2026 NBA Season

[sana54210]

There is no deal without picks, that is what you guys are missing, Lakers would have to give picks for this to happen because Miami will not give up Wiggins for just few role players. However, if we can see the situation becoming more real, then Lakers wants a title right away, before Lebron leaves. Is Wiggins the guy to help them do that?

I do not think so, they need someone better, this doesn't really feel like a "superteam", because while Doncic is amazing, Lebron is 40+ years old, and Wiggins isn't that much of a superstar anymore. At least one thing is for sure, they will get a lot better, before they start to be a lot worse. And that means if they can somehow get some good stars, that would actually help them a lot.

[TravelMug]

Looking like the Lakers might get Andrew Wiggins in a steal of a trade… Talks are advancing…

Considering Wiggins' stats last season, this could be a nice catch for the Lakers. But it's not quite clear who the Lakers can offer the Heat in a trade for Wiggins. My first thoughts are Reaves and Rui, but at the same time, I think the Lakers would be better off keeping those players.

AR and Rui is too valuable for Lakers than to trade them for Wiggins. Although Wiggins performs good but his style and full potential will not be utilized due to Luka and Lebron are already the main guy on Lakers for scoring.

Wiggins will be struggling to get ball time against these 2 players while Lakers will weaken their 2nd team potential.

Maybe they can offer Rui and bunch of future picks instead of trading AR.

I do agree, both can still contribute to the Lakers. Rui for me seems to be the perfect compliment or Lebron as usually James passes ball to Rui for either a outside shot or Rui under the basket. Same with Reaves, he can make his on side or just pass the ball to the open man.

And if the Lakers will have to give this two players and just get Wiggins, it will still have a vacuum and it doesn't look good for the Lakers.

So this is just one sided trade in my opinion if this happens.

[Eternad]

I do not think so, they need someone better, this doesn't really feel like a "superteam", because while Doncic is amazing, Lebron is 40+ years old, and Wiggins isn't that much of a superstar anymore. At least one thing is for sure, they will get a lot better, before they start to be a lot worse. And that means if they can somehow get some good stars, that would actually help them a lot.

The good news is Luka Doncic is one man team that can carry a team with just a minimal help.

Current Lakers team is full of talented players including their bench so I don’t know what’s the idea of still looking for more trade while they already acquired a decent center which they are lacking last season.

Fit Luka is a giga chad now compared last year. We should watch first Lakers improvement this year before still speculating about additional player on already stacked team.

[dwyane36]

There is no deal without picks, that is what you guys are missing, Lakers would have to give picks for this to happen because Miami will not give up Wiggins for just few role players. However, if we can see the situation becoming more real, then Lakers wants a title right away, before Lebron leaves. Is Wiggins the guy to help them do that?

I do not think so, they need someone better, this doesn't really feel like a "superteam", because while Doncic is amazing, Lebron is 40+ years old, and Wiggins isn't that much of a superstar anymore. At least one thing is for sure, they will get a lot better, before they start to be a lot worse. And that means if they can somehow get some good stars, that would actually help them a lot.

The Lakers aren't a “superteam”, but it's worth noting that they improved their roster quite nicely this offseason by signing Ayton and Smart. If they can still get Wiggins, it will be even better.
I think the Lakers could even be a title contender next season if they can avoid serious injuries.

[Webetcoins]

Looking like the Lakers might get Andrew Wiggins in a steal of a trade… Talks are advancing…

This is a typical "do not let your stars run the team" situation. Doncic and Lebron both would be happy to get Wiggins there is no doubt about that, but Lakers would be trading away their future if they do that. Not only they would give good trade pieces, but they would give first round picks, which they already have very few of.

So, basically after Lebron leaves, they will be left with Doncic and Wiggins and nobody else coming.

This is why they shouldn't do it, but they believe in the fact that they are Lakers and they can get decent players from Free Agency.

However, what they should not forget is the fact that they did have a bad period, and during that time nobody wanted to go there, all the way until Lebron did, and Lebron wasn't convinced by Lakers, he went there because he wanted to.

[arwin100]

There is no deal without picks, that is what you guys are missing, Lakers would have to give picks for this to happen because Miami will not give up Wiggins for just few role players. However, if we can see the situation becoming more real, then Lakers wants a title right away, before Lebron leaves. Is Wiggins the guy to help them do that?

I do not think so, they need someone better, this doesn't really feel like a "superteam", because while Doncic is amazing, Lebron is 40+ years old, and Wiggins isn't that much of a superstar anymore. At least one thing is for sure, they will get a lot better, before they start to be a lot worse. And that means if they can somehow get some good stars, that would actually help them a lot.

The Lakers aren't a “superteam”, but it's worth noting that they improved their roster quite nicely this offseason by signing Ayton and Smart. If they can still get Wiggins, it will be even better.
I think the Lakers could even be a title contender next season if they can avoid serious injuries.

Adding Ayton and Smart on their team they really made a good roster upgrade for acquiring this players.

If they also add Wiggins on their team then provably that Lakers became more better since we know what is the capability of Wiggins and he provably could bring good intensity on their team.

But I don't know if Miami would agree on the trade piece they offer, but it seems like there's good chance that both of this team would agree since somehow Miami would able to get those young talented players which they can possibly develop.

[Fredomago]

I do not think so, they need someone better, this doesn't really feel like a "superteam", because while Doncic is amazing, Lebron is 40+ years old, and Wiggins isn't that much of a superstar anymore. At least one thing is for sure, they will get a lot better, before they start to be a lot worse. And that means if they can somehow get some good stars, that would actually help them a lot.

The good news is Luka Doncic is one man team that can carry a team with just a minimal help.

Current Lakers team is full of talented players including their bench so I don’t know what’s the idea of still looking for more trade while they already acquired a decent center which they are lacking last season.

Fit Luka is a giga chad now compared last year. We should watch first Lakers improvement this year before still speculating about additional player on already stacked team.

With how he shows up during Fiba Eurocup I also agree that he can facilatate and can carry his team, just let him and better for LeBron to allow Luka to take the lead and play as the main support for this young superstar, with that set up LeBron can be maximize as he even at his age he can still can beat anyone in a one on one offensive attack.

Let see how they'll be able to maximize their new lineup as they've got decent bigs that really play tough inside helping them to proctect the rim and get those defensive and offensive rebounds.

[Maslate]

Let see how they'll be able to maximize their new lineup as they've got decent bigs that really play tough inside helping them to proctect the rim and get those defensive and offensive rebounds.

The problem is it’s not only the Lakers who improved. Other teams like the Nuggets also upgraded their lineup. They now have Jonas Valanciunas, DJ is still there, so size isn’t their problem anymore. Plus Bruce Brown is back, the guy who helped them win the championship, along with another shooter in Tim Hardaway Jr. and Cameron Johnson.

So they’re stacked this coming season, and for me, compared to the Lakers, this looks like a real championship team with all the upgrades.

[LogitechMouse]

Let see how they'll be able to maximize their new lineup as they've got decent bigs that really play tough inside helping them to proctect the rim and get those defensive and offensive rebounds.

The problem is it’s not only the Lakers who improved. Other teams like the Nuggets also upgraded their lineup. They now have Jonas Valanciunas, DJ is still there, so size isn’t their problem anymore. Plus Bruce Brown is back, the guy who helped them win the championship, along with another shooter in Tim Hardaway Jr. and Cameron Johnson.

So they’re stacked this coming season, and for me, compared to the Lakers, this looks like a real championship team with all the upgrades.

I underestimated the Nuggets before the 2024-2025 season just because of how bad their bench is, but they manage to clinch 5th still and went to the 2nd round, and gave the Thunder a hard time winning against them.

Now that they have a better role players, I will not be surprised if they will be a title contender yet again in the stacked Western Conference. I mean having Cam Johnson is already an upgrade for the team already, but aside from that, they also got Valanciunas, and Bruce Brown again. They have a better bench right now with Stawther, Watson, and DJ as well. As for the Lakers, they're still a first-rounder team, and I don't expect too much with them this season despite having Ayton with the team. If only Bronny was their 3rd option in offense then they can defeat the Thunder in a 7-game series.

[Fredomago]

Let see how they'll be able to maximize their new lineup as they've got decent bigs that really play tough inside helping them to proctect the rim and get those defensive and offensive rebounds.

The problem is it’s not only the Lakers who improved. Other teams like the Nuggets also upgraded their lineup. They now have Jonas Valanciunas, DJ is still there, so size isn’t their problem anymore. Plus Bruce Brown is back, the guy who helped them win the championship, along with another shooter in Tim Hardaway Jr. and Cameron Johnson.

So they’re stacked this coming season, and for me, compared to the Lakers, this looks like a real championship team with all the upgrades.

The competitions on the west side always going to be tough, it's the team efforts of both players and the managements that will bring them to success, and  similar to what you said, not just Lakers but other teams are adding key role and star players to their squads to give the team a better chance in chasing for the title, though we will only see thos adjustments if it's going to be a good move when the season start and there are improvements that happened..

[tech30338]

Let see how they'll be able to maximize their new lineup as they've got decent bigs that really play tough inside helping them to proctect the rim and get those defensive and offensive rebounds.

The problem is it’s not only the Lakers who improved. Other teams like the Nuggets also upgraded their lineup. They now have Jonas Valanciunas, DJ is still there, so size isn’t their problem anymore. Plus Bruce Brown is back, the guy who helped them win the championship, along with another shooter in Tim Hardaway Jr. and Cameron Johnson.

So they’re stacked this coming season, and for me, compared to the Lakers, this looks like a real championship team with all the upgrades.

The competitions on the west side always going to be tough, it's the team efforts of both players and the managements that will bring them to success, and  similar to what you said, not just Lakers but other teams are adding key role and star players to their squads to give the team a better chance in chasing for the title, though we will only see thos adjustments if it's going to be a good move when the season start and there are improvements that happened..

Thats the problem unlike in the east tougher competition in the west, mostly west has higher chance of winning the title in the couple of years, although east is starting to be competitive but the west still have the upper hand, east needs to be up 3-0 if they want to win, if the series are close then its the west, also star players are leaning to the east no only with the pay but with the quality of players that is teaming up.

[AbuBhakar]

Thats the problem unlike in the east tougher competition in the west, mostly west has higher chance of winning the title in the couple of years, although east is starting to be competitive but the west still have the upper hand, east needs to be up 3-0 if they want to win, if the series are close then its the west, also star players are leaning to the east no only with the pay but with the quality of players that is teaming up.

There’s an advantage for being on East with less tougher teams since they can dominate easily their conference and have better conditions on the finals without any injured players.

In contrary to West that due to tough competition, players usually got injured and unable to play on the championship games that is crucial for the team to win.

Best example here is the Raptors vs Warriors finals. Most of the GSW players are all injured so they are dominated by the very underdog Raptors in the finals.

[avp2306]

Thats the problem unlike in the east tougher competition in the west, mostly west has higher chance of winning the title in the couple of years, although east is starting to be competitive but the west still have the upper hand, east needs to be up 3-0 if they want to win, if the series are close then its the west, also star players are leaning to the east no only with the pay but with the quality of players that is teaming up.

There’s an advantage for being on East with less tougher teams since they can dominate easily their conference and have better conditions on the finals without any injured players.

In contrary to West that due to tough competition, players usually got injured and unable to play on the championship games that is crucial for the team to win.

Best example here is the Raptors vs Warriors finals. Most of the GSW players are all injured so they are dominated by the very underdog Raptors in the finals.

Agreed especially that now Tatum and Haliburton is injured the other teams would provably get lesser more competition. Those title contender teams last year became more weaker now.

West remains the toughest since strong teams are still intact. Also West records many teams got 50+ wins and the challenges became more tougher when Durant goes on Rockets which made them became more stronger and they are favorite to win a title next season.

Also on the example you have given before if it happens that Warriors did not get injured that time they have huge chance to win a championship again, but favor is not on their side at that time and the championship goes to raptors.

[Shinpako09]

West remains the toughest since strong teams are still intact. Also West records many teams got 50+ wins and the challenges became more tougher when Durant goes on Rockets which made them became more stronger and they are favorite to win a title next season.

It has always been like that for years, that’s why the West is the favorite to win the title most of the time. We can’t deny that the Rockets’ chances of winning got a big boost when Durant joined them, but we shouldn’t forget what the Suns achieved when they got KD, nothing. The West keeps getting tougher, especially in the playoffs where everyone gives it their all, and that’s also why some players end up injured. Let’s see if they can survive the playoffs this time or go deeper, especially against the still heavy favorites like OKC or even the Nuggets.

[tech30338]

West remains the toughest since strong teams are still intact. Also West records many teams got 50+ wins and the challenges became more tougher when Durant goes on Rockets which made them became more stronger and they are favorite to win a title next season.

It has always been like that for years, that’s why the West is the favorite to win the title most of the time. We can’t deny that the Rockets’ chances of winning got a big boost when Durant joined them, but we shouldn’t forget what the Suns achieved when they got KD, nothing. The West keeps getting tougher, especially in the playoffs where everyone gives it their all, and that’s also why some players end up injured. Let’s see if they can survive the playoffs this time or go deeper, especially against the still heavy favorites like OKC or even the Nuggets.

I would say if the rockets is healthy and never gets injured they might have a chance to west finals, from then we are not sure since west has always have a team that is on the middle of the standings, then after the playoff run they would storm to the finals like they are just sleeping giant in the pack, last year is different since okc finish first, buy they almost loss, but came out strong, this year might be different, all depends on standing and position.

[OgNasty]

West remains the toughest since strong teams are still intact. Also West records many teams got 50+ wins and the challenges became more tougher when Durant goes on Rockets which made them became more stronger and they are favorite to win a title next season.

It has always been like that for years, that’s why the West is the favorite to win the title most of the time. We can’t deny that the Rockets’ chances of winning got a big boost when Durant joined them, but we shouldn’t forget what the Suns achieved when they got KD, nothing. The West keeps getting tougher, especially in the playoffs where everyone gives it their all, and that’s also why some players end up injured. Let’s see if they can survive the playoffs this time or go deeper, especially against the still heavy favorites like OKC or even the Nuggets.

I would say if the rockets is healthy and never gets injured they might have a chance to west finals, from then we are not sure since west has always have a team that is on the middle of the standings, then after the playoff run they would storm to the finals like they are just sleeping giant in the pack, last year is different since okc finish first, buy they almost loss, but came out strong, this year might be different, all depends on standing and position.

I know everyone has high hopes for the Houston Rockets this year but I’m just not one of them. They gave up a great player to get Durant, who is aging and will have to learn to fit in to a new system. Even the Heatles took a year before they started winning chips. I’ll be shocked if they make it to the Western Conference championship game.

[AHOYBRAUSE]

I know everyone has high hopes for the Houston Rockets this year but I’m just not one of them. They gave up a great player to get Durant, who is aging and will have to learn to fit in to a new system. Even the Heatles took a year before they started winning chips. I’ll be shocked if they make it to the Western Conference championship game.

I share your opinion and I will go even further and say the Durant deal is harming their title aspirations. Sure, he is Kevin Durant, but this Durant is a becoming 37 years old in a couple of days. Not sure what they expect from him so obviously the window for this to work is not so big. The money they are spending on him would have been used better if they signed 1 or 2 other vets to further help out the young core they have. The only good thing for the Rockets is the fact that the west doesn't really look so scary atm, the Thunder aside.

[AbuBhakar]

I know everyone has high hopes for the Houston Rockets this year but I’m just not one of them. They gave up a great player to get Durant, who is aging and will have to learn to fit in to a new system. Even the Heatles took a year before they started winning chips. I’ll be shocked if they make it to the Western Conference championship game.

Agreed. I don’t ride on Durant hype train anymore after multiple failure on brining a team to a championship despite having a solid line-up both on Suns and Nets.

He is lucky on landing with GSW on prime that’s why he manage to get MVP and championship since GSW needed a good forward player that time to complete their championship run.

But before Durant, GSW is already a good contender for championship. Now that he is old I doubt he can carry a young and building team as Rockets.

[Japinat]

I know everyone has high hopes for the Houston Rockets this year but I’m just not one of them. They gave up a great player to get Durant, who is aging and will have to learn to fit in to a new system. Even the Heatles took a year before they started winning chips. I’ll be shocked if they make it to the Western Conference championship game.

Agreed. I don’t ride on Durant hype train anymore after multiple failure on brining a team to a championship despite having a solid line-up both on Suns and Nets.

Now that he’s getting older, the chances of it happening again are even smaller.

He is lucky on landing with GSW on prime that’s why he manage to get MVP and championship since GSW needed a good forward player that time to complete their championship run.

But before Durant, GSW is already a good contender for championship. Now that he is old I doubt he can carry a young and building team as Rockets.

Even if he wasn’t in his prime, I think the Warriors could still win a championship with him since they were already a dominant team before he joined. Durant even played against them in the WCF if I remember right, and they lost to the Warriors, that’s why he decided to join them.

That’s how he succeeded, but to me he isn’t really a “champion man” like Curry. Curry made the Warriors a championship team and carried them, with the help of his Splash Brother of course.

[Wapfika]

That’s how he succeeded, but to me he isn’t really a “champion man” like Curry. Curry made the Warriors a championship team and carried them, with the help of his Splash Brother of course.

He can carry a team but he is not on long time carry since he choke and collapse his game if he feel that the team is already losing especially during his time on OKC when they are beaten badly by Miami.

KD is still a solid forward which any team wants to sign him despite of his age since he got the move. But it cost a lot just to get him so the team is sacrificing good players just get him which is the reason why the team he joined after Warriors always choke.