LABron James Discussion: The Final Year?

He said in the context of other players feeling pressure. That at the end it's just basketball and they should just play.

Not that it's not important to win.

 

We'll see how long the D'Angelo opting out scenario last. I don't believe it at all.

 

i believe it. he's made 175 million in his career. if he opts out, he'll lose some, but he's betting a better situation will help him make more later. or he just won't be miserable.

i do think if we found a place he wanted to play that had something we wanted, he'd opt in. but he has control here.

 

DLO is probably looking to sign a longer deal that pays more overall even if it’s less per season.

 

i think he just wants control over where he plays, then work on details. some small market team that strikes out in FA might give him a bruce brown type deal, but with a team option or something.

 

He's been good offensively for his age. It will be stupid to think he won't get tired later in games.

His defense is really bad, he doesn't jump for rebounds he literally stands there. And in a team with bad defenders it's a problem.

We have two good defenders in AD and Vando, Max can defend OK and maybe Gabe when fully fit.

If we are going to keep LeBron and AD then we need to build with players who play both ends.

But we don't have the cap space, even if LeBron took a pay cut it wouldn't make a difference.

But the conversation starts with a change of coach, a decent coach for this series and it could easily be 2:1 lakers.

Some tough decisions ahead

 

We aren’t a contender either way.
I hope he decides to play elsewhere because I’m done with the LeBron Laker era.
Thanks for the Chip
Season. The other ones have been miserable.

 

denver had one great and one very good offensive player in murray, then added a another good offensive player in mpj. but none of them were good individual defenders, and all were subpar athletes. so what did they do? went out and got two great athletes to fill in the gaps. dallas is doing similar things around doncic and irving right now.

to end last year, we had a good formula (imo) with vando being the connective guy with reaves/dlo/lebron/AD. then dlo disappeared in the playoffs and we had trouble on offense against denver because neither vando nor AD is a deep threat (really, both can be ignored away from the basket). honestly, last year ignoring lebron from three wasn't a bad idea, either!

i think that's our biggest issue in the lebron/AD era: they need to play pf and c due to lebron's defensive mobility issues and AD's shooting deficiencies. the only way to build around that would be to have three ace shooters in the 1-3 spots, at least two of whom are very good defenders. finding two guys fitting that description is VERY difficult and almost can't be done whilst paying lebron and AD 100+ million combined. we'd have to have drafted some of those guys, and we haven't. max may get there, but it hasn't happened fast enough. and a legit sf-sized player who can defend the perimeter and knock down shots is quite expensive.

if we could package vando and rui and picks for jerami grant, that might be an answer there, but we'd still have the pg issue and not much left in the way of assets.

anyway, we have to find ways to cover for lebron on defense without making the offense unworkable. not an easy fix.

 

The only thing that brings you out any more is any chance to hate on and b**** about LeBron. As a supposed Lakers “fan”. To spout past ridiculous takes of yours, which have now been blown out of the water, that the Bubble ring was a joke and illegitimate because LeBron and AD could never have stayed healthy for a full season (sans s*** happens normal basketball injuries no less) without the break in the schedule …. yet here we are 4 years later them having done that, and that championship team was just “starting “ to roll like the current well oiled Denver machine, already at or near the top record in the tough West when the season was halted. And then your other fall back hate that James never put in the time to advance the “skills” portion of his game for when his athleticism declined. Pathetic.

 

Lebron is still great but if he wants to win another ring he'd need to opt out and take a pay cut. No way we can have 3 stars and still fill out a competitive roster if he doesn't.

 

yep. do like dirk and tim duncan did and take a tiny salary next year in order to help us bring in some players. we can use bird rights to get him some money back on the back end (like dallas did with dirk).

again, if he and dlo were off the books, we have about 33 million under the cap. we could sign hartenstein or valanciunas and dinwiddie with that, and then still the room exception to fill out:

hartenstein/wood or hayes
AD/rui
lebron/vando
reaves/christie
dinwiddie/gabe

we can give lebron a big raise the next year and even extend the contract past his expected retirement date if he wanted. we'd also retain picks and have lots of trade flexibility.

he won't do it, but people have. and if winning a ring was truly the only thing, he would.

but it's not. and that's ok. but you don't get to whine and pout and make demands. you make 50 million. box out.

 

Lebron taking a pay cut doesn't save us any money, he's a Bird Rights player. Better get what you can now, while he can still ball.

 

Meh..we aren't enticing any big time players with that logic. You can't pay Lebron? WTF should I play for the Lakers then? You think I'm taking a paycut at the end of my contract too? FOH

How you treat your superstars, is closely being watched, by the other superstars in this league.

Thinking that it's a good idea to short James, isn't inspiring to the next potential star, that you hope to land.IMO

 

Meh…we aren’t winning another title with Lebron making $50M. If he wants to stay and they want to keep him for optics or ticket sales, that’s fine, but a ring isn’t happening. End of discussion.

 

Agreed.
I think he would shock the entire basketball world if he takes less.
More Play-In basketball next season!

 

Meh...We are being outspent, by smaller market teams, and folks have the audacity, to say that, we can't win, because Lebron is making 50M? That's some BS.

 

Meh…our current situation gives limited ability to spend, limited future picks to trade, and our trade candidates all hurt their value in the playoffs. Even if the FO miraculously decided to stop being cheap, there’s no path to a ring while tying up $50M in Lebron. Folks have the audacity to be objective based on reality. How dare they.