LeBron James Discussion: Not Returning To The Lakers

DNP Old

I suppose we should get used to this. But at max salary, that kind of bites. You are paying for marketability and ticket sales, but you are no longer going to get that value on the court. Period Point Blank. Just not going to happen.

 

And you're just rehashing not sensible stuff. Two years ago he was signed to that contract. Aside from you hating him of course we do that contract. And as has been pointed out here numerous times many of the grass is greener "other" stars and pseudo stars we have wanted 10-15 years younger than him have had as many or more injuries in their careers.

 

As of October 2025, 16 NBA players are making over $50 million in base salary for the 2025–2026 season
.

Players making over $50M for the 2025–26 season
The players projected to earn over $50 million in base salary for the 2025-26 season include
Stephen Curry
($59.6M),
Joel Embiid
($55.2M),
Nikola Jokić
($55.2M),
Kevin Durant
($54.7M),
Jayson Tatum
($54.1M),
Giannis Antetokounmpo
($54.1M),
Anthony Davis
($54.1M),
Jimmy Butler
($54.1M),
Damian Lillard
($54.1M),
Devin Booker
($53.1M),
Jaylen Brown
($53.1M),
Karl-Anthony Towns
($53.1M),
Bradley Beal
($53.7M),
LeBron James
($52.6M),
Paul George
($51.7M), and
Kawhi Leonard
($50.0M).

 

Only 2 guys better than Bron. Makes me feel a little bit better...

 

First of all, I was not directing this at you, it is a general statement about how things work in the age of the internet. Mostly I just liked what JDLakersFan2019 said. Second off, I have made a living at points in my life selling alcohol. I owned a wine shop. I don't view any of it as inherently bad in any way. I view alcoholics poorly but IMHO, repping for a cognac, whiskey or wine, etc. is perfectly acceptable to me and I could care less what others think about that. Many people drink responsibly and those are the people I enjoy.

Lebron gets wailed on everywhere. I don't love his views on many things in life, but endorsing cognac is not one of the problems I have with him. He is not a perfect person and if he ever ran for political office, I would never vote for him but dang if he isn't a good basketball player and a mostly reasonable role model.

It doesn't matter what anyone does or thinks, there is always someone on the web who will take issue with anything you say. I got zero patience or time for that stuff. I am not trying to push my opinion but will gladly ignore others who share their opinions on stuff that doesn't matter much to me.

 

What if he’s not playing? Is he still better than guys who are?

 

Thank you for the detailed answer. I get your point.

Cheers and go Lakers.

 

Why are we acting like we lost Lebron for the season?

 

What if guys 10 years younger than him who are valuable to their teams aren't playing? Why do people just ignore that injuries are all over the league of all types and degrees of severity .... for players much younger and not nearly as good as him when they're on the floor, and out for periods as long or worse than him including the playoffs?

 

And I'm pissed that he apparently went Vlad Radmonovich and injured himself with non basketball activity, though golf isn't in the same zip code for a dangerous other than basketball activity. Have to wonder with all the golf and torso twisting all of a sudden this summer weren't their warning twinges that maybe should have caught his attention before it got to this level?

 

I just asked a question. I’m not ignoring the fact that others get injured. I tend to focus on what’s going on with my team and not worry about the others until the playoffs.
The facts remain: he was injured during last season’s playoffs and already injured before game one and makes a third of the cap.
I can’t wait until we won’t need to rely on a 41 year old dude to win. Maybe this team surprises everyone and wins without him?
Then, he won’t have to ask for a trade.

 

do we know for sure that he hurt himself playing golf?

 

I really do get all of that and as I always do, I will support whatever team the Lakers put out there. To me, I just see LeBron as the epitome of selfishness and he brings a stench to the game I can barely endure. And as always, I am only referring to basketball. Other than through basketball camps I don't know any of these guys personally. It is easy to see his selfishness over the years but it is also easy to not see it. I realize I'm in the 1% crowd and that is cool.

 

You and I are on the same page about many and most things but WOW when I watch him on the floor with my Lakers and all of the things he does well and proper with the right plays made .... a stench to the game .... WTF?! Now that we have more ball handlers in crunch time we should also see the ball pounding go down. Even that doesn't qualify for what you just said. Epitome of selfishness on the floor? Come on man he's been closer to Magic Johnson's style of play than Jordan or Kobe. And his efficiency scoring is higher than Mike and Kobe's by a long shot advanced metrics. Someone has to score the ball on our team consistently over his time here and he has done just that.

Career True Shooting Percentage (TS%)

• LeBron James: ~59.0%
• Magic Johnson: ~61.0%
• Michael Jordan: ~56.9%
• Kobe Bryant: ~55.0%

Agree to disagree vehemently I guess. The other stuff with comments and manipulation toward FO is not "on the court stuff". Come on Coach.

 

i think it's just because if you've watched a lot of hoops this kind of thing is the death knell. are you disputing that?

like, sure, maybe he just comes back and plays like last year for 65 games, but you have to admit that's become the unlikely scenario now.

as for the other stuff, i've always been a fan of lebron's game. i've never been a fan of his tendency to put himself first always. i think this latter point has allowed people who don't like his politics to seize upon whatever he's doing in a given moment. i don't care about that and can separate all of it from fandom (which is maybe a problem).

what isn't separable from fandom for me is lebron's having his cake and eating it too when it comes to roster choices. like, yeah, thanks for delivering AD...but also never forgiving you for russ. when i read news stories about lebron "watching what/how we're doing", i'm laughing. you watched us sign your golfin' a** to a max deal, so your observation means jack to me. you want to manage the team, deal with the smoke.

this is why people are annoyed about the recent statement. whether it's true or not, it's of a piece with what lebron's been about the whole time. and i've never liked that part. here, there, anywhere. love his game. actually seems like a decent guy--especially relative to superstar athletes--but you can't ask me to be quiet about his FO moans when he's dug his own deepest holes, for him and us.

 

I expect LeBron to play the majority of the season but he’s definitely going to miss games.

Everything else just falls under “he’s a diva” for me. Maybe I’d be more annoyed if he had more leverage.

 

Maybe some short term memory on how much ball pounding he did and selfishness in chasing records. Always saying it was AD's team but then playing like it was anything but. All his me, me, me interviews. It is good to have differences of opinion on things, keeps it interesting...lol. As I said before, it is easily seen but just as easily overlooked.

 

Steroids > father of time

 

At least he’s not Kawhi