LABron James Discussion: The Final Year?

Who are you to determine that dude's value to the team? Jeanie? Walter?

 

At his age he can't stop. That's what gets more difficult, coming back after a few days not training

 

Opted in

 

If you want better numbers, look up which players beat the most 50+ win teams in the playoffs. That’s an eye opener.

 

So why is LeBron opting in instead of doing a new 1+1? Is this his choice, or could the Lakers actually be playing semi-hard ball and not committing themselves to that 2nd year PO at the max?

If LeBron's choice, then could he actually be thinking about retiring after this season? I personally doubt it, but the snippet below, c/p'd from above, gives some reason for thinking so.

The other part cp'd below is a strange statement from Rich Paul though. Could this mean that LeBron wants to do his last year with Cleveland, have a good chance at a chip in the weak East, and retire a Cav?

 

reading between the lines, i think we said the only way he was getting the 1+1 was if it were at a reduced rate, which makes complete sense.

feel like there's a bit of angst in the comments from paul, which isn't great, but there's just no way that's an easy conversation. if lebron demands a trade, even with his no trade clause, it's very hard for us not to get something back that probably exceeds the value of what we could get with the theoretical cap space, so i'm not worried.

i do wonder how this impacts the rest of our choices in the coming days and weeks, though. this is probably a bigger deal than many folks think, tbh. like, good chance both lebron and we are planning to play the 2026-27 apart, regardless.

 

Is this possible with our cap situation and maybe his planning? What if ….. he’s keeping some scheme in mind where if that 50M comes off the books we could then “sign and trade” him and include Bronny to the team that Klutch orchestrates best as possible where Bryce lands with next year’s draft …. and with the 3 of them on the same team he could have his retirement tour …. or keep playing depending on health and capabilities?

Probably “can’t” do the S&T if it puts a team back above the 2nd apron?

 

If he wants out New York would be the obvious choice and they wouldn’t have to gut their team to get him

 

yeah it was a very passive-aggressive statement. "thanks for the partnership, but Lebron wants to compete so we'll be interested in seeing what the Lakers do." If building a contender is top priority, opt out and take less so we can get the full MLE. Not interested? Okay, but don't whine if we can't sign potential contributors because we're hamstrung paying $53M to a 41 year old that we don't know will be able to make it through a full season and playoffs.

I'd also love to see the list of competitors that have the cap space and are willing to commit $40-50M to a 42 year old lebron.

 

sounds like pelinka made it known that none of their realistic MLE options would move the needle much

so paul's making it known that either he wants a trade or that lebron's going to simply take his $$$ and enjoy his farewell tour. either way, this is his last season with the lakers

 

When they gonna stream another decision ?

 

1st apron--so it's really tricky.

yeah, anunoby and mitchell robinson works, i think. 2nd apron could complicate it a bit, but i think it's close enough.

right...i want to compete! well, that's likely going to mean taking a paycut, as no one can clear the room for your max without gutting their team much further than your current one is. really wondering if he sees the east is back where it was, so he can join cleveland or ny this year and cakewalk to the finals.

and i'm sure teams are going to start fantasizing about him joining them for the minimum next summer or whatever, but...that would be QUITE a departure from what's happened here.

yeah, i can't read it another way, really. just a question of whether it gets ugly sometime between now and next summer.

 

I think it would had been better if he took his talents to New York

 

I think the thing is that if he opted out, the Lakers would move on and won’t resign him. That’s the Pelinka way.

 

he still can. ny is under the apron. if lebron wants to play there, we can oblige and be ok, imo.

those statements from paul are pretty ominous, imo.

 

James, who has a no-trade clause in his contract, is 50 games away from breaking Robert Parish's record for most career regular-season games. Next season he will break a tie with Vince Carter for the most seasons played in NBA history.

It remains to be seen whether James will reach season No. 24 or beyond. James went out to dinner in New York this past week with his wife, Savannah, Miami Heat big man Kevin Love and his wife, Kate, and other confidants, and one of the dinner guests posted a snippet of the night to Instagram where James can be heard saying, "[Savannah] wants me to f---ing retire in the next year or so."

 

A trade request is on the way