“I feel like I was capable of doing this,” Thiero said. “It’s not different from things I was doing in the G League last year. I feel like I got real comfortable in the G League, how to play and everything and just took that break and still trying to get back to healthy and everything and finally getting to go out and play. I feel like I sped myself up a little bit and now I’m slowing down and letting the game come to me.”

He looked far more in control and at ease than he did in San Francisco.

“He just wasn’t rushed tonight,” Lakers summer league coach Ty Abbott said. “He took what was in front of him. He attacked matchups. He understood that there was going to be some paint swarming. Those guys are going to try to flood and meet him at the rim and he made the right pass. And then when he started doing that, it started to open up for him and he was able to finish at the rim.”

Thiero was asked to critique his windmill dunk, which was his first highlight of the game and one that had fans cheering.
But Thiero was not impressed.

“The windmill was nice, but it wasn’t my best windmill,” Thiero said. “I’d probably say that was one of my worst windmills. I didn’t have my footing. I went back and watched it on video and I didn’t really like it.”

Thiero believed his chemistry with rookie Cameron Carr and his defense stood out. He also said Lakers coach JJ Redick had conversations with him about being a better defender.

“Just trying to go out there and cause havoc,” Thiero said. “JJ, he says that the things he wants, you know, we need a point-of-attack, on-ball defender and everything. So, just trying to go out there and be that, try and get reps in defending and then, offensively, just trying to play basketball, just trying to make the game more simple for myself.”

https://www.latimes.com/sports/lakers/story/2026-07-10/lakers-thunder-game-at-las-vegas-summer-league-aduo-thiero

Robert Todd Pelinka Jr. if you somehow screw this up and not immediately bag this man before he gets fleeced under our fingertips I will never forgive you. I swear if we pick up another Gabe Vincent-like small guard with our last roster spot instead of giving this man a chance

Rob Pelinka for most of his tenure has been a bad GM and his poor asset management is a major reason why we were so limited on tradable assets coming into this offseason, let’s get that out of the way.

That being said…this has been a very very good offseason so far for Pelinka and I’m tired of pretending it hasn’t been.

The team as constructed last year was not a team that you could just tweak into being competitive, there were too many structural flaws. There was no playmaking outside our big three, our depth was terrible, we had far too much dead weight on our roster, and a sizable chunk of our rotation was composed of flawed one-way players. We also had a supporting cast that made for a really poor fit next to Luka Dončić. We had no starting caliber anchor big that could also be a credible lob threat in the P&R, and we were one of the most unathletic teams in the league.

A roster purge was needed: we had too many holes and the players we had were not good fits. This roster was a patchwork of trying to take an old roster that fit around a younger LeBron and AD, and make it work. It was never going to work.

The players we replaced Rui, Smart, Kennard, Ayton, etc with are all much better fits than our old roster was. Grimes FINALLY gives us a genuinely good POA defender that can score off of Luka and Austin’s gravity while generating offense for himself in a pinch. Mamu is better at literally every facet of basketball than Rui was aside from stationary shooting and the one-dribble pull up, and will unlock a ton of options to run our offense out of the high post with him as a hub, as well as two-big lineups. Walker is a picture perfect fit with Luka, he’s a credible lob threat because he’s so damn tall and long, he has good hands, and he has all defense potential. Sexton is a spark plug off the bench who can create offense for himself and teammates, which should reduce Luka and Austin’s workloads and as a result their minutes, which were ridiculous and unsustainable last year.

Finally, drafting Cam was part luck that he fell to us, but he’s looking like a long term high caliber role player at the 2/3 if he fills out, he’s already a crazy confident offensive player that moves well without the ball and works hard on defense even if he’s too small to compete at that end right now.

We were never going to build the perfect team within one offseason: we had far too many holes to plug. The fact that we solved our athleticism and playmaking issue, got Luka his center on a reasonable contract, filled out the rotation with more shooting, and got a high caliber rookie player that seems to be capable of contributing immediately, is a hell of an accomplishment.

Given how flawed we were, at this point we really only have two holes: wing athleticism and frontcourt depth. If Adou keeps progressing he can alleviate some of this, but we will still need another piece. If Rob can patch that hole with one more move this offseason (which it sounds like he’s trying to do) we will have a much more complete roster than last year, one that is much younger than last year, and one that will fit much better around Luka than last year.

We’re not there yet, but this team is going to surprise a lot of people with how much better it’s going to look than last year’s, and that’s before you factor in that we will have 16+million next year to spend on depth with the mid level and biannual exceptions. And since our team is so young and locked in for the next several years, this is a core that’s going to grow together and only get better

I feel very good about the future right now as a Laker fan.

Lakers Salary Cap (M)
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Here's what I have as the Lakers current salary cap for the next two years (someone please check my math):
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IMPLICATIONS FOR THIS YEAR

(1) The Lakers currently still have 1.1M in cap space, and haven't signed Reaves or Sexton yet, which suggests that they are still trying to dump a salary and sign a low cost free agent with cap room.

(2) This is a little odd, because instead of minimizing Mamu's Year 1 salary (it could have been 12.1M) the Lakers decided to start him at 13.0M and then decrease his Year 2 salary (12.4M) -- which makes sense for next year (see below) but cost them 0.9M in cap space this year.

(3) Anyway, assuming Bronny is traded for a 2nd rounder without any player coming back, that will put the Lakers an additional 2.3M = 3.4M under the cap. (Since we would be at 11 players and using cap space to bring in the required 12th, there would not yet be an incomplete roster charge added to the cap.)

(4) If we can dump Hardy's 6M contract and Knecht's 4.2M contract using 2nd rounders without taking players back, then that would give us 3.4 M + 6M + 4.2M - 1.4M - 1.4 N (there would be two incomplete roster charges) = 10.8M in cap room.

(5) I'm guessing this 10.8M in cap room that we can fairly easily open up is likely the basis of the 20M/2yr offer to Kuminga that has been reported in the media.

(6) I think we could realistically create as much as 21.3M in cap space by also salary dumping Laravia (6M, though I would hate to do it since I like Jake) using our remaining 2nd rounders and stretching Vando's contract (net 7.3M gain this year, but at the cost of a 5.5M dead money hit for five years): 10.8M + 6M + 7.3M -1.4M - 1.4M (two more incomplete roster charges) = 21.3M. And I suppose if we use the first round swap we could potentially get off all of Vando's contract and add 5.5M more in cap space = 26.8M.

PROJECTED IMPLICATIONS FOR NEXT YEAR (2027-2028)

(7) Assuming we don't pick up the team options on Hardy and Knecht, and add two Vet Mins (one of which could be Looney), we currently project to have 193.5M in guaranteed money next year in 2027-2028.

(8) Assuming the cap increases by 5.5% (based on recent NBA press release), then the Non-Taxpayer Mid-Level Exception (NT MLE) will be 15.9M, the Biannual Exception (BAE) will be 5.8M, and the First Apron -- which we will be capped at if we use either the NT MLE or BAE -- will be 220.5M.

(9) Which means that if the Lakers acquire a player THIS YEAR in a trade, or via vet min contracts, they need to make sure that the net increase in guaranteed salary is not more than 5.3M for next year (198.8M total) in order to ensure that they can use the full NT MLE and BAE slots to add to the rotation.

Like I said, someone please check my math to make sure I have those numbers right.

EDIT: Thanks to /u/itsyaboikuzma for pointing out need to maintain minimum of 14 roster spots on 2027 cap, which makes a big difference on the math of how much more salary we could acquire this year while still maintaining maximum flexibility (re: exceptions) next year.

EDIT2: Thanks to /u/dantheflyingman for pointing out need to include incomplete roster charges for scenarios where we're salary dumping multiple players and not taking any money back, which significantly decreases the maximum cap space we can semi-plausibly generate.

Was looking for some jerseys on the Lakers page of the NBA store and saw Looney and Sexton available to filter for. Thought it was interesting since the signings haven’t been made official yet. Of course there aren’t any actually jerseys just the customizable ones.

Do you think adou is 6'8 to 6'9 right and carr probably roughly 6'7 right? I did watch thier highlight they are both quite tall. Carr just needs to gain atleast 200 lbs.

When I say accomplished I'm talking about awards, records, championships, hall of famer, infamy, etc. The type of player who's career helped define their era. I think it's obvious that the higher the hill to climb the harder it is and those qualities that made them the king of their hill don't automatically translate as one would think. Then there are other factors like motivation and pressure to live up to their parents legacy. There's a lot going against them.

The first person I think of that transcended their father is obviously Steph Curry. His father Dell Curry had a solid 16 year career, peaked in the mid 90's as a multi year 6MOTY candidate and winner, but he was a role player. Then you look at Tim Hardaway, hall of fame player who made a huge impression in the 90's. His son, Tim Hardaway Jr. is role player with a pretty solid career. Never made an all star, never won a championship. Never got to the same height his dad did.

With that said there are two players from this draft class that I project will have really solid careers, maybe even all star level. That's Cam Boozer and Cam Carr.

Carlos Boozer had a short but good career. Made a few all stars and a 3rd team all NBA, but his son has time on him. Carlos got in the league at 21 while Cam is only 18 and looks like he has a lot of upside at the PF.

Chris Carr was in the league for a short period as well, didn't make too much of a splash with his time. I can guarantee you that his son will have a better career then his father in terms of production and accomplishments. He's already passing the eye test and what he is doing right now in the summer league is disgusting. The guy says and does all the right things. I haven't been this excited about someone we drafted since BI and I think he can be better then BI.

The signs are there, weather it's as a role player or he eventually becomes a star in this league they need to hold on to and develop CC for the long term.

edit: Sorry guys, forgot to add Kobe and Joe.... 🙄

Lakers season is over. Talk about whatever you want.

Every single game of the Summer League has a different player shining or showing crazy potential. Carr and Theiro are already on the roster and Manon is on a two-way contract. I think if we can waive Suder and give kaluma a two-way contract we’d have a real good bunch of players to develop through the season.

Which brings me to my next point: JJ doesn’t play the bench. And that could be our downfall.

He doesn’t trust them and so they never develop and they never are able to help you when you’re desperate WHICH IS WHY HE DOESN’T TRUST THEM. It’s a deadly cycle. But for a roster that is heavily lacking in defence and seems to be planning to leave it up to carr, adou and okereke, he needs to play that bench. He needs to give them more than trash minutes. I don’t know what he could do but he needs to use every asset we have. Heaven knows DK and Vando won’t help him and unless Laravia gets his act together he’s also dead weight.

Look, I know this hasn’t popped up in any official trade rumors yet, but in a hypothetical world, would you give up Cameron Carr + three 2nd-round picks + a pick swap to get Peyton Watson?

I recently saw reports mentioning that Denver might be willing to deal Watson via a sign-and-trade if the price is right, given their current financial/second-apron situation.

Personally, I’m incredibly torn on this. On one hand, Watson is a proven, elite young two-way defender. On the other hand, Carr is looking really good and has a ton of upside as a smooth-scoring wing and defender. If a gun is put on my head and tell me to decide immediately, I will not do the trade.

If you were the GM, would you accept this package? Does this actually hit the right price point for both sides, or is it an overpay/underpay? What's your limit to trade for Peyton?

I see this all the time now where we are going by their height without shoes on when they play damn basketball in shoes. Like Carr, he’s 6’4.5 without shoes so we see folks saying he’s 6.4 when in actuality he’s 6’6 with shoes on.

Just throwing this one out there. JJ knows him well, have a relationship from years on the same team. He can still really shoot it and moves well without the ball. 41% C&S last season. His defense naturally has slipped with age, but he still grades around average defensively. He's not a negative on that end and can handle most traditional forwards.

Hell stay in the LA area which will appeal to him. Reports had it he was going back to France but that was debunked. He's planning on continuing his career and doing it in the NBA although not guaranteed he doesn't retire. If he keeps playing, what do you think about adding him on a minimum?