremely limited ability to put a team around the stars, so I hope they rather focus on players that fit Luka and Reaves. Lakers need a C, big wing and point of attack defender in the summer and they will have roughly 50 mil of cap space, 3 FRPs and Vando and Knecht salary to do it. My pipedream would be to pry away RFAs Eason and Watson from Houston and Denver, as they will both have problems paying them (or giving them a big enough role to justify their expected salary). If that doesn't work, they can resign Hachimura at PF and trade with remaining cap space (and 3 FRPs) for defensive wing. The problem will be, they also need to solve the center position.

[KillerLeft]

Vincent was totally useless on both ends of the floor. Kennard can't defend but is an almost 50 % 3pt shooter with 3 attempts per game. Shooting was Lakers big problem, but defense is arguably a bigger one. Meh move that cost one of the few assets Lakers have and doesn't change the Lakers outlook at all for this or next seasons. Kennard will only be on a team next season if he plays for vet min.

Kind of more of a salary dump really, yeah?

[michaeltex]

Oh wow.

Lakers making a move for a shooter. Kennard is a great one, but doesn't really help their defensive woes.

Still playing with only one ball on a team with Luka, LBJ and Reaves. 3 of the top 35 players in usage.

[Smitty]

The Clippers are $4.9M over the tax. Wonder if they'd be interested in a Bogdan for Naji deal. Get's them under the tax, as a repeater team, and Naji is a fit there? Would Mavs do it for a '30 or '31 FRP? If my math is right, it saves the Clips ~$22M.

On that note, could the Mavs use that $6M TPE and take on Richards for a SRP from PHX. Send back Bagley? Also gets the Suns out of the tax...

[omahen]

Kind of more of a salary dump really, yeah?

Not really, they are both expiring on very similar deals

[RasheedsBigWhiteSpot]

Exactly the role Kennard will have. He will replace Vincent in the rotation and will imho provide more than he did. But obviously this is not a move that makes Lakers much  more serious contender than they were before.

Lakers problem is not LeBron per se, it is the Luka-LeBron-Reaves trio. You can't have good defense with all three of them. Neither is a great catch and shoot player. Combined they will take roughly 60 shots per game, leaving only 20 or so for everyone else combined. Due to LeBron's age, he is the obvious odd man out and I will be really dissapointed if they resign him in the summer, even if it is for vet min. Pipedream would be a SnT to a team like Cleveland, hopefully for Allen. If he walks for nothing, I will not be dissapointed at all.

Even if they would want to, Lakers don't have the package to go after Giannis, as all they can offer is 3 FRPs and cap space. Even if that would be a good enough package, they would have extremely limited ability to put a team around the stars, so I hope they rather focus on players that fit Luka and Reaves. Lakers need a C, big wing and point of attack defender in the summer and they will have roughly 50 mil of cap space, 3 FRPs and Vando and Knecht salary to do it. My pipedream would be to pry away RFAs Eason and Watson from Houston and Denver, as they will both have problems paying them (or giving them a big enough role to justify their expected salary). If that doesn't work, they can resign Hachimura at PF and trade with remaining cap space (and 3 FRPs) for defensive wing. The problem will be, they also need to solve the center position.

You know this is a Mavs' board, right?

It's bad enough that we just had the postmortem of the Luka trade yesterday, but now you're repeatedly putting out long posts about what they're going to do with the assets they rightly shouldn't have. Just stop or post elsewhere.

[KillerLeft]

Not really, they are both expiring on very similar deals

Ohhhhh, I thought Vincent had more years, sorry. Carry on!

[Smitty]

@JakeLFischer
The Clippers have maintained a high asking price of draft capital for Ivica Zubac, sources say. I've been told that Zubac and Daniel Gafford in Dallas remain the Pacers' leading targets to find a starting center for Tyrese Haliburton next season.

[Smitty]

Alright… If I’m going to play out the “perfect” TDL for the Mavs and use the easiest trades to get there it’s:

Gafford for Mathurin
Naji for Saric+FRP


G Kyrie | (Top-10 FRP) | Nembhard*
G Christie | Klay | Johnson
F Mathurin | Martin | Kelly*
F Flagg | PJW | (SRP)
C Lively | (MLE/TPE) | (Late FRP) | Cisse*

It's still alive....

[KillerLeft]

@JakeLFischer
The Clippers have maintained a high asking price of draft capital for Ivica Zubac, sources say. I've been told that Zubac and Daniel Gafford in Dallas remain the Pacers' leading targets to find a starting center for Tyrese Haliburton next season.

I HONESTLY think Gafford is a better fit for Haliburton/Carlisle, like objectively. Vertical spacing is what those guys both thrive on. The idea that he'd come more cheaply than Zubac gives me some hope that there's a deal here. 

The problem is that I'm not totally sure I love Mathurin.

[omahen]

BKN cuts Highsmith to get the roster down to 15 players. He was a very useful wing for Miami. Is he injured for the season? I was sort of expecting they will cut Cam Thomas, as he is definitely gone after the season.

[RasheedsBigWhiteSpot]

I HONESTLY think Gafford is a better fit for Haliburton/Carlisle, like objectively. Vertical spacing is what those guys both thrive on. The idea that he'd come more cheaply than Zubac gives me some hope that there's a deal here. 

The problem is that I'm not totally sure I love Mathurin.

What if Mathurin goes to a third team? Ideally, I just want picks and bottoming out salary wise. Theoretically, the Mavs could trade Gafford for air + a 1st and still have room to sign Mathurin.

[Smitty]

@ShamsCharania
The Milwaukee Bucks have indicated to teams that they are keeping Giannis Antetokounmpo through the trade deadline and will start making other trades, sources tell ESPN.