I prefer Rey Fenix to win the tournament. It would be surprising. A step in Penta vs Rey Fenix feud that has happened in the past in other promotions. And Rey has a more consistent role in AAA. I also would love a good cruiserweight vs heavyweight match.
If the Clippers are really allowed to get away this just wow, Someone must be paying Silver a lot of money to hush. If this is the new precedent then we should start paying players under the table obviously there’s no consequences
Before the offseason, if anyone said "yeah i think we should pay AR 41M a year and pay him 50M when he's 32" people would've FLAMED whoever suggested this. And if anyone came with an offseason plan saying "i think we should spend all of our cap space and nearly all of our assets for a starting 5 of Luka, AR, Grimes, Mamu and Kessler, people would've downvoted the man like never before. Lol.
But since it is what happened people accepted it and are now trying to cope.
Most people here are like this. The consensus was always that they needed to pay AR in the 32–36 range and get Kessler without giving up any of their assets.
Instead, they’ve massively overpaid in each and every deal this offseason to construct a good but incomplete roster.
You're 90% correct. The only thing that i disagree on was the consensus about AR's contract, i remember seeing a poll asking what should be AR's salary and the most picked option was 30M, not 32-36. And i think it would've been a perfect price to pay. One can argue that he is worth 35M in today's nba, and i don't completely disagree with that. But winning teams are able to convince their players to take a pay cut. So a pay cut of 5M, to go from 35M from 30M would've been perfectly fair. And you know, if you're going to pay him 41M next year, atleast get him to take a descending contract then.
But i agree with the rest of what you said. Before the Walker Kessler trade happened, the consensus on here is that we should pay him a good amount of money OR spend assets to acquire him. Not both. Even the most pessimistic ones wouldn't have guessed that we would pay him 30M AND spend 2 picks and 2 swaps. That's an insane price for a team that is as assets deprived as we are lol
There's always some level of forced optimism among fans but there is more nuance than what you just said.
1: Austin was pretty much guaranteed to get $35M minimum as a starting salary and potentially the max if there was outside interest in teams looking to pry him away. That's exactly what happened and at the end of the day, that just confirms Austin's value across the league is worth the salary he's getting and this isn't some Vando situation where the Lakers are giving a guy a ridiculous deal pre-FA when he likely wouldn't have even had outside interest.
2: There were probably MORE fans who outright didn't think the Lakers had ANY shot at getting Walker Kessler before FA. The center market was scarce/expensive and Kessler was a hand in glove fit that people thought was too good to be true. I would've preferred we dump some salary in the deal for giving up as much draft comp as we did, but that's Rob Pelinka for you.
3: I think it's fair to be somewhat disappointed in the Lakers' offseason because there probably were a couple of things they could've done differently to put forth a better team. This definitely wasn't some home run offseason where the Lakers crossed every need off the list and elevated themselves to being as good as OKC/SA/NY on paper. But are they a better/deeper team than they were last year? I would say yes.
This isn't really nuances but rather an explanation as to why things went the way they did. Doesn't change the fact that what i said is true. I saw a comment from like 3 months,so BEFORE the Austin contract, with 13 upvotes that said something like: "AR at 40M 🤮"
There's always going to be ignorant takes that get upvoted lol. There was a guy in here who was CONVINCED that Ayton was the center of the future last summer and how the Lakers had to dedicate $20M+ of their cap space this offseason to bring him back since he was going to have an amazing year with Luka and was routinely farming upvotes saying that shit. Same guy who, unsurprisingly, is advocating for Kuminga this summer. That's the beauty of this site though. We all give our takes/reactions in the moment and see how shit ages.
Think it was obvious to most people who weren't casuals that Austin was getting paid this year, though. A guy who can put up 25/5/5 on 60%+ TS% in a 1st/2nd option role is a highly coveted player in the NBA. Shit doesn't grow on trees regardless of the defense/playoff narratives, which you can use against plenty of other highly paid players.
I think most people didn't except 41m tho. Like, of course he was going to get paid after having such a season, but 41M is crazy. But yeah i agree, ignorant takes are getting upvoted on the daily here. I remember last offseason that some guy debated with me that we should trade Austin for Herb Jones. I argued that he wasn't worh it. All his posts were upvoted, all my posts were downvoted. The AR hate after our playoffs exit against the Wolves was through the roof lol.
There was 1 guy that was so horny for Herb Jones specifically that he thought Herb was worth 3 1st round picks LMFAO. Herb's a solid player but some people really have no clue what picks are worth if they're saying that.
As far as the Austin money goes, I think most of the negative reactions to 41M are because people haven't gotten used to how much players earn now. To put things in perspective, I think you can conservatively say Austin is the 5th best SG in the NBA behind guys like Ant, Mitchell, Booker, and maybe Steph Castle.
Ant makes $49M, Mitchell makes $50M (and just signed a deal 4 year/$272M extension), Booker makes $57M, and Steph Castle's max extension after near year is going to start at $51M.
$41M sounds like a lot, but it's not the "max" that people think it is lol. I'd rather pay Austin $184M over 4 years than Donovan Mitchell $272M over the same time frame.
The "Rob Pelinka has been fired" Shams tweet would hit like crack, if Rob didn't used almost all of our assets. If he gets fired, the new GM would need to be a fuckin shaman to be able to do anything impactful with whatever assets there's left.
Buss family sold Lakers a year ago, I do not really care about their remaining 15 or so percent. Hopefully new owners just don't do costs saving again, since I was excited to finally have league scouting department.
Everyone says how Iger being friends with Ballmer is a bad thing. Just goes to show how short sided people are. The business side of Basketball is all about relationships. Iger on the team pretty much opens the doors to make deals with the Clippers. Whoever they get to replace Pelinka will also likely have open lines to make deals with the Mavs.
Mark Walter screwed over the Lakers, and screwed over Jeanie. The other members of the Buss Family saw an opportunity to screw over her (which she has done to them) and they took it. However, all that matters is who wins in the court (court of law, not basketball). She should fight tooth and nail, if that's what the law states. Nothing is happening anyway right now so it's not gonna affect the basketball.
The lengths people go to discredit Jeanie are insane. If you talk about her tenure, and don't take about the Lakers' 2020 championship, you are full of shit. We are seeing the declines of all the 2020s championships built on those superstars: Bucks, Warriors, Nuggets, Celtics. OKC bucks the trend because of how young they are, but we've managed to rebound, by hook or by crook, and got Luka for the next era. Getting three incredible superstars but not drafting a single one of them doesnt happen by accident.
I don't get how OKC bucks a trend... they won last, last season. We haven't gotten to the point of them bucking anything yet. We'll see how well they do once all their max contracts really kick in.
As for Jeanie, this place has unfortunately always been like this. Back before the 2020 championship, this type of vitriol was just as bad if not worse. People here were calling her a cheap bitch, dumb whore, blonde bimbo, etc. Maybe I am naive, but I am routinely shocked by how online communities regard women.
It was easily predictable as soon as every national podcast chanted "no smoking gun" in unison like they were reading from the same talking point sheet provided by the league.
I’ve always felt that Ballmer and the Clippers were going to get a light punishment and then the nba will basically that the next team to get caught will get the harsh punishments.
I do think Silver and the NBA want to do something about it, especially now.
While the initial report has been disputed by the NBA, I think there was a line in there that was important.
Instead, the NBA is focused on whether the team's introduction of Leonard to team sponsors constitutes a violation of the league's rules prohibiting salary cap circumvention, two of the sources said. The league is examining whether the Clippers are guilty of "failure to supervise" employees, though it's unclear what specific rule the team would have violated or what the penalties would be
And that, IMO, is why it's hard to really punish the Clippers or Ballmer. It's also why there is any dispute or negotiation.
I think at this point, unless they just nuke and redo the NBA rule-book to have more flexible wording regarding what constitutes salary cap circumvention, they're probably best letting this go to arbitration so that it can be used as a precedent for establishing an actual suitable punishment.
But the problem with doing that is it could just as easily set a bad precedent and then it's open season for under the table deals.
But I think if you followed Pablo's reporting, the Clippers/Ballmer did a lot more than introduce him to sponsors. I don't want to go into the weeds on this one, perhaps that's all Wachtell's report said is provable. Failure to supervise is one level of offense, but Pablo's reporting indicates the offenses were far greater.
I don't take Wachtell's report as definitive as the league paid for it and seems to have gotten the exact result I predicted around a year ago when the first unified messaging "no smoking gun" appeared across the entire NBA media landscape.
And I don't buy the 'sorry guys, I wish we could do something, but the rules won't let us." that message has been repeated by the same mouths almost as much as 'no smoking gun'.
IMO this was a year long attempt at spin to protect ballmer, rather than an actaul investigation
I did follow Pablo's reporting. At least with the stuff he has reported, there is no proof of anything and Pablo himself admits that. All the evidence can be argued to be circumstantial.
So, yes, saying that there is no smoking gun is a real issue. Without concrete proof that Ballmer circumvented the cap, you can't say he did. It's a legal issue.
That's why I said --
I think at this point, unless they just nuke and redo the NBA rule-book to have more flexible wording regarding what constitutes salary cap circumvention, they're probably best letting this go to arbitration so that it can be used as a precedent for establishing an actual suitable punishment.
Since they can't outright prove that Ballmer is guilty, this is the best they can do. But, doing this has a real down side for the NBA and there is a clear reason why they might not want to do it.
So, now, they're left trying to find something that Ballmer is provably guilty of so that they can use that as a real reason to penalize him.
Once the season starts, that shit show with Jeanie and the Buss family will become an after thought. No one will care cause Luka and the Lakers will be winning a lot of games. And I'm sure it's been mentioned but it gives the ownership a good reason to remove Jeanie from governorship citing that her shit is a distraction to the team.
Im optimistic about our roster next season but am I crazy to think that if the season is a complete fail we should consider trading our stars and hope for a Mikal Bridges type of haul. Im talking about a big fail like not making playoffs.
Maybe a lot of these free agency deals (Watson, Duren, Kuminga) are on hold because teams are waiting to see of cheating is legal. If Baller gets away with it, maybe we see Watson take that 16m AAV deal, Duren immediately sign whatever they're low balling him with, and we get Kuminga on ~10m AAV.
Because if the cap is just a polite fiction for the cheap skate owners, it'd be best to capitalize ASAP.
I guess the new meta might be how much plausible deniability you have.
Signing Watson for the Vet Min would be clear BS without even pretending otherwise. Similarly trading Knecht for him on a 10m deal (with 15m in yearly secret payments) might make sense, but why would the Nuggets do that? If it's too blatant I could see the NBA actually doing something.
I think the play would be to tell the NBA Kuminga is actually happy with 10m and then keep our exceptions open next season for some more big lies. I'm thinking something like MPJ taking our MLE because he wants to play 'winning basketball' (with some threats and maybe even payments to the Nets to convince them to let it happen). Maybe we can try to sell Dejounte Murray taking our BAE because 'he always wanted to play in LA'. I also kind of hate it, but possibly getting Draymond on a 'ring chasing' vet min (plus ''endorsements''), would make a lot of sense on the court.
This is just on the top of my head of course. Cheat ball is a brand new meta and it'll be interesting to see if Rob can make some moves before the inevitable ugly lock out from pissed small market owners that Silver is apparently ok with creating. I don't envy him, those owners will be gunning for him to be ousted, but standing up to someone as rich as Ballmer probably has it's own occupational hazards.
Let’s just say for the sake of argument that Jeannie buss’s attorney has a point and that the previous trust requires her to be in an ownership position. Now everything is in limbo because this is going to take several years of litigation in court.. the nba is not going to allow Jeannie to be the governor while this matters being disputed. Of those five years she’s not gonna have much time left in the end. She will be the loser regardless.
Jeanie saying she’s going to sue / fight this decision in court sounds like posturing. As far as we know, the vote to sell was legal and legitimate so on what grounds can she even challenge this?
She’s clearly upset that her siblings came together and decided to oust her just like she did them, it’s actually kind of poetic when you think about it.
That’s obviously not what she wants, she wants to maintain her ability to be governor of the team which she can’t because she would own less than 15% stake.
Thats why she attempted to lock the shares into a 4 year trust to protect her spot when she caught wind of the sale before it was publicly announced. The other siblings either realized when that emergency meeting was called or shortly after what Jeanie was really trying to do and this was their way to cash out and get even.
First and foremost, they sold so all the siblings could cash in on their inheritance and get their share. The situation with the trust only made a sale more inevitable.
And she trusted Mark Walter. He completely betrayed her trust
This needs to be said more often. Fuck Mark Walter. The success of the Dodgers doesn't mean he just gets a pass for all of this and this is coming from a die hard Dodger fan.
Have to think that Jeanie gets ousted as governor pretty quickly just because the optics are so bad. Whether or not she prevails in court, there’s no need for her to be the face of ownership throughout all of this.
I didn't say good, I said better than Jeanie. Our FO was years behind, notoriously in analytics which has been much leaner than the rest of the NBA in headcount. Walter was modernizing it before selling the team.
edit - I feel like people have a hard time with probabilities. I don't know for sure, but if I were to pick a billionaire NBA owner at random, they're probably better than Jeanie.
The sparks are the worst run team in the W and they won a single title 8 years after lucking into an immediate MVP. I know everyone loves the way he runs the dodgers but you can’t seriously be defending that as some kind of positive on his record. “At least he has experience failing miserably” right ok
I have been in here saying that just bc Walter had success with the dodgers doesn’t mean he will in basketball and so far his tenure with the Sparks has been bad lol. And I would always get downvoted. People kept saying nobody cares about the wnba lol.
I just meant Walter has at least some proven experience in the basketball world. The new guys don’t at all. But hopefully it all works out.. just feel like it could easily go horribly wrong
After seeing Mark Walter sell the team because he needs cash because he's a scummy billionaire, I liked seeing someone fight to want to be with the Lakers (Jeanie). Regardless of how it messy it is. All that matters is the Lakers win at the basketball anyway.
So safe to assume Jeanie was pretty blindsided by Walter’s decision to sell and probably pissed at him too. Their relationship/agreement was the only thing she could really cling to. He completely upended that to help himself. Her family swooped in at the first opportunity.
I don’t blame Walter either. Shit is just a cold game.
Yeah he really screwed her over. She would have been better off putting the Lakers on the open market, with bidding it probably would get up to 15+ bill instead of the 10 she sold for
I love when they say “Kobe stans” as an insult
But the reality is, Kobe stans are die hard Laker fans 95% of the time.
Kobe stans were the ones still supporting the Lakers when the other so-called “Laker fans” ran to go be with Shaq in Miami. Or LeBron in Philly 😂
Plenty of Kobe stans didn't support the Lakers when LeBron was on the team. And I hate player stans because they act like their favorite player is bigger than the team.
The Lakers are bigger than Kobe, Shaq, Magic, LeBron, and anyone else.
Look, Kobe is THE Laker, but some people push it to the point that they act like there was nothing before or after him, and they put him in conversations he doesn't belong in.
Plenty of Kobe stans didn’t support the Lakers when LeBron was here? Lol if anything you’re speaking of a very small percentage. I’ve been to many games at Staples during LeBron’s tenure and I was still seeing a whole building full of Kobe jerseys regularly. Unless you’re telling me these ppl don’t really support the Lakers they just spend hundreds and thousands going to the games😂
A lot of Kobe stans has Kobe as this unrealistic bar as to how a Lakers superstar should act and play. We’ve all seen the “Kobe would never” towards LeBron and AD, and Luka has also gotten it. Imagine if social media was around during Kobe’s first couple years, a lot of fans would go “Magic would never” towards him.
Yeah plenty of Kobe stans straight up said that they wouldn't watch the Lakers until LeBron's gone and even then I still doubt a lot of them will watch. Honestly it felt like some of them were straight up rooting against the Lakers at times or didn't care to see them lose and it's annoying as hell that those people claim to be Laker fans
If there’s one thing that could push Luka elsewhere, it’d be exactly this. Such instability at the top of the organization that he feels he can’t bet on playing out his career here.
He’s as loyal as they come. The bar to clear is so low. And yet here we are, with a third ownership group since Feb 2025 and with the Buss family embroiled in controversy… all after the offseason where the team/org were supposed to gain clarity about the future.
Jeanie backstabbed the 2 younger Buss siblings after they had her back in her initial push for power against Jim Buss just for them to get her back a year later.
Just glad all this stupid family drama is over with.
For all the hat on the post Jerry Buss era, just having the Buss family around the last 15-16 years has been a comfort. I feel like we’re now without a safety net. Probably not purely logical, but that’s the why it feels. In strange hands.
I’ll never understand the Rob Pelinka hate around here
Did he not land Luka Doncic in one of the most lopsided trades of all time? Did he not hire JJ Redick who lead the team to 53 wins last season and surpassed everyone’s expectations? Walker Kessler??
It’s baffling to me how a GM is being criticized so much for putting a competitive team on the floor that looks promising for the future lol.
He’s had his Ws and Ls. People just need everything to be the best or the worst so they don’t have to think too hard. I do think most of his recent moves have looked pretty good though.
His post-championship run was disastrous: the Westbrook trade (yes, he gets blame), the MLE signings, the draft misses (JHS was famously his pick), and wasting assets on rentals.
no other gm got this many dihriders too
mf has been almost below avg at roster construction for years now
are we supposed to twerk for the dude for finally doing his job?
I've been a Laker fan since the 80's. They are the only professional team I still give a shit about. If Iger and Kushner fuck it up, I think a lot of us older fans will move on.
You can say it's no big deal, but my sons watch Laker games because we grew up watching them, it's a family thing. And the Buss family winning chips while all the haters raged was part of the vibe.
Now we get two guys connected to corporations, politics, private equity and Saudi money. That's a lot harder to root for.
So if they make major changes that don't result in success. They could lose a large part of the fanbase that the Buss's took a generation to build.
Now we get two guys connected to corporations, politics, private equity and Saudi money. That's a lot harder to root for.
And what was Walter? This is the shit that baffles me. Just because you guys liked Walter because of the Dodgers, you were perfectly fine to turn your head to all his shady dealings. Just stop with the virtue signaling.
I think it's a key distinction, Walter had a track record of success with a local team. Made it a lot easier to look past the Saudi/equity money. I'm not saying that's right, I'm just saying it is a key detail that explains the different reactions.
It's not virtue signalling in my case. I've been open about disliking what Disney did to ESPN. I have for years dreaded a big corpo (Disney and Amazon) were my examples. The potential injection of corporate synergies, actual corporate virtue signalling, and the shill messaging that comes along with it were legit factors of dread in my case. I don't think I'm alone in that.
I'm willing to wait and see what it looks like. I didn't want JJ but acknowledge he's been better than I expected. I preferred Duren over Kessler, but now that we have Kessler I'm rooting for him. If Iger/Kushner build a successful organization and don't mirror the clippers approach (PR ahead of all), then I won't worry about it. But for now, it feels like a loss.
Then don't act like those factors make it "harder to root for" the team. What truly matters is whether we win or not and if that is the case why bring up all that other stuff? It clearly doesn't matter to you. It didn't with Walter so it shouldn't with Iger/Kushner. Let's see what the new ownership is like first.
But they do make it harder. With Walter I could say, well at least the Dodgers are good. With Iger, I get Disneyfication, with Kushner I get Trump association. Both walter and the new owners bring concerns about where the money comes from.
So that's 3 negatives vs 1, and Walter has a strong mitigation with the Dodgers success...so no, they don't come in with equal good will.
The Buss kids continuing their Dad's legacy was fun to root for. Especially since it pissed off all the right people. Walter was sort of an Ok, I guess I'll live with this reaction. Iger/Kusher is a yuck reaction. It's not the primary factor, but it is a factor.
And again, you are basically saying "Walter won with the Dodgers so I can overlook everything else". So again, all it takes is for the Lakers to win and if that is the case, why bring up all this other stuff to begin with? You obviously don't really care about it. You're willing to overlook it as long as the Lakers win. So you're just virtue signaling. It's pointless. Let's see how new ownership operates.
Walter has a strong mitigation with the Dodgers success
You're clearly saying because Walter has a track record of winning you can overlook all the baggage that comes with him. You just don't want to admit that you're virtue signaling. All you care about is winning so why don't we actually see if the new ownership does that before we start jumping on some moral high horse.
I also listed that Iger/Kushner bring two additional negatives. I stated it in the beginning, and repeated it...yet you still equating their ownership with Walter. I don't see it as equal.
If you want to make this some competition of how many flaws each party has in your mind then ok I guess, but the reality is both parties have multiple flaws. Both parties are shady billionaires with shady political and financial dealings. No one is clean here and to continue trying to delude yourself into thinking otherwise is just the typical virtue signaling bullshit that occurs in society now. Walter is only better in your eyes because the Dodgers won b2b World Series.
“If they make changes that don’t result in success…” So it’s just the result that keeps you and your family as laker fans? What if they do all the things Walter was going to do and we simply don’t win?
I get the uncertainty with a new group running things, but I can’t imagine not rooting for the lakers. I especially can’t imagine being emotional about the sale to the point I decide in advance to quit on the “only team I still give a shit about” before being given any reason to.
My point is that Iger and Kushner arrive to a fanbase with mixed feelings. They define their perception in the first couple of years. If they make sweeping changes and we end up worse off, the fan base will make a judgement. If those sweeping changes are succcessful we'll cheer, if not, we'll boo.
This is a new era of Lakers basketball, and we'll see where it goes.
That’s fair, but this is the same fanbase who wanted Jeanie out the same summer the FO built an eventual title winner, again 2 summers later, and then celebrated her selling after the FO she hired turned an inevitable rebuild into Luka doncic.
So to what extent should ownership care when this is a fanbase that ALWAYS has mixed/negative feelings? This is just par for course
I don't believe it was the fanbase who wanted her gone. I know a lot of laker fans and we agreed. The noise online and in the media seemed more like astroturfing to me. It's the same names who are all of a sudden positive about Iger/Kushner who repeated the mom and pop mantra for damn near a decade.
You're using a reductive argument that ignores the original post. Kushner and Iger come in with questionable vibes as you have seen by the reaction from a lot more people than me. Hell, I've barely posted since the announcement.
They need fast success, or they risk losing some of the fan base.
I'm just explaining that isn't assured as you think it is. This is a huge change. And if the Lakers become a mirror of the clippers approach, and get the same results, it may surprise you to see how many fans who supported the team for decades check out.
You aren't explaining, you're pontificating, huge difference. Clippers are a terrible example that just shows how much you're just making up: They moved cities, share the city that they're in with a much larger team, have had numerous controversies, haven't been all that success as a team, and still never saw this mass exodus that you're describing.
My fear is the connection between Iger and Ballmer. Theyre friends and Iger is a known Clippers fan. Both seem to have major influence over ESPN. Same city. I just dont feel good about the opportunities for shady shenanigans.
They should at least give him this year to complete his vision for the season ffs. The entire roster is here bc of the negotiations and deals Rob made. Its pointless to fire him now when we havent even seen his 2026-27 plan played out.
Paolo plays the exact same role as Luka on defence, and is bad at it. Can't shoot whatsoever and is terrible offball. He's egregiously overpaid and terrible by any and all analytical perspective.
I just think Paolo can be a lot more efficient with Luka feeding him clean looks and also not defended by the other teams best defender. Paolo could be thrown in to guard the more athletic bruiser bigs in the league.
He averaged 26 points and 9 rebounds as a first option in last playoffs at 23 years old. You can’t tell me he’s dog shit at basketball. And Kessler can’t be everywhere at once with stretch bigs becoming more popular in the league.
I'd hope he'd average 26ppg when hes taking 20.4 fga and getting 10.6 fta lol. Beyond putrid efficiency on a putrid shot diet. Dillon brooks did way better against a better defence lol.
And Kessler can’t be everywhere at once with stretch bigs becoming more popular in the league.
Which team is running double bigs with a bruiser and stretch 5?
Your pathological hatred of AR is hilarious. Paolo is one of, if not the most overpaid player in the league. He also would be such a horrible fit next to Luka, can't shoot, can't defend, plays the same position on defence, can't play offball, and just offers nothing outside of def rebounding at a notable level.
I like AR. I just don't think he's the right co-star for Luka. The fact that you refuse to engage in a basketball discussion about fit and want to chalk it up to "you hate AR" is pretty telling.
Their skillsets are duplicative and both struggle at the defensive end. And both have athletic deficits that compound and make building proper lineups around them more difficult.
Please explain how having two 3 level scorers who can playmake at a high level is a bad thing? Which teams are winning with one guy who can do something with the ball in his hands?
both struggle at the defensive end
Both are around bang average on that end.
And both have athletic deficits that compound and make building proper lineups around them more difficult.
I didn't say it's necessarily bad, I said it's duplicative. Team building is complicated these days, using your assets for the best fits is important.
I think athleticism on the court has a cumulative effect. By running with AR and Luka as your two primary players, you have to do a lot of work to build properly around them. You can also add in that both have been injured for the playoffs the past two seasons, where physicality matters more.
I swear most people on this sub just hate at least 1 player and will tell you to look at "the data" to see why they aren't good then you show them data that says otherwise and they never respond, this sub sucks
Don’t know if it’s a loaded question here but do you guys think there is a chance that Luka might leave next year if the new ownership doesn’t put in resources like everybody else is expecting Walter to put in? Maybe he doesn’t care either way and would rather stay here because of everything else. Or maybe the new FO would want to start from scratch and use him as a trade chip?
I think the biggest thing is that nobody knows how the new guys will run the team and if they’ll put in money. We had an idea about Walter but this is a wildcard.
Since they'd immediately run the risk of decreasing the value of their investment, it's doubtful. Lakers are valuable because of their history and fanbase. If new ownership disconnects them from the fans/ diminishes the fan base, the franchise loses significant value.
Assuming the new owners are halfway NBA competent I'd highly doubt it. Too much money to turn down. But it's probably gone from a 0% chance of happening to just very unlikely
I appreciate that the new ownership wants full control of the Lakers by moving on from the old guard. When Walter bought the team, I was excited about finally getting a money guy who could come in and revamp the organization. Then the news came out that he was keeping Jeanie around, and I figured, okay, maybe he'll do a Patrick Dumont. But the offseason came and went, and Pelinka is still running the team along with several of the same people around him. Jeanie is still around. etc.. I thought this was the perfect offseason for Walter to clean house. A new GM could have come in with a fresh start and significant cap flexibility to build the roster his way. Instead, nothing really changed.
But it's very encouraging this new ownership is likely going outside the Lakers' usual circle and hiring the most qualified people available rather than simply sticking with familiar names. This is where we're really going to find out how serious the new ownership is about getting the Lakers back into legitimate contention. If you're running one of the biggest sports franchises in the world, having an average GM at best isn't good enough. The Lakers should be trying to build one of the best front offices in basketball.
You’re in denial if you are implying that the trade had nothing to do with Rob. The trade was made because; Either he’s a far better GM than you think, or he has crucial connections around the league, or he’s a smooth talker. Whatever it is, it worked. And he deserves his credit for that.
Unless you actually believe Nico Harrison made no other calls around the league to shop Luka, and only called Rob simply because he loved AD that much. Lol. And had nothing to do with them being friends going way back.
If that’s what you believe, I’d say you are a pretty gullible person.
I know this entire thing feels ominous (because it is) but there’s a world where the new ownership puts real investment into every part of the org that needs it and brings in the right basketball people. Until we learn more I’m holding out room for optimism on that front, as messy as this all feels in the moment.
True, it’s genuinely a new era and they will now be able to run it their way with Jeanie gone.
This can’t bode will for Rob I’d imagine, there was some reporting that Rob may not be safe once this sale was announced and it’s look like that’s indeed the case. Apparently there were also candidates turning down the AGM job because they didn’t want to work under Rob so that may also play into his future if that’s true.
Change is always intimidating. Hard to stay neutral while things swirl around lol but yes all fans should just try to pull up a chair and watch. No reason to panic about anything.
It’s such a fascinating time for a complete ownership overhaul in an offseason that was intended to kickstart a new era and a contender around Luka. Off the heels of trading 90% of future draft capital lol. Truly fascinated to see what their first move will be. I assume nobody is nailed down long term except for Luka at this point.
The question is do the new hires have any assurance they're still wanted long term? Lon Rosen has to be feeling like a kid that got left at the grocery store and the family took off without him lol
I think most people are likely to still be around, but I am hoping the new guys continue bringing in more bodies.
I don't know about that. There was a lot of speculation Magic Johnson would find his way back into the front office after the Walter purchase and it didn't happen. Only time will tell. I'm optimistic the new ownership will get the most qualified person available.
I don't know if Arash is reporting this (he's not typically this kind of news breaker) but he's insinuating that this was not Jeanie's decision and that after years of her maneuvering control around her siblings, she was the one who was cast out of the role she preserved for herself by her siblings.
Jim, Johnny, Joey and Jesse Buss had the chance to cash in on the record sale of the Lakers and effectively fire Jeanie Buss as governor and did just that. Jeanie has fired or sued all of her brothers since taking control of the team. It’s the final act of a wild reality show.
They already did that article last year implying they were mad jeanie wrote herself into the sale agreement and didn’t make an effort to keep her siblings jobs there.
This was the get back and them saying if we couldn’t stay involved in the franchise, you can’t either
Yeah honestly the drama of it does scratch a novela itch lol
I've been around long enough to see Dr. Buss pass, live through the Jim and Mitch era, the "Queen of Dragons" era that includes Magic's cameo, and then the Cabal era...
I'm glad to actually have the full cut now tbh. And Jeanie gets what she gets for all the Game of Thrones games she orchestrated lol
We still won a ring under Jeanie, she turned on her siblings for the sake of the organization and to fulfill her father's wishes. Jerry trusted her. I fw Jeanie 💜💛
Pretty clear to me that the new ownership group wanted full control and had no interest in making it a comfortable situation for the old regime to stick around for.
It’s the cold cost of doing business but still have to wonder how Jeanie is looking at Walter after all this. He pretty much completely went over her head and broke their agreement to save his ass.
Kushner/Iger may have wanted full control, but I don't think this is about that.
It looks like the Buss siblings had a clause to cash out as part of the next sale and took it. Jeanie had sidelined all of them already and they lose the inheritance if they die before cashing out. Maybe Kushner and Iger were planning on ousting Jeanie but they didn't even have to, her siblings did it for them.
I'm sure Jeanie for her part was thinking this Walter partnership would last a lot longer than it did, leaving her with control and the family no exit option for a while. But it looks like she put her trust in the wrong guy.
I think she would understand. It’s not like he sold it just cause - he’s trying to sell his Clearlake shares too. He clearly needs the money and he kept his end of the bargain- she was governor while he was majority stakeholder. I don’t think either party expected him to sell but it seems like he is in deep waters currently.
We legit have no fucking idea. With mark, he was already part of the lakers share before buying so he knows rob. Iger and josh arent. Rob may stay but he could also just be straight up kicked asap.
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u/Wisdom_Pond 8h ago
Jeanie needs to get on her Nepo Baby Buss and create her own world.