I (and obviously hundreds of millions of others) think that the Lakers' contention window with LeBron Sr. is over no matter what. It's quite a stretch to think that both a) a perimeter star can be acquired with the assets the Lakers have, and b) that he wouldn't be more or less shut down in the Western playoffs by guys like Dort, Gordon, McDaniels, Jalen Williams, Herb Jones, etc. Pretty much the only scenario these days that would have the Lakers able to win another title with LeBron Sr. is for a)most of the incumbent roster to have a good season and b) to trade for a big that could play alongside Davis and have the strength and two way skill to have a high impact. Thomas Bryant is a nice attempt at this notion of a player but he is at far from high enough of a level to qualify. There is one guy in the league to fully fit this bill, which is Myles Turner. The Lakers do have plenty of assets to afford Turner, however, unfortunately, the way Indiana is constructed Turner is key and he can't be replaced. The closest thing around the league to fit in Turner's shoes from Indiana's perspective would be Chet, but a) he needs about 2 more years of muscle, and b) he would be prohibitively expensive in trade cost, and c) he will need a contract starting in 2026 at a much higher salary than Turner's current one. This leaves Indiana in the position of Turner being untouchable for now (unless he were part of a package for, you know, Anthony Davis). For the record I see Chet having a similar impact and style over his career to Kevin Garnett. Therefore, this fanpost assumes Turner is not available.

I think that the fair way to approach the teardown and exit this stale era is to get active by draft day, which is before LeBron Sr. has to make his decision, and hire a coach later in the summer for the rebuild specifically. Hiring a rebuilding coach would also save the franchise $20-30 million in addition to the reduction of payroll which is concomitant to the acquisition of draft assets as the cord is pulled on this 'playoff participant' level squad. As an outside fan, I actually happen to hold the rare stance that the bubble run to the title was valid but the 2023 run was a fluke. I am from Alameda County and I would actually also say that our 2022 title was a fluke, as we lucked up with the Ja injury, the unlikelily ( ) vulnerable Dallas opponent, and then the Celtics super-duper, hyper-choking ass. We should have already broken up the Core of Lore before last season, and in my view the Warriors and Lakers are basically in the same boat. I could agree with the notion that league management may be putting pressure on our franchise to focus on keeping a contender around Steph for the marketability, because I have seen enough wizardry and great decisions from Dubs ownership over their whole tenure (since 2011) to think that they realize that it is past time to blow it up. Likely they were just waiting for Klay's contract to expire. As far as the marketability, I would love to see the A Thompsons together on the Warriors.

First order of business for the Lakers: consolidating players to get their own pick of 2025 back. This could be something like Reaves, Hachimura, Vanderbilt, and the #55 for CJ and the Lakers 1st back. Maybe the Lakers add a future 2nd or two if New Orleans wants to play hardball but the Pelicans should realize this a solid move because even with the great 2025 Draft, there is not a player that fills a New Orleans need more helpfully than getting that depth given their payroll situation. Whether you talk about Herb Jones and Flagg, or Dybantsa and Ingram and Murphy, or Bailey and the loaded cheap backcourt rotations present, and a scoring franchise 1 would not raise the franchise ceiling, so drafting a pass 1st guard in the top 5 would be dispreferable to getting that depth with those current Lakers at the 2-4 spots. I mean, with Ingram and Zion's great positional passing, there could be some minutes with Reaves as the nominal 1 to get another shooter (Hawkins or Murphy) on the floor with those 3. A huge lineup in these scenarios might include Reaves/Ingram/Murphy/Zion which is surely not two rotation players worse worth of lineup than CJ in Reaves' place, you know, for the franchise. Then there's Reaves' size over CJ on defense, I'm not necessarily saying I'd prefer Reaves in a vacuum, but for New Orleans there might not be a dropoff in the outcomes of the games.

Second order of business, take advantage of the needs of teams who have surplus cap space and picks to get rid of both the consolidated star (CJ) and Davis so that they don't bring wins for 2024-25 season. The jettisoning of (CJ) and Davis should ideally be done at the same time so as not to lose leverage around the league for their respective hauls.

A great destination for a CJ type would be San Antonio. Obviously they have enough assets to get a true pass 1st guard elsewhere as well, but CJ with Wemby is getting like 8 assists anyway most likely. By trading CJ by himself immediately, there's no need to wait the 2 months to aggregate or whatever the interval rule is. You're not going into July with it. What would be the return? Someone random and picks. As the Lakers, I wouldn't try to play hardball for that #8 and ruin the surprise value for Davis haul purposes. I wouldn't want K Johnson or Sochan who could bring wins, and I wouldn't want Z Collins on the Lakers payroll despite him deserving of his contract in a vacuum. I wouldn't want to play hardball for young assets of San Antonio such as their Wesley and Branham, because that would reduce the major appeal of basically straight adding CJ for lesser picks than that #8. Which basically leaves Graham and those lesser picks. To close the quick sale as the Lakers, I'd go for the Chicago protected 1st and that #35, with Graham and maybe some other roster guy or two on the Spurs who I didn't mention. I think the only guys aside of Wemby who are safe on the roster this summer are Vassell and Jones. But as I said, the Lakers don't have time to play hardball if they want to maximize Davis' value.

I think that Davis is a good fit for several teams upfront who are looking to level up. This would include SA, OKC, NYK, and Orlando. It's possible to just clean SA out of that #4 and #8 and almost the rest of the roster, to give them Davis AND CJ, but that would include helpful guys who would bring wins in 2024-25 to LA such as Johnson, Collins, and debatably Sochan (who it would then be urgent to move before the trade deadline and might have to get an underwhelming return with his RFA coming up).

If you look at New York obviously the way they are structured mandates either Randle or Robinson leaving in a trade for a superstar big (such as Davis), as well as Bogdanovic. It would be sacrilegious to break up the Nova trio or let Anunoby go several months after cashing in for him. Either Randle or Robinson would be unconducive to a guaranteed top 4 pick for LA- it would be immaterial to the Lakers which one the Knicks kept.

If you look at Orlando and how they're structured with Suggs being a 2021 draftee, their main salary chip is Cole Anthony to get an elite shotblocker which is what they would want Davis to be for them. Davis might be unhappy sharing interior possessions with Banchero, while Orlando has no good picks, with Suggs, F Wagner, M Magner, Banchero, and any amount of defenders they won't be under .500 if healthy any time soon. A package of Anthony, Carter, a Denver 1st, and 3 Orlando 1sts is a lot to ask of the Magic, given that that would preclude them from improving at guard overall. I expect Fultz to be gone soon, as Black is a close player type, so they would have a weak bench if they went all-in by acquiring both Davis and an all-star scoring guard. Thus is can be said that Orlando is a decent trade partner but not a great one given Orlando's situation with F Wagner and Suggs coming up on RFA and Black's high situational value to the roster. The most precise way to look at this is that Orlando can afford Davis but they would be putting themselves in a tight spot if they did. You don't want to go from a successful rebuild to a huge payroll and no bench in 2 years lol.

Utah is also an option but I don't think they want to take a leap as a franchise at this time. And Kessler is at such a level he deserves full-time starter minutes so I don't see them getting hold of a pass first guard to properly share things between Davis and Kessler. The response to this logic is suggesting that Kessler just be part of the package for AD. But as with Keldon Johnson, CJ, etc., Kessler would contribute to too many wins and with him personally, there are few teams who are a good fit to reroute him to in order to land the Lakers additional picks. I guess he could technically be load managed next year on the Lakers, but I don't think the Jazz really want to cash out yet, they need to be sure of their point guard of the future before going around trying to pair Lauri and Davis upfront.

Philly is another distant possibility. I think Davis and Embiid have enough IQ to thrive together, especially with an innovative coach such as Nurse. I just don't think their picks will be good enough for the Lakers, can't see management sending Davis into cap space for some low 1sts without any actual player talent coming back, when there is a team which could give both better picks and player talent. Of course that team, with a great on-court fit, the cap space for Davis, the assets for Davis, the timeline for Davis, and the opportunity for Davis to improve their squad to a worthwhile level of making this happen, is OKC.

I'm thinking something like Dort, Giddey, the Clippers 1st, the Utah 1st, the Miami 1st, the most favorable 2027 1st OKC owns, unprotected, and three or four 2nds. That's similar to what LA gave up for Davis, while he is a half decade older. Dort can be rerouted ASAP so that he doesn't bring wins for next season, and maybe fetch a 1st to boot. Destinations for Dort include Houston such as the #35 and Dort for Landale, Jeff Green, and a future 1st. Detroit (Dort, the 2024 Lakers draftee, #35, two future 2nds for Fournier and the #5 might work, he's a perfect fit for a need of theirs and they're getting antsy losing these lotteries). That is where Fournier went, right, lol?

Then we come to LeBron Sr. He can be traded to Philly or for Garland, LeVert, and the #20 draftee. I don't see Cleveland selling low on Allen, besides, it's possible that LeBron makes Allen and Mobley work like he did with AD and a true 5 in the bubble. I wouldn't even negotiate with LeBron it's band-aid time. Either send him there and cash in Garland or he can try to get 50+million from whoever at age 39.5 on the open market goat luck with that!

So for Garland you're gonna want him going to Utah. With Clarkson and some salary filler coming back, and the 2025 Minnesota 1st and the 2025 Cleveland 1st. They're both unprotected iirc.

I'm also cashing in those OKC 3-4 2nds for the #25 from NYK.

Let's tally the haul of the fire sale for the Lakers.

LeVert

Giddey

Clarkson

Graham

Fournier

#5 right now

#20 right now

#25 right now

Lakers natural 2025

Minnesota unprotected 2025

Cleveland unprotected 2025

Clippers unprotected 2025

Chicago protected 2025

Utah protected 2025

Miami protected 2025

Most favorable 2027 1st from OKC

Remember the Lakers 2024 1st round draftee going to Detroit.

So that's 10 net 1st rounders. And about $75 million off the payroll.

(Polar bows amongst shower of roses)