LeBron James Discussion: Not Returning To The Lakers

Disregarding age or how many games you think he could do it in... in the last few games without Luka or Austin, LeBron has been a Top ___ Player.

What is your number?

 

Top 10.

SGA
Joker
Wemby
Luka
Giannis

All clearly better. I’d say Giannis this year when healthy has been better too. This same level for a full year puts LeBron somewhere in the next 5.

Brown
Cade
Kawhi
Edwards

 

1

Whoops edit .... for some reason I phantom saw Top _ role player in the league. Definitely 1 there because he's of course on another continent skills and impact wise from "role players". But on the LA Lakers during our great run that's exactly what he bought into. Sit on it and twirl Haters.

 

Kawhii chokes and LeBron on a b2b wins a big one. When people start playing the what ifs about how high Kawhii should rank in the forward rankings. He had one great run with an injured ravaged GS team and Toronto that in retrospect was stacked and people seem to forget the chokejobs like the Bubble.

 

Respect to this guy being the last man standing at 41 and putting up efficient MVP-like numbers.

We take it for granted but each game this guy just writes history. It's unbelievable.
It's always a good goodbye having him leading the team in a last playoff series.

It makes a lot of sense for him to go to the Warriors or Cleveland. Warriors are all-in on Curry last dance years and Bron fits that approach. Only thing is that Bron cares a lot about narratives and joining his biggest rival may make him uneasy.
But I'm not sure Cleveland is all that interesting on having him. He's not a great fit and it would be more sentimental than anything else, which doesn't make sense when they are in their best short window for success.

Certainly hope he leaves though. It's been amazing seeing how he still finds ways to be productive and he is one of a kind, but it's just a chapter we need to close and move on.
We need to maximize Luka and while he has shown he can adapt to the role needed, him staying means us trying to find combinations that make Luka-AR-Bron work, rather than solely focusing in getting high minutes player that better fit Luka, which we should spend all our energy and assets on

I rather have another Smart-type than Bron.

 

I respect the view point but don’t agree. Lebron is still a top tier player, talent wins championships and you’ll be hard pressed finding a 3rd option or a role player as good as Lebron that can also scale up his production when needed.

 

Lebron at 20-25mil - SURE
Lebron at 50 - pass...

 

Talent doesn't win championships. OKC ain't the most talented. It's defense, fit, culture. We literally had Kobe, Nash, Howard and Gasol together. There were more 3 superstar teams failing than winning.

We will still be very good with Bron as we have shown in March, but I think is still not enough to win it all.

My main point about Bron leaving is really just the mental aspect of closing that chapter and fully focus on Luka. Bron carries so much weight, history and leverage in this franchise that I see benefits in just moving on.
Plus, him staying at whatever value demands a lot of engineering to make other moves, while if he leaves we suddenly have like 10 different ways to go get 3-5 key rotation players

 

if lebron buys into the proper role--as he was doing during the stretch before the apocalypse--i'd welcome him back with open arms. if he's wanting to be on the ball and not playing defense, he can leave, quickly.

salary-wise, he should be willing to take whatever we have left after making FA moves. if that's (depressingly) 40m, fine. if it's vet min...(ducks lebron's fan brigade) also fine. do you want to compete or not? nobody's offering over the mle, and none of those situations will be better.

 

Old man's still got it. Impressive as hell at 41





Ramped up just in time for the playoffs. At this level he can probably steal us a game in round 1. Real shame he's likely going at it with Luke and Marcus as the rest of his big 3.

 

Alright, getting ready for some playoff basketball. This is an amazing storyline. The old savvy vet getting ready to turn it loose. LBJ along with Smart will get us through round one. We will see some games that look awkward and messy but LeBron will pull them out. Hopefully Luka can have his robotic leg installed by round two. LeBron is as healthy as we could have reasonably hoped. Nagging hand but legs are good. Good legs = round one victory.

 

I think that Lakers example of Kobe, Nash, Howard and Gasol isn't a good one. Nash basically didn't play for us healthy, he had his knee cap damaged against Dame and never recovered from his nerve troubles again. Dwight had back surgery and came back months too early and wasn't the same player. Kobe was a one man wrecking crew till his achilles went on a holiday. Pau didn't have any usage that year.

It's not the same as Luka and Reaves together with Lebron playing as a third fiddle. Who else has a third option that can scale?

 

It's up to the old man now. I am very curious to see how he responds to all the naysayers. It seems next to nobody believes in this team and many "experts" pick the Rockets to win in 4. Bron certainly has been listening to all the noise and he should be very motivated. Our Lakers are certainly not the favorites in this series, but something tells me if nothing else, we'll get a historic series from Bron.

 

i think so, too. he wants to show that he can still carry the weight as the centerpiece. perfect opportunity. also basically nothing to lose with everyone expecting us to get buried (including me, lol).

 

LeBron is averaging a triple double and we advance. Baby Bron will contribute as well. It is too good of a storyline not to happen.

 

He just doesn't have the endurance anymore to do this. Even Bubble Lebron and I would have given him a shot to beat the Rockets. There's never been a floor raiser like James

Only chance if someone other then him and Smart play out of their minds. Come on JJ give Theiro a shot

 

probably not for the 7 games it would take. he could do it for a couple, though.