2026 - FREE AGENT Ideas for the Lakers Post Lebron James Era (P. 2)

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If you have not seen Mamu play.............. he's spectacularly talented.

He's legit ambidextrous! Shoots jumpers lefty and most of his drives to the hoop are righty.

Check out this video...

Watching this, I am inclined to compare him to Manu Ginobli but 'Mamu' is 6'-9"...

As a starter, he averaged nearly 20 / game last season.

He could play the 3 if needed!

Though likely too expensive, Trey Murphy is now in the FA mix.

He's at about $28M, but given the Lakers just lost Rui at $18M, unloading or Trading Vando it seems meets that salary requirement.

Trey came into the league known as a defender but has developed his shot and is now a 3 point sniper. I hope Knecht approaches the coaches and commits to getting his act together. The Lakers could be stacked if they get Trey or Kuminga plus a few of the guys that remain from last season including Knecht (pending) and Adou.

I'm not convinced that a vet center is gonna make a difference other than a body to help Kessler. Think of the Warriors who rely on the 3. They rolled with small to virtually no bigs during the splash brothers era...

We still have some major holes in this roster. We need a wing, we need a backup center, etc. Apparently, the Kuminga possibility is being held up by Lebron. Dragging the league along. Seen this freaking movie before.

Lakers picked up Looney.

He's a workhorse who plays his role.

I do not recall him playing defense though...

Looney's career stats are 5-6-2.

He's a poor man's Draymond...

And he played on three championship teams...

Which might prove to be his greatest contribution.

Losing Jax and Ayton for Looney seems, well, looney!

He's at $3.9M so that decision has to be part of a forward acquisition strategy.

We need to figure out Kuminga. Apparently, they offered him 20mil on a two year deal and that was obviously laughable. Pay the guy. We need a starting wing.

Sadly, Kuminga seems to care more about money than opportunities at this point in his career and my guess is that another team might be able to offer more than the Lakers $10M / 2 years. The Nuggets are willing to swap Peyton Watson for Kuminga, because they cannot afford Watson who is expecting $25M, so they too do not seem to have a large offer for Kuminga that's even close to what he got paid last season. If he were to focus upon providing his skills consistently, then he would get paid without question... Takes the Lakers offer and sort things out... Having said that, Zaire is only a slight upgrade over Vando and similarly, he's not a starting quality forward which means that he does not solve the Lakers problem adequately. Vando is poorly utilized! This is why he finally yelled at JJ during the game last season. How much patience must a player have? All coaches who were NBA guards fail to know how to properly coach and utilize forwards and centers with Kerr being the classic example. Recall that he did not play Jason Tatum in the second half of the Olympics finals game for no reason and did not scold his boy Curry for shooting 40 footers. Vando is not an outside shooter but neither is Looney and neither is Zaire! Vando is getting paid $12M because his defense is exceptional so why give that up? Why not utilize that skill better? When talking permitter defense, Vando would be a consideration if he was on an other team at this time! Kuminga does not want to play defense so I can hear the midseason whining already? I'll take Kuminga in a heartbeat and have been calling for the Lakers to....

Good Summer summary.

This Aussie describes Grimes as a Perimeter Defender?

He's a scoring machine, too!

Perk predicts the lakers to be one of the best offenses in the NBA next season...

Maybe the Lakers ought to forget the pursuit of Kuminga and roll with Thiero?

He's got better handles that I was aware of, which he demonstrated in the Summer League game on July 10th.

Athletically, every time he touched the ball you could hear the announcers and crowd get excited in anticipation of a dunk.

Can he shoot the three 3? If so, the Lakers don't need another Small Forward.

And then there's the Rookie Carr... He's a guard but perhaps he could play the 3 as well? His elevation and shooting are already pro competitive...

Skyeword wrote:
Maybe the Lakers ought to forget the pursuit of Kuminga and roll with Thiero?

He's got better handles that I was aware of, which he demonstrated in the Summer League game on July 10th.

Athletically, every time he touched the ball you could hear the announcers and crowd get excited in anticipation of a dunk.

Can he shoot the three 3? If so, the Lakers don't need another Small Forward.

And then there's the Rookie Carr... He's a guard but perhaps he could play the 3 as well? His elevation and shooting are already pro competitive...

Frankly, I’m tired of hearing that dudes name. Apparently, he wants 25mil a year and the lakers are offering 25mil for two years on a sign and trade. F that guy. I hope he doesn’t find a team similar to what happened to Dennis Schröder when he was being a demanding ****. These mediocre players have such a high opinion of themselves. They want super star level pay for 7 points a game. They see what Austin got and want it.

Or Kaluma who had 34 in the Summer League including 6 threes, or both Kaluma and Thiero?

I think the Kuminga, who remains inconsistent and unproven, holding out, again, for $25M, ought to earn him something less as an act of humility.

If he gets to watch 2 youngins play his role on the Lakers this year, perhaps he will wise up?

Or not.... I hope he gets his $25M ...

Angeluus wrote:
Frankly, I’m tired of hearing that dudes name. Apparently, he wants 25mil a year and the lakers are offering 25mil for two years on a sign and trade. F that guy. I hope he doesn’t find a team similar to what happened to Dennis Schröder when he was being a demanding ****. These mediocre players have such a high opinion of themselves. They want super star level pay for 7 points a game. They see what Austin got and want it.

I agree with you on this. He's over confident and others have mentioned this as well. He might end up being a selfish pain in the arse, rather than helpful, and given the performances by two comparable players in the Summer League, the Lakers already have what they need.

Angeluus wrote:
Frankly, I’m tired of hearing that dudes name. Apparently, he wants 25mil a year and the lakers are offering 25mil for two years on a sign and trade. F that guy. I hope he doesn’t find a team similar to what happened to Dennis Schröder when he was being a demanding ****. These mediocre players have such a high opinion of themselves. They want super star level pay for 7 points a game. They see what Austin got and want it.

This also reminds me Isaiah Thomas when he made the All Star Team while playing for the Celtics. He made the statement, "They better bring the BRINKS truck next season," and two years later he was more or less out of the league, and 4 years later, having scored 80+ in a game in Europe, he was filmed crying that the NBA forgot him. I don't think he earned this treatment, but it happens, and Kuminga has only had impressive games, never consistency over a season.

Skyeword wrote:
This also reminds me Isaiah Thomas when he made the All Star Team while playing for the Celtics. He made the statement, "They better bring the BRINKS truck next season," and two years later he was more or less out of the league, and 4 years later, having scored 80+ in a game in Europe, he was filmed crying that the NBA forgot him. I don't think he earned this treatment, but it happens, and Kuminga has only had impressive games, never consistency over a season.

I’m liking what I am seeing in the summer league, but it is just that…. The summer league. I’d love to see them perform at that level in the regular season, but we can’t expect them to put up those numbers come October. Which one of those guys would you like to play the wing? By the way, I’m not disagreeing with you at all. I think we should consider those guys for a bigger role.

Angeluus wrote:
I’m liking what I am seeing in the summer league, but it is just that…. The summer league. I’d love to see them perform at that level in the regular season, but we can’t expect them to put up those numbers come October. Which one of those guys would you like to play the wing? By the way, I’m not disagreeing with you at all. I think we should consider those guys for a bigger role.

I'd say Carr clearly given his speed, shooting and verticality, but his skills are a bit redundant after the Lakers went on a Guard spending spree over the last couple of weeks. That holds true for Mañon as well.

The two primary forwards are both impressive, Thiero and Kaluma. Thiero is an imposing athlete with great timing and defense but his body control is a bit limited. He's not a shooter, but he can make the three. Kaluma burst onto the scenes with his 34 points and six three pointers, but that was only one game. I scored 43 in a high school freshman game, including a half court hook shot at the half time buzzer, 40 years ago, and never got an invite to Summer League even once! Smile For now Adou has been the most consistent averaging 17 and 5, but if Kaluma can keep up the scoring, the Lakers don't need the apparent problems that come with Kuminga.

Sign Kaluma to a two-way and keep Thiero, and if they get 10-5 out of either of them, that's icing on the cake. And they picked up Ziaire Williams too so options abound. I think Mamu is gonna thrive on this roster!

As I mentioned the other day, I do not think the Lakers will be looking to a 3 to be a primary scorer. That's the predictable conflict with Kuminga who would want to be that, yet every writer keeps calling him a defender! Never saw that myself... I hope he proves me wrong...

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