LeBron James Discussion: Not Returning To The Lakers

lebron's under contract next year. the extension is for the following year.

and we watched a lotto team last year with him getting the max.

i'm not into "punishing" lebron or whatever that's about. but i am into doing what's best for the franchise. i don't think extending lebron is best for the franchise without further information--primarily: what happens with westbrook.

and again, i think lebron definitely gets this, too, as signing an extension with so much up in the air right now could lock him into a string of (VERY VISIBLE) 11th place finishes to end his career.

if we can't move russ or move him for expiring money, i'd expect lebron to wait on signing. if we move russ for future salary, i expect him to take the extension.

 

I agree from a basketball team construction perspective, having Lebron at 40+ years old making $50+ million would not be great.

But while the idea of not extending Lebron and/or trading him is a fun thought exercise, I just don’t think it’s possible to do it as long as Lebron wants to be here. The optics of discarding Lebron would be brutal, especially if it creates bad blood with Klutch.

I understand that Lebron isn’t Laker legacy the way Kobe was so he doesn’t necessarily deserve a “legacy” contract, and as I mentioned it’s just not a good idea to tie up so much money into an old player.

But I don’t think the player base around the league would see things that way. Especially if Lebron continues to play at a similar level as he did this past season where he’s dropping some 50 point games and contending for the scoring title.

Other players aren’t going to think “Lebron’s putting up empty scoring numbers and not playing defense anymore. He’s getting old and building a team around a 40 year old on a max is tough”.

They’re just going to think “Damn that’s cold, Lebron is still being Lebron and the Lakers don’t want him and/or are too cheap to give him the contract he wants”.

Especially imagine if a team like GSW ends up drafting Bronny to get Lebron on a cheap contract in a few years and Lebron wins another title. We’d be getting clowned on for a long time for “letting Lebron walk”.

If you want the Lakers to divorce with Lebron/Klutch, I think it has to be done on good terms and Lebron has to want it to happen. He would have to publicly ask for a trade and/or turn down our max extension offer and leave in free agency.

 

i'd be fine with bringing him back on 1 yr deals. but not a fan of keeping him until age 40. as much of an athletic freak he is, he's still not going to escape father time and he's missed a good chunk of games in 3 of the 4 seasons he's been a laker

 

I can't see us letting LeBron leave. Hopefully we can convince him to take less. I think he would be open to if we actually have some moves in place or at least a clear blueprint they can present to him to improve the team.

 

this is what i keep saying. i'm not even sure it's about us convincing him to take less--it's about a situation unfolding in which it makes sense for him to take less. we can't know what our situation is until the westbrook issue is settled. if we're operating over the cap next summer regardless, lebron should just extend. if we're going to end up as a cap space team, he should do something more like harden did. i'm surprised the press hasn't picked up on this (maybe i'm not), and is instead pushing the narrative that his not signing an extension is some sort of bad omen for us. it's definitely not, for many reasons.

 

Agreed. It's clear multiple things are up in the air right and he wants to see where things land. Writing that doesn't generate clicks though so we've got to deal with a ton of articles from folks in the media who just like to take shots at us.

 

I agree with all of you that we should trade Lebron

Good talk

 

That's not going to happen.

This site isn't very realistic lately.

 

He's going to resign.

But let talking heads talk.

Good for conjecture and clicks.

 

Agreed. Slow news cycle right now until the NFL gets in full swing.

 

Do you talk to peeps on LG the same way you do here with the above it all tone, often .... just curious?

 

Seems a given, yes. But he could have done that last Thursday. People on "this site" are simply wondering when it will happen and if any chance, however small, maybe he pulls a bit of a Harden. Agree, doubtful.

 

if lebron was only about the maximum money, he would have already signed an extension. players have proved over and over again they can get traded if they want to. so his waiting has to be either due to a) it not being offered (doubtful) or b) the possibility that his contract might be different depending upon other factors.

saying it's impossible for him not to take the max is not realistic, imo. he may very well still sign an extension, but that won't mean it was inevitable. the only way to feel like it was inevitable is if he signed it at the first possible moment.

 

He'll be signing for the max.

He won't take a cent less.


I'll wait until it is done.

All the yapping from me in here is useless.

Have a great day all.

 

resign (re-zine)

and

resign

are spelled the same way.

One word brings hope. The other causes diarrhea. True story.

 

Lebron has a billion, it's feasible for him to take say, 30 million however is that really a factor? No, not at all except for lux tax.

AD + Kyrie + say, Joe Harris (a likely contract for the Nets to dump) + THT + Lonnie + Nunn and even at 0 dollars for Lebron we are over the cap and doing vet min deals only. So, beyond whoever we pickup in a trade and AD, THT, Lonnie, Nunn and a few scrubs like Reeves and Stanley, Bryant, Jones, Wenyen, there is no cap. All we save by giving Lebron a break is lux tax. And this applies whether we don't do the Nets deal and do an Indy deal with Buddy/Turner or we stand pat with Westbrook. Even if we shed the contracts of THT and Nunn in the process, we have to take back more contracts as the money won't work. No cap period regardless of what we pay LBJ.

 

you're assuming a joe harris/kyrie deal. if that's the case, lebron will just extend at his max. if we keep russ or he's dealt for expirings, the math changes dramatically.

 

reread. I said regardless of whether it is a Kyrie/Harris deal or an Indy Buddy/Turner deal or we stand pat with Westbrook.

 

yeah, ok, so...re-do the math? only a kyrie/harris for russ deal makes lebron's salary moot save lux tax issues. what we pick up in trade definitely matters because the only guys on the books for next year right now are AD/THT and minimums. there's about 80-85 million as it stands, if no other moves are made.

standing pat with russ or trading him for expirings is VERY different than taking on kyrie's bird rights (which i'd assume you're keeping or else it's catastrophic) or hield/turner or even a conley-centered utah deal.

lebron's contract could certainly come into team-building plans as things stand now.