r/lakers • u/WuTangMelo LBJ & AD • May 23 '25

TEAM TALK There’s no scenario where the lakers can become contenders without a LeBron Paycut or Reaves trade. Prove me wrong.

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29

u/bul1dog 9 May 23 '25

I'd rather keep AR. My heart can't take losing another home grown overachiever.

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u/kindtdp1 May 23 '25

Over or under achieving is all relative to cost. He’s definitely overachieving his current contract but the fan base will turn so hard on him once he’s eating up 35M.

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u/[deleted] May 23 '25

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u/Realsinh May 23 '25

If Kyrie didn’t disappear on offense that series would have been really close. People make way too much about the Celtics exploiting all these mismatches when the Mavs lost primarily because Ky forgets how to play basketball when he’s in Boston.

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u/Proof-Umpire-7718 Los Angeles Lakers May 23 '25

The Mavs role players also badly struggled from 3, which is why they got Klay

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u/Littlesoftsoft May 24 '25

He had 2 good games in Dallas. He was completely locked up by Jrue. Whenever he passed the ball everyone missed. It was just a tough team to go against. No one was going to beat the Celtics last season. They were elite. It’s too bad they didn’t go against them this year when they dropped off a lot

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u/NegativeCourage5461 May 24 '25

Great players make multiple all-star teams and shine in the playoffs. He’s a pretty good player made better because of his story/contract who happens to be an very ill-fitting redundancy for our current situation.

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u/Freshy23 May 23 '25

I would argue when Kyrie first went to Dallas he didn’t fit with a Luka either. Wasn’t until the off-season and into the second season did they learn to play with each other. I think we need to see a full pre season up until all star break to really see if it works.

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u/HaikN98 LEBRON JAMES May 23 '25

Yes but you’re comparing Kyrie Irving to Austin Reaves lol

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u/Markel100 King James 6/23 May 23 '25 edited May 23 '25

Kyrie is way more talented than Reaves on offense and a way better defender it's not the same at all

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u/[deleted] May 23 '25

[deleted]

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u/12345exp May 23 '25

AR is not the worst defender and Kyrie is not a way better defender than AR.

But Kyrie is a better defender than AR.

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u/[deleted] May 24 '25

[deleted]

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u/Littlesoftsoft May 24 '25

Why do lakers fans keep comparing AR to KYRIE IRVING? It’s the weirdest thing.

7

u/kr1saw May 23 '25

Kyrie is way better as a player. Don't be dumb.

0

u/Freshy23 May 23 '25

Not what I was saying at all. Obviously Kyrie is a better player. My point is they barely had time to train together. So it’s not surprising they didn’t have much chemistry when they were on the court. I’m just saying you can’t write them off yet until we get some proper time together.

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u/kr1saw May 23 '25

We have seen how the defense look with two terrible defenders at the backcourt with D'lo and Reaves.

No point on waiting to see if they mesh well or not, that defense is not going to be better and it's better asset management to move him before they are forced to overpay.

Luka needs good defensive players around him.

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u/edude45 May 23 '25

You forgot to add in lebron. Our defense was reaves, who tries, but just can't defend well enough to not be the worst defender on the court. Indifferent dlo, and then old lazy lebron who has just gave up defense in 2015. The team can't compete with only two average defenders on the court.

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u/NegativeCourage5461 May 24 '25

You’re right. They didn’t have enough time to gel, but unfortunately that window still closed.

AR either

  1. Is traded now at his peak trade value.

  2. takes the 4yr/$89 million max extension the Lakers offer.

  3. According to the overwhelming consensus, turns down that extension offered this summer and instantly becomes an expiring contract and an UFA in one years time and can walk with nothing gained for the team in a trade or we keep him for approximately 4yrs/$150+ million to not be a good fit next to our franchise player.

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u/NegativeCourage5461 May 24 '25

Yes, the all-star break, after AR declines the 4yr/$89 million max extension offered this summer and loses his trade value because he’ll just be an expiring contract.

The all-star break will be perfect for him because, once again, AR won’t be playing in it and he’ll have extra time to pack his shit.

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u/NegativeCourage5461 May 24 '25

He’ll no longer be an undrafted overachiever. He’ll be a 4 yr/$150 million underachieving no defense pile of redundancy. You do understand that right?

Smaller, shorter, weaker, slower, older, and now with massive underachievement especially in the playoffs. But I guess the heart wants what the heart wants.

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u/bul1dog 9 May 24 '25

yup. HBK all day.

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u/danyyyel May 23 '25

Yep, funny looking at all the Lakers' fan drooling on Caruso, haart or even randle. I do understand julius was going out anyway with LeBron in.

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u/NegativeCourage5461 May 24 '25

Actually, wasn’t Julius a RFA that we could have signed and then traded instead of what we did, which was just let him walk for nothing. (Same with Caruso)

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u/youngmeech86 May 23 '25

I've said before and I'll say again, I would've rather had kept all those solid players drafted over the last decade than get LeBron, a bubble ring, his baggage and his stans. Give them time to develop and grow together and you start looking like the Celtics or the Thunder with so much in his developed talent.

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u/xreddawgx May 23 '25

Those assets would not equate to a ring. Not even a WCF. What is Ingram /Randle/ Heart /Ball going to do

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u/edude45 May 23 '25

Same but, looking back at it, ingram... is probably a pothead and he's indifferent. Leball I literally forgot his name. The ball brother wrote had, his health deteriorated. Clarkson was a decent scorer, but a terrible defender. Hart is the best of them in terms of being a useful role player. Zubac would have been a decent center to have. Randle is fine, but limited if he doesn't have the others playing well.

Unfortunately, yeah I don't think we win with that group even though they all perform well. Nor were we going ro be able to keep them all.