Minnesota Sports Forum

Camden wrote:It's a decent thought, but I would be surprised if no other team outbid the Lakers for those more attractive complimentary pieces from the Jazz. Keep in mind that Utah got a first-round pick this off-season for Royce O'Neal alone.

I don't know what the Lakers would pay to move on from Westbrook and land three quality assets. They might have more motivation to be the highest bidder, just have to wait and see I guess.

lipoli390 wrote:I'll just say that Westbrook seems undervalued to me. No, he's not worth his $40+ million salary, but he's still a triple-double PG. If the Nets can swap Kyrie for him and also get the Lakers 2026 and 2028 first round picks unprotected, they should do the deal in my view - reuniting Durant and Westbrook. I wonder what Durant would think of that. :)

I think they would both be down on the idea but also agree it would be a good move for the Nets.

Tactical unit wrote:

lipoli390 wrote:I'll just say that Westbrook seems undervalued to me. No, he's not worth his $40+ million salary, but he's still a triple-double PG. If the Nets can swap Kyrie for him and also get the Lakers 2026 and 2028 first round picks unprotected, they should do the deal in my view - reuniting Durant and Westbrook. I wonder what Durant would think of that. :)

I think they would both be down on the idea but also agree it would be a good move for the Nets.

I agree Lip I think Westbrook can still play. The problem with Westbrook is mostly that he is a high usage player on a team that already has LeBron and isn't a good shooter. If the Lakers end up with Kyrie he still is a high yay age player but he is a really good shooter but also is a significant injury risk. Westbrook is older now too but I feel more confident in Westbrook being available. Westbrook is competitive and likes to prove people wrong. If Darvin Ham and the Lakers coaching staff can figure out how to get more out of Westbrook and the rest of the guys (sure would help if AD could stay mostly healthy) then they might be ok. Quite frankly ai think a bigger problem the Lakers have is concerns about the rest of the talent on that roster. I think they actually did a nice/decent job of picking up cheap players (not sure about the Lonnie Walker deal) but this isn't a team looking to just make the playoffs they are looking to be a contender.

monsterpile wrote:

Tactical unit wrote:

lipoli390 wrote:I'll just say that Westbrook seems undervalued to me. No, he's not worth his $40+ million salary, but he's still a triple-double PG. If the Nets can swap Kyrie for him and also get the Lakers 2026 and 2028 first round picks unprotected, they should do the deal in my view - reuniting Durant and Westbrook. I wonder what Durant would think of that. :)

I think they would both be down on the idea but also agree it would be a good move for the Nets.

I agree Lip I think Westbrook can still play. The problem with Westbrook is mostly that he is a high usage player on a team that already has LeBron and isn't a good shooter. If the Lakers end up with Kyrie he still is a high yay age player but he is a really good shooter but also is a significant injury risk. Westbrook is older now too but I feel more confident in Westbrook being available. Westbrook is competitive and likes to prove people wrong. If Darvin Ham and the Lakers coaching staff can figure out how to get more out of Westbrook and the rest of the guys (sure would help if AD could stay mostly healthy) then they might be ok. Quite frankly ai think a bigger problem the Lakers have is concerns about the rest of the talent on that roster. I think they actually did a nice/decent job of picking up cheap players (not sure about the Lonnie Walker deal) but this isn't a team looking to just make the playoffs they are looking to be a contender.

Monster - I think the Lakers have already promised LeBron that they're going to trade Westbrook. LeBron runs the Lakers right now and he clearly doesn't want Westbrook on the team. I'm pretty sure LeBron signed the extension on the condition that the Lakers deal Westbrook for Kyrie or perhaps secondarily for Turner and Hield.

lipoli390 wrote:

monsterpile wrote:

Tactical unit wrote:

lipoli390 wrote:I'll just say that Westbrook seems undervalued to me. No, he's not worth his $40+ million salary, but he's still a triple-double PG. If the Nets can swap Kyrie for him and also get the Lakers 2026 and 2028 first round picks unprotected, they should do the deal in my view - reuniting Durant and Westbrook. I wonder what Durant would think of that. :)

I think they would both be down on the idea but also agree it would be a good move for the Nets.

I agree Lip I think Westbrook can still play. The problem with Westbrook is mostly that he is a high usage player on a team that already has LeBron and isn't a good shooter. If the Lakers end up with Kyrie he still is a high yay age player but he is a really good shooter but also is a significant injury risk. Westbrook is older now too but I feel more confident in Westbrook being available. Westbrook is competitive and likes to prove people wrong. If Darvin Ham and the Lakers coaching staff can figure out how to get more out of Westbrook and the rest of the guys (sure would help if AD could stay mostly healthy) then they might be ok. Quite frankly ai think a bigger problem the Lakers have is concerns about the rest of the talent on that roster. I think they actually did a nice/decent job of picking up cheap players (not sure about the Lonnie Walker deal) but this isn't a team looking to just make the playoffs they are looking to be a contender.

Monster - I think the Lakers have already promised LeBron that they're going to trade Westbrook. LeBron runs the Lakers right now and he clearly doesn't want Westbrook on the team. I'm pretty sure LeBron signed the extension on the condition that the Lakers deal Westbrook for Kyrie or perhaps secondarily for Turner and Hield.

Maybe so I haven't been paying that close of attention. If that's the case I have a great album that Lebron should check out by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers called "Hard Promises" :)

Here is the track listing:
The Waiting
A Woman In Love (It's Not Me)
Nightwatchman
Something Big
Kings Road
Letting You Go
A Thing About You
Insider
The Criminal Kind
You Can Still Change Your Mind

Adding Willie Cauley-Stein to the center mix for training camp strikes me as one of those low-risk, potentially solid rewards for Houston. He hasn't had a real impact for an NBA team since 2020-21, where he averaged 17 minutes a game off the bench for Dallas, but the Mavericks were six points stingier when he was on the floor versus when he sat, a 92nd percentile. In fact, over the past five seasons, Cauley-Stein's teams defended nearly five points better with him on the floor. - via Kelly Iko @ The Athletic`

I didn't realize WCS had such an impressive defensive impact. Maybe the Wolves should have signed him and traded for Murray instead of Gobert.

Durant to stay in Brooklyn. Not a huge surprise at this point, but I bet that meeting was pr-etty awkward.

lipoli390 wrote:Adding Willie Cauley-Stein to the center mix for training camp strikes me as one of those low-risk, potentially solid rewards for Houston. He hasn't had a real impact for an NBA team since 2020-21, where he averaged 17 minutes a game off the bench for Dallas, but the Mavericks were six points stingier when he was on the floor versus when he sat, a 92nd percentile. In fact, over the past five seasons, Cauley-Stein's teams defended nearly five points better with him on the floor. - via Kelly Iko @ The Athletic`

I didn't realize WCS had such an impressive defensive impact. Maybe the Wolves should have signed him and traded for Murray instead of Gobert.

I'm not sure how serious you are about this post. :)

SameOldNudityDrew wrote:Durant to stay in Brooklyn. Not a huge surprise at this point, but I bet that meeting was pr-etty awkward.

Well supposedly the Nets never wanted him to leave so if that's true it's Durant caving and having to walk in there and be like...ok let's run this back. Could be kinda funny.

Obviously this is a different tile and different situation but remember back when Kobe called into a radio station and demanded to be traded from the Lakers?

Does the league really think this is it for the Durant saga? Does this get the ball rolling for Donovan Mitchell to get moved? What does this mean for Kyrie? The NBA is so boring...

monsterpile wrote:

lipoli390 wrote:Adding Willie Cauley-Stein to the center mix for training camp strikes me as one of those low-risk, potentially solid rewards for Houston. He hasn't had a real impact for an NBA team since 2020-21, where he averaged 17 minutes a game off the bench for Dallas, but the Mavericks were six points stingier when he was on the floor versus when he sat, a 92nd percentile. In fact, over the past five seasons, Cauley-Stein's teams defended nearly five points better with him on the floor. - via Kelly Iko @ The Athletic`

I didn't realize WCS had such an impressive defensive impact. Maybe the Wolves should have signed him and traded for Murray instead of Gobert.

I'm not sure how serious you are about this post. :)

Can't be too serious...

"He hasn't had a real impact for an NBA team since 2020-21, where he averaged 17 minutes a game off the bench for Dallas"