The Lakers Are Making a Huge Trade Soon

The Lakers Are Making a Huge Trade Soon

Don’t get me wrong, I love AR and I think he could play, but you don’t need two of the same players. You look at all the great teams. They all have something different. But from a business standpoint and from a winning standpoint, and if you can get something great for them, you dealing. What if I told you that the Los Angeles Lakers are about to make one of the most controversial trades in recent franchise history? A move that could either cement their championship window or blow it wide open. And at the center of it all sits a guy who went from undrafted to untouchable. Or so we thought. Let me paint you a picture of what’s really happening in Los Angeles right now. Because this story is way deeper than just basketball. This is about money, egos, roster construction, and a franchise that’s trying to thread the needle between keeping their homegrown star and building a championship contender around a 40-year-old LeBron James and Luca Donic. So, real quick before we get to the content, make sure you drop like, subscribe, and turn on our notifications to get the latest NBA news. And now that we got all that out of the way, cue the intro. [Music] [Music] As a healthconscious content creator that lives in Los Angeles, California, which only amplifies how healthconscious you are, every morning I wake up and try to get my day started off on the right foot. Whether that’s doing a cold plunge, fasted cardio, or taking way too many supplements. I mean, between creatine, multivitamins, greens, powders, protein, matcha lattes, coffee in my protein shake, which yes, is totally a normal thing to do, taking all these supplements just takes way too much time. Which is why I partnered with Grunes. Grunes are a convenient, comprehensive formula packed into a delicious snack pack that you take each and every day to fulfill your nutritional needs. Now, guys, this isn’t just a multivitamin, prebiotic, or green supplement. It’s all of those things packed into one, which is why you need to have a whole snack pack every day in order to fulfill all those needs. And frankly, it tastes delicious. This is this is an awesome way to curb cravings. Runes are vegan, nut-ree, gluten-free, dairy free, and has no synthetic sweeteners or dyes. Generic multivitamins have about 7 to nine vitamins per tablet. Runes have 20 plus vitamins and minerals in an entire pack and 60 ingredients which contain nutrientdense and whole foods. There’s a low sugar and sugar-free option as well. They have high quality ingredients. Their vitamins are methylated which is fancy talk for saying that their vitamin B12 and folate can actually be absorbed because they don’t use cyanocobalamin. They use methylcobalamin. They contain three times the amount of dietary fiber compared to leading greens powders. They have biotin and nyinamide which supports thicker hair, nails and skin health. Contains super mushrooms to promote gut and brain health while also supporting whole body health and it contains vitamin C which is good for immunity. And right now they’re offering 52% off when you use my link in the description down below. Trust me guys, these are life-changing. And thank you Grunes for today’s sponsor. Mic check 1212. What’s going on everybody? The Los Angeles Lakers are currently sitting on a ticking time bomb, and nobody wants to talk about it. Austin Reeves, the kid who went undrafted in 2021, who the Lakers picked up on a two-way contract, has been putting up numbers that demand attention. Last season, he dropped 20.2 points, 5.8 assists, and 4.5 rebounds per game while shooting 45.9% from the field, and 37.7% from three. In the playoffs, over three runs, he’s averaging 16.7 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 4.2 assists per game. Those aren’t just role player numbers anymore. Those are borderline all-star numbers. But here’s where it gets spicy. The last time the Lakers were in this situation with Austin Reeves, they were a little pressed as well. Austin Reeves was getting huge contract offers from teams like the San Antonio Spurs, but he opted to take a pay cut to stay in Los Angeles, accepting a 4-year, $53.8 $8 million deal in 2023, which sounds like a lot until you realize that he’s got a player option for the 2026 to 27 season that everybody knows he’s declining. Why? Because with the league’s rising cap, Reeves could easily demand upwards of $30 million annually when his current deal expires. Brandon Harper appearing alongside Robert Ory on their show didn’t mince words. Cuz I I have no problem with him demanding that number because of where the league and the salary cap and things are going. ain’t, you know, that’s probably where a guy like him should be for where we are. It’s just whether or not that team is willing to pay it. Do I see you as the number two guy to Luca Donuch to where I want to pay you that amount of money? And I don’t think the Lakers see him that way. Think about that for a second. The Lakers have Luca Donuch making about $46 million this season after committing to a long-term deal with them. They’ve got LeBron James at $52.6 million. And I’m going to do my absolute best to not turn this Lakers related video into a video scrutinizing LeBron James for not taking a $20 million pay cut to solve all the Lakers problems. Oh, I did it, didn’t I? But that aside, we’re now looking at potentially paying three ball dominant guards massive money. This isn’t a recipe to win a championship. The math just simply doesn’t math here. Robert Ory doesn’t just have seven championship rings. He’s got the credibility to say things that other analysts won’t. and what he said about Austin Reeves should have every Lakers fan paying attention. Don’t get me wrong, I love AR and I think he could play, but you don’t need two of the same players. You think about the NBA is all about a fit. You look at all the great teams. They all have something different. There’s no two jokers. There’s no two Giannises. There no two Shay Gilders. They’re all different. It’s just natural now. He just you just you get rid of him. You love him. But from a business standpoint and from a winning standpoint, and if you can get something great for him, you dealing. Robert Ory is suggesting something that would have been blasphemous just a year ago that the Lakers should consider a signing trade with Austin Reeves or even trade him before. The main reason is skill set duplication. When you’ve got Luca Donic who needs the ball, LeBron James who still orchestrates the offense and is frustrated at the fact that the Los Angeles Lakers pretty much acquired a star that occupies the same skill set as him. and then Austin Reeves, who’s become a primary ball handler, somebody’s getting marginalized. And in a league where fit matters more than talent, that’s a recipe for disaster. Now, here’s where this story takes a wild turn. While everyone’s debating Austin Reeves’ future, Rob Pelinka has been working the phones. The Lakers aren’t done trying to make a big move. According to Brett Seagull, the Lakers have stepped up their efforts to acquire Andrew Wiggins from the Miami Heat as training campers. Yeah, you read that right. The former number one overall pick, who helped the Golden State Warriors win a championship before being traded to Miami in the Jimmy Butler deal, could potentially be headed to Los Angeles. But wait, it gets interesting. In typical Miami Heat fashion, they’re playing hard ball. According to Anthony Irwin, Miami is asking for Rui Hachimura, a firstround pick, Gabe Vincent, and potentially Dalton Connect. This is like the most Pat Riley thing of all time. Ky Riley’s like that annoying guy in your fantasy football league that overvalues the player that he got in a waiverwire pickup and is asking for your first round pick in return. This is not a trade. This is an attempted heist. The Lakers would probably be fine moving off of Dalton or Vincent and maybe even Ruie, but they definitely did not want to include Ruie in their first round pick together and that’s where the talks broke down. According to Irwin, Markstein reported in the Steinline newsletter on September 8th that league sources say that LA would indeed have interest in adding a two-way swingman who can raise their ceiling. The sort of player who is likely to interest the Lakers is Andrew Wiggins. And Lakers beat reporter Jovon Buha sees Andrew Wiggins as a key compliment to the team’s core, providing two-way versatility to guard multiple positions. Here’s the thing, guys. Training camp is literally about to start. We’re talking days away. And the Lakers are walking into camp with a lot of drama. There’s how LeBron James currently feels about the roster. There’s the fact that Austin Reeves is showing up knowing Robert Oie publicly said that he could be traded. You got Rui Hachimura that has his name in trade rumors and Dalton Connect that was literally traded during the trade deadline, but the Lakers ultimately rescended that trade because they didn’t believe in Mark Williams’ health. And then you’ve got Luca Donic, who just signed this long-term deal, probably wondering how the pecking order works with him. LeBron and Reeves all needing the ball. Now, the trade deadline isn’t until February of 2026. This is about 5 months away. That means the Lakers have 5 months of practices, games, and team flights where these guys have to coexist, knowing that some of them might be gone. 5 months of Austin Reeves proving his worth while simultaneously being shopped. 5 months of Rob Pelinko working the phones while Luca, LeBron, and Reeves try to figure out how to share a basketball. LeBron James is 40 years old now. He’ll be 41 by the time the trade deadline rolls around in February. Every game could literally be his last. They need to know by the deadline whether this big three of Luca, LeBron, and Reeves could work out or if they need to pull the trigger on a Wiggins deal or something else entirely. But it gets even wilder because the Miami Heat haven’t even asked for Austin Reeves in return so far. You remember when the Lakers drafted Dalton Connect and everybody said that they’d get a steal? Well, now he might be the key to everything. At $4 million, Connect is on a rookie deal that makes him incredibly valuable in trade discussions. He’s young and he was excellent in his first season in the NBA, averaging nine points per game when he would play about 20 minutes a game and shot 37.6% from three. But here’s the dilemma. Keeping Dalton Connect would make way more sense for this Los Angeles Lakers core because he’s significantly cheaper and he actually makes way more sense next to LeBron and Luca. Connect isn’t really a primary ball handler. He’s the perfect three-point compliment that always thrives in a LeBron James offense. It makes way more sense to have Connect on the team making $4 million a year than Austin Reeves on the team who’s eventually going to want 30 million a year. Pat Riley and the Heat know exactly what they’re doing. They acquired Andrew Wiggins from Golden State in that Jimmy Butler trade. And now they’re sitting pretty. The corner reports Miami holds no desire to trade Wiggins before next season and instead are evaluating his production and fit before the trade deadline. translation is they’re going to make the Los Angeles Lakers sweat for 5 months. The Heat know the Western Conference is absolutely loaded. The Thunder are the defending champions and their entire core is returning. The Nuggets got better, trading Michael Porter Jr., who by the way is on one of the most generational media runs I’ve ever seen. WNBA said an all-star team. If the Olympic team played the McDonald’s boys all-American high school players, if we play the WNBA all-star team, I mean, that’s a that’s a no disrespect, bro. No disrespect, bro. I’m I’m not even going to say it. You have made comments saying that you would never wife someone who has a child with someone in the league. It would be tough dating someone’s old girl and they just always have that like over you. Could be like a ego thing or like a insecurity thing. They have Cameron Johnson and Nicole Joic. They brought back Bruce Brown. The Phoenix Suns are out of the picture, but the Houston Rockets were the number two seed and they just traded for Kevin Durant. Then you have the looming threat of the San Antonio Spurs making a huge jump this year. The Los Angeles Clippers are a significantly better team on paper, but they could lose Kawhi Leonard, and we have a separate video on that. The Dallas Mavericks got way better after drafting Cooper Flag, and the Warriors are always lurking. The Lakers just have Luca, LeBron, and Reeves, and that might not be enough. They need that two-way wing that could guard Kevin Durant when they face off against the Houston Rockets. And Miami knows that Wiggins could potentially be that guy. Let’s talk the real numbers here. Right now, the Lakers are paying LeBron $52.6 $6 million. Luca about $46 million. Rui Hachimura $18.2 million. Austin Reeves $13.9 million. Gabe Vincent 11.5 million. And DeAndre Aiden $8.1 million. That’s already over $150 million for just six players. And Reeves wants $30 million per year on his next deal. The new CBA second apron restrictions would absolutely destroy the Lakers flexibility. They wouldn’t be able to aggregate salaries and trades. they couldn’t take back more money than they send out and they would lose access to the taxpayer mid-level exception. It would essentially hardcap them into mediocrity. So, here’s my prediction as to what’s going to happen over the next 5 months. The Lakers are going to start the season and see if the Luca Lebron Reeves trio can coexist. They’ll probably give it 20 to 30 games, maybe until Christmas to see if the offense flows and if they can get enough stops on defense. If it works, maybe Reef stays and they find another way to upgrade the wing position. Maybe they decide to package Dalton Connect, Gabe Vincent, Rui Hachimura, and picks or some combination of those players to get Andrew Wiggins or a different defender. Maybe they stand Pat and bet on internal improvement. The Lakers have done that before. If it doesn’t work, expect Rob Pelinka to be on the phone with Pat Riley really quickly. The Wiggins deal will be back on the table. And this time, the Lakers might be desperate enough to include Ruie and the first round pick. Or maybe they’ll find a third team to facilitate something bigger. Look, I’m going to keep it real with you. As a huge Laker fan, it only makes sense for the Lakers to trade Austin Reeves before the February deadline. Not because they want to, not because he’s not good enough, but because the fit with Luca Donic and LeBron James just doesn’t work when all three need the ball to be effective. Especially when you have a huge void at the wing position. The smart money says that Reeves gets moved in a package for Wiggins or another two-way wing who can defend without needing touches. The Lakers will try to hold on to as many assets as they can like they’ve done in previous trades. But if Miami insists, they may be forced to give up a little bit more than they want. The deal probably looks like something like Rui Hachimura, Vincent, and either Connect or a future first for Wiggins and a salary filler. But you know what? As much as it’ll hurt Lakers fans to see Reeves go, it’s definitely the right move. The Lakers need defenders who can guard multiple positions. They need guys who can thrive without the ball next to Luke and LeBron. They need to maximize whatever window they have left of a 40-year-old LeBron James who’s defying father time but can’t do it forever. So, if you’re a Laker fan, let me know in the comments section down below. Is it time for Austin Reeves to go? Or do you think the Lakers are about to trade someone else in order to get Andrew Wiggins? I’d like to hear what you have to say. Aside from that, I’m your boy Mike and I’m dropping our mic. Until our next upload.

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