LeBron James Discussion: Not Returning To The Lakers

I hope if we draft his son that he doesn't decide to keep playing longer than 1 or 2 years

I'm ready to move on from him even if he wants to play for another team this season

 

i'd actually lol if phx drafted bronny in the first round and lebron signed for the minimum there or whatever.

 

Lol.He would go to Boston to sign 315 million contract instead of Tatum if it was up to him.
He wants to be an team owner in NBA in Vegas.He would not play for a minimum

 

If he did in hopes of a being on a 4th different team to win a title, I wouldn’t fault him.

but he’d probably offer to do a sign and trade so we get something back. Or not. Narcissists only think of themselves, so whatever is most beneficial to him - that’s what he’ll do.

 

If it was as brutal for Durant doing what he did joining an already "super" team and still getting max salary, think of what would be said of LeBron (which being a narcissist he does care about) if he went to chase a ring in Phoenix with 3 established stars and was the "one" who took the vet minimum salary. He'd never live that one down. Or even a sign and trade if for less than the MAX, which how does Phoenix have anything in the way of depth on top of astronomical repeater's tax.

 

Off-season speculation fun. We’ll know more soon enough.

 

He’s not leaving.
Just a bunch of talk to gain clicks.

 

Yeah, mate. Not happenning. AD is 31. He maaaaaay be have 3 years left of 60 games/season. In a few years, when you PLAN to build around AD, he's gonna be 33 or 34.

Not someone to build around. That ship has sailed.

 

We suck without Lebron though. That's a lottery team, without James on it. A lottery pick, that's heading to New Orleans, to add insult to injury.

We have to make our move while we still have LeBron. Short and long-term, we aren't getting enough cap space, if he just walked, in order to get anything of substance.

In a sign and trade..1. How many teams can absorb the hard cap? 2. Why would any team, give up value assets, for a 40 year old, on his last couple of seasons?

That doesn't help us either, NO..You make a play right now, for another impact player, or 2 high end rotation pieces.

That way..we still can contend for a chip with James, and then have a strong core around AD, with Bron off the cap. We should have full MLE, or cap space to sign some decent talent.

 

Sooo……… blow it up?

 

can't even do that.... who's gonna trade for either.

But "build around AD" hope is dead.

 

Well you’re fun today … LOL

 

I think AD could still land a decent haul from the right team, but he gets no input on where he’s going.

Bron, just due to the sheer size of his contract has to net you talent/tradable contracts unless he’s willing to just walk away.

 

Like Slick was saying we can't blow it up yet bc New Orleans gets our pick. Somehow we are going to have to win with LeBron. Won't be easy, but not impossible. It would be cool if he opted out and signed with the C Bags. Pretty much assure they wouldn't repeat. Hire Sam Cassell and let's get busy.

 

It would be nice to be competitive and healthy, and then let the chips fall where they may in the playoffs.

 

i don't actually think lebron's leaving. i'm honestly ok if he does, though. it would suck in the short term, but we're a perennial play-in team at this point, so it's not a long fall.

largely agree. ironically, part of it was due to lebron's extended prime. we never built around AD (should have, imo), and starting at age 33 won't work.

if he and dlo leave, we could probably get enough to build a roster that doesn't finish bottom 5 next year.

anyone far enough under the apron could make it work. but yeah, most contending teams that would want lebron won't work.

this one won't happen, but just as an exercise:

mavs could trade thj/kleber/gafford/josh green for lebron. i think that improves their team and gives us 4 nba rotation players. we get worse, short-term, but it's better than him just walking or eventually aging out.

btw, any lebron trade is going to probably be followed by AD asking out, and he could also fetch assets.

again, not what i expect or want, but not doomsday.

to win a ring, and because they can't get a player of his caliber without trading because he's not actually playing for the vet min. at the salary he wants, you have to give up something useful. we wouldn't take dead salary or something.

i mean, of course you do.



it's not like we haven't been after high end rotation pieces ever since we spent them all on westbrook.

yeah, if we could just trade some non-AD/lebron guys for dejounte murray, i think that's optimal. but again, we've been trying to do that without success. and everyone else is also trying to do that. very few tankers right now!

 

This is from Rich Paul. It's in the draft thread with the Bronny piece but wanted to highlight a quote from it in here too. Cause the insanity is getting too much regarding Bron playing for free

 

finally. this statement would have been pretty easy to make a few months ago, right?