The Lakers have asked the Pistons about Greg Monroe and Brandon Jennings in the past month, reports Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com (Twitter link). They also inquired about Dion Waiters, Shelburne adds, presumably indicating that the Lakers contacted Cleveland before the Cavs shipped him to Oklahoma City a week ago.
Monroe has a de facto no-trade clause because he signed his qualifying offer from the Pistons this past offseason, and he and agent David Falk have let it be known they don’t want a trade this year. The big man would forfeit his Bird rights if he were to approve a trade, but the Lakers, with only about $35.1MM in cap flexibility for 2015/16, are set to have enough cap flexibility to sign him using cap space. The Lakers were reportedly uninterested in signing Monroe this past summer.
There have been conflicting reports about whether the Pistons were shopping Jennings, though the most recent dispatch indicates that Detroit is at least open to the idea of letting him go. Jennings makes $8MM this year and nearly $8.345MM in 2015/16, but his contract comes off the books in advance of the heavily anticipated summer of 2016, when the salary cap is set to surge. Monroe’s qualifying offer gives him almost $5.48MM this season, a bargain price, but he’s due for a significant raise in unrestricted free agency this coming summer.
Waiters is on a rookie scale contract and will be extension-eligible this summer before the deal runs out after next season. Still, it seems unlikely the Thunder would part with him so quickly after his acquisition. The Pistons, 8-1 since waiving Josh Smith, probably aren’t inclined to make a move right now, either, but the interest from the Lakers signals that L.A. isn’t content to languish at the bottom of the standings to protect its draft position. The team owes its first-round draft pick to the Suns if it doesn’t fall within the top five selections, and the Lakers are currently fourth in the Reverse Standings.
Three weeks ago, they probably could’ve been easily had. At this point, the price is way up. Pistons have a great shot at the playoffs and aren’t going to sell off two of their three or four biggest pieces for nothing. Any deal for Moose better involve Ed Davis and a draft pick.
If sacre had more vaule I would trade him since black is taking his spot. But your right the team much better no way they do a trade unless it helps the team
thought the lakers should have sent sacre to the cavs when they were searching for a big man. there were rumors the cavs were intrested in him.. i would have taken a future 2nd rounder
Lakers need to fire mitch their gm, he’s done nothing but bring the franchise down
It’s not Mitch, it’s the new owners, the Buss Kids. They don’t have a clue.
It’s Mitch.
@ Ahs @ Mitch is the one that got us Pau… it is NOT Mitch that is bad for the Lakers… it is Baby Boy Buss that has messed up the Lakers… Mitch is doing a great job considering who his boss is. ;) Baby Boy Buss is the one that hired Mike Brown and then Mike D’Antoni… That is the root of all the problems we face today!
you are so correct, he pick up sorry old ass nash. let Gasol go for nothing.
Mitch was mediocre as a GM before and now, after the death of their 15 y.o. daughter, he is 100% done. The Lakers ownership in Jimmy and Jeanie has to look for another GM, who can get the rebuilding job done. Mitch is very ineffective, when it comes to make a trades and he has zero knowledge of the NCAA prospects coming to the NBA.
actually it was the old ass comish david stern that screwed us and set us back about 5 years by overturning the cris paul trade that everybody was happy with
Agreed, but we can only hold onto that for so long. They haven’t made the best decisions in the front office ever since then. Well, the decisions may not have been outright bad at the time, except for hiring D’Antoni over Phil Jackson, but Steve Nash has been a disaster, as was Dwight Howard. Although I guess you could say that was a lateral move since it shipped Bynum out of town. Gasol’s treatment and his exit, though, I’d place on the front office’s lack of respect for the player. He hasn’t been a priority to the franchise since Phil retired.
But the Lakers have had some tough breaks along the way that I think make the Chris Paul trade fiasco look pretty ordinary. Not the least of which is Kobe’s ineffectiveness coming off of an Achilles tear. Maybe it all started going downhill with the CP3 veto, but I’d say some stuff that’s happened since has actually been worse. They’ve also turned the Lakers head coaching job into one of the worst in the league, for that matter, and they’re no longer landing the big free agents. And then look at what happened to Julius Randle, it’s ridiculous.
We need to just play this season out n dump the whole roster n Kobe,hill and young stay put n then go after what they need cause Jim buss is ……..up his sister needs to step in after that
The Los Angeles Lakers truly need to set a course & stick to it 100%. They NEED to accept absolute facts & absolute facts need to be used in setting the “PROPER†course for the future of the team. In other words they need to “LOSE†!!!!!!!!!!!!!
A. They will not make the playoff’s, they are a terrible team & have only a few pieces at most for tomorrows team.
B. They should be playing JUST the kids, Clarkson at point is an example.
C. They should be trading everyone else other then Kobe,Young, Randal (Clarkson) for first round picks or players under 26.
D. They need to make Kobe a 4th quarter player “ONLY†& never allow him to play in the second of back to backs.
E. They need to make their plans noted to everyone & not be spastic, winning one day losing the next three & so on.
F. The bottom line here is simple, be the worst team they can be & plan for next year & beyond with a whole new team.
G. Waiters would be a great beginning to the future, we need to get him in purple & gold.
H. If Brook Lopez can pass a “real†health check on “all†his previous injuries he would be a good piece for offense.
I. Lakers need a hard pounding tough forward, Farid (in spite of his hair) would be that hard nosed player. (Rodman)
J. Think Clarkson, Exum, M.C.Williams, Bledsoe BUT we need a “REAL, TRUE, POINT that can play defense as well.
K. We also NEED to decide, do we want Bill Russell & Wilt Chamberlin, meaning do we want a large center who can make it down the floor last or do we want a Russell center who can run down the court. Do we want a running team or do we need a half court team. We need to decide before we go off in the wrong direction for a center.
L. Lastly for now, the Buss family NEED to decide if Jimmy can be trusted in his present position or do we need to move him out & make room for someone like Jerry West to take total control & work with Mitch..
Faried just signed extension
Lopez is never healthy and has 2 yrs left on his deal which would eat up whatever money kobe left for us
Waiters just got dealt and thunder will use him to score off the bench cuz they know Jackson will be gone next year.
And there is no one else to trade for first round picks
I agree that mitch has done a great job. No one was complaining about Mitch when we were winning? This same talk about Mitch was going on during the Nick Van Excel years. The Chris Paul deal completely screwed the Lakers over. This has never happened before and hasn’t happened since and I am still puzzled about this trade veto. Jim Buss doesn’t have the skill set that his dad did in bringing on new talent, hell you don’t ever see Jim in the public eye or out rubbing shoulders with people and players. We can’t wait three years for Jim to fail and then have Jennie take over. Jim needs another roll and Jennie needs to take over like right now!
You are right about Jimmy Boy, but I am very suspicious that Jeanie is not any better. If she truly admires her brother’s basketball knowledge, that means, she is at his level. In her last interview she also mentioned: … ” and he always would beat me on Monopoly…”… like, we are talking about Monopoly or other games, not basketball. I seriously doubt a former Playboy model is the right choice to run a organization like the Lakers. The spoiled Buss kids have to sell the ownership to someone, who can take care of the business. That is my thought.
based on what I have read, Jennie was around Jerry Buss and the basketball operations a lot while Jerry wasn’t involved until the last few years before Jerry pasted away.
It’s Jim Buss’ fault, didn’t want to re-hire Phil at coach or let Phil move into the front office. I hope it holds true that when Jim Buss face plants and fails, the decisions go to Jeanie or Joey.
Mitch has done a stand up at finding some pearls lately (Jordan Hill, wesley johnson, tarik black, nick young) , just wish he wouldn’t sign Old All-stars (Nash, Malone, Payton, Antwan…)
You guys blame it on the front office all u want kobe was our gift and curse… Other than the cp trade no one wants to play with the mummba…. We had Dwight and he left…. Our frist mistake was gambling with old ass nash…. You guys think of all the player they interveiwed…. We obviouly have money to sign ppl… Money isnt a issue for players these days just look what the heat did…. Who doesnt want to make another monstar team to compets with LBJ… everyone is scared of kobe bc doesnt discrimnate when it comes to gettn on players when their messing up….look what happend to Pau…. I belive kobe will go down the same way phil did upset yet quite… Only the. We can rebuild… If money was an issue u name me one player who enter the draft with the mind set i want to be the highest paid player with no ringz….
Davis, Hill, Boozer, Sacre, Randle, Black. We need to make a move 4 a solid pg n a scoring sg. we gotta surround kobe with better talent 4 his last year
yet another laker-centric-bro type non-story that nobody cares about, let alone laker bro fans themselves – it’s hilarious listening to the “fans” and sports talk radio acting like this is some new revelation that it’s falling apart suddenly when the writing was on the wall years ago – they shoulda traded kobe right after the playoff/title runs in 2011 and started again with a massive haul and building for another long quasi-dynastic run by “selling high” on kobe – but they didn’t and kept him foolishly way beyond his prime and now are paying (quite a lot) the price for short-sighted front office moves – yes the chris paul debacle was unfair and nash’s injury was bad luck (but he was super old and near the end anyway) and yes Dwight Howard didn’t work out for some pretty dumb reasons – and yes it would be nice for kobe to have a shot at #6 as he is such a hard worker and always has been a jedi of the game in this diluted league of whateverness – but man they didn’t have to offer him that kind of insane contract! just trade him to a team that is desperate to win a title and just start over #bros
We need to just lose out this season pray our pick kum out under 5 draft Willie Caulley-Stein first than use our 22nd first round pikk and trade for Michael Carter Williams Philly wants to get rid of him bad a first round pick and Lin will get him and than outbid San Antonio for Kawhi Leonard give him a Max deal Max ALL the way out Julius Randle a good asset to keep young potential talent to be like Zack Randolph and then get a #2 SG to kum in behind Kobe get rid of Boozer and try to sign Greg Monroe we have enough money for back end Max deals and to sign some low budget role players keep Wesley Johnson keep Clarkson keep Hill keep Ed Davis keep Nick Young keep Wayne Ellington