LeBron James Discussion: Not Returning To The Lakers

Whether Lebron or AD is here or not, our title window is closed for the forseeable future (next 2-3 years at least). We can fastpass the rebuild by selling high on the Big 3 and getting at least 3-4 1st round picks + decent tradeable contracts.

Right now both Lebron and the team looks really bad optics wise. Unfortunately its a players league so we may have to put up with this nonsense until he passes Kareem's record with us or be labelled as the team that traded Lebron. This is a no-win situation. The Lakers lost once they started listening to him and did the Westbrook trade, only now its fully realized.

They got one title but man there's going to be some hell to pay as long as he's here. It's also a sad state of affairs that ownership/FO is a mess too. They're all to blame from Jeanie to Rob down to Lebron/AD for this current predicament

 

this is all mostly true. but russell and tatum is an 8th place team in the west, too.

i'm not. because i don't think we're going to sell the farm for lebron like cleveland did. again, that's why he's mad right now--we didn't completely empty the chamber trying to get from 9th to 8th place. that was smart and a good sign.

so is it about titles or not? because you switched from one sentence to another. we're done winning titles, so blow it up. also, don't care about winning titles.

my view has always been consistent: field a good team and hope for the best. you can't guarantee titles anyway. moving lebron and AD right now will have you bottoming out, and there's a chance that there's no climbing back up. we'll probably finish the year around .500, which is sort of the definition of a competitive team and the kind of thing you can expect with a starless roster in the best case.

and i watch enough (particularly given the quality of the product). as a matter of fact, i've made a point to re-watch some of the games people whined about the most. i rarely find much evidence in support of the whining when it comes to AD, in particular (THT, too, for that matter). and you don't need a big sample to see that this team had a bunch of disinterested/incapable defenders, and thus the season was doomed.

if the games cause you pain, i sincerely recommend just not watching them. it's better for your mental health.

this is the myth, imo. first, we're not selling high. lebron is clearly slowing down fast. as is pointed out literally every 3 seconds on this forum, AD has missed half of the last two years. russ simply can't be moved unless you want to take a hit.

billy king no longer works in the nba, and multiple unprotected picks for aging stars will never happen again. it's like a new, implicit, stepien rule.

as far as i'm concerned, we just ride this out for one more year and hope that with lebron gone, we can focus on trying to build a competitive roster around AD using the space we'll have then.

as far as ownership/management, yeah, that's depressing. the rambis thing was just really rough to hear. i'm not sure if any strategy can work when we function at the top like we do.

 

I don't see why FO doesn't recognize that they hold the power. LeBron is chasing MJ's level of legend and Kareem's record. It would look like SUCH a blemish on his legacy for LeBron to be traded. They need to utilize that and say it. "You've got your role, here's ours. We will have to look into a trade if you can't respect the role definement. I don't think that would fare well for your legacy and I don't want that for you."

It's a respectful way to be blunt and lay down expectations.

Not the same situation at all, but if you guys remember, the infamous image of AngryBron from Miami 2012 was because he was afraid his legacy would take a hit if FO had to break up the team and make some moves.



I have been a LeBron fan for awhile, mostly because I'm from Ohio and putting Cleveland/Akron on the board means something to us over here.

But, his behavior this weekend was embarrassing.
What he's doing to the Lakers is insulting to it's history and legacy.
And though I'm not in Cleveland, I want the Cavs to be successful WITHOUT LeBron.

I wish Kobe were around to put him in his place.

 

What did Lebron do again?

Didn’t rule out a return to Cleveland at some point. Reiterated his desire to play with his son. Offered praise to a few GM’s.

Is that about right? Some of y’all are acting like Lebron took a piss on a Laker jersey and demanded a trade.

And those comments seem to have singularly shifted us from “This season is a lost cause, but let’s see what we can do this summer to sign players that actually fit and trade some combination of Russ, THT, Nunn, and the 2027 and 2029 first rounders” to “BLOW UP EVERYTHING”.

Just his comments made that shift. No actual changes to the reality of Lebron’s abilities, contract, or long term prospects with the franchise. Even before the ASW, Lebron only had one year left on his contract and I thought it a possibility he leaves after his contract is up. Some of you, upset about the threat that Lebron leaves sooner rather than later, are now clamoring to trade him and overstating how washed he is. But if he’s so washed, did you even want him to stick around long term anyways? Seems kinda circular.

Emotions flying way too high.

 

I like Lebron's abilities at this point in his career but he is not anything more than a very short term solution for us. He is ONLY going to be here for one more year. He is going to bail on us. I am over it. We kind of knew it would come to this when we signed him. If I owned Klutch, I would be very careful how I played this hand. Once Lebron is gone, you will lose a ton of leverage and it could get ugly for you. Teams can play hardball with agents they do not like. Play nice you end out in a good position, screw people under and the screw is going to reverse when you lose your leverage.

Bottom line with Lebron. As far as the Lakers go, he ain't no West, he ain't no Kareem, he ain't no Magic, he ain't no Shaq and he doesn't even sniff Kobe's shoes. No offense to him, I like him, but I will not be losing any sleep over things going south. Hell, this man is going to be defending him self in court when he is sued by Rittenhouse anyhow. Though I am more than sure he will simply settle.

If I owned the team and I had a good deal that fast started the rebuild, I would make that deal today.

 

lol

 

Yeah at this point I'm just gonna let guys blow off steam until things settle down a bit.

 

signs are there with Bron antics, just like they were for both clev stint n Mia....putting yr head in the sand n pretending everything is fine is gona get you burned just like clev/mia and any 1 thinking moving russ for anything of value is gona be in for a unpleasant surprise, like a surprise where we are the ones giving up assets to move him

 

Lol. Season needs to conclude ASAP

 

Agree.

Just isn't our year.

 

it definitely does. Feels like the longest all star break ever right now lol

 

This happened a few days ago too.

I’ve been under the impression that Shams is often a mouthpiece for Klutch, and Woj is often a mouthpiece for Rob.

Now both Shams and Woj are saying there’s no issue. So I believe it. Glad to hear from the Woj article that they’re talking about shared accountability for our failures this season rather than more finger pointing.

I really think Lebron and Klutch just overplayed their hand. Their intention was solely to vent and deflect some accountability, not actually blow things up and set up a departure from the franchise. They just didn’t realize that people have become more aware of the subtext behind their passive aggression, and how sensitive Laker fans would be to their comments.