LABron James Discussion: The Final Year?

theory there is we trade junk for walker kessler and denver lets watson walk. both of which are unlikely, imo.

but note that it requires lebron taking 20. not 30.


Edit: also struggling with how smart gets 9 and rui gets 15. Would require a schrodinger’s cap of sorts…

 

I didn’t actually sit there and work it out in depth. So I’ll do it quickly now.

Starting:

Luka (49.5) / x / Bronny (2.3)
Reaves (20.9) / Smart (5.4) / Knecht (4.2)
x / Adou (2.1) / Jake (6)
Lebron (?) / Rui (?) / Vando (12.4)
x / x / x

So we have about 62.2m to play with (not including cap holds or player options).

Sign Lebron to 18m, Rui to 14.2m. Leaves you with 30 to offer Watson

Luka (49.5) / x / Bronny (2.3)
Reaves (20.9) / Smart (5.4) / Knecht (4.2)
Watson (30) / Adou (2.1) / Jake (6)
Lebron (18) / Rui (14.2) / Vando (12.4)
x / x / x

At this point we are out of cap space, you can now sign your vet mins, so bring back Hayes & Kleber, a 3rd string guard (maybe development player) and a backup wing (maybe development player)

You also sign Smart to a 120% non bird right raise and Reaves to his max (almost max).

Now we package 3 firsts, Vando, Jake & Knecht plus 7.4m in returning money to take back Kessler/Duren at 30m.

Lastly we use the Room on Kennard.

Luka (49.5) / Kennard (9.1) / Bronny (2.3)
Reaves (37.3) / Smart (6.5) / Vet Min (2.5)
Watson (30) / Adou (2.1)
Lebron (18) / Rui (14.2) / Vet Min (2.5)
Kessler/Duren (30) / Hayes (2.5) / Kleber (2.5)

That's the best we can do, Lebron has to take 18 and Rui has to take 14.2. So not quite 20 and 15. But close. Smart has to take 6.5m also instead of 9m, but you promise him more the year after. If he wants the room, you lose Kennard and give Lebron and Rui their 20/15 and try to find a vet min guard.

 

But anyway, my team building concept of:

45 for bench and deep bench
50m for Luka as first option
55m for Lebron & Reaves
60m for SF & Center

Is totally possible. You just have to hope Watson can be stolen and Detroit or Utah values 3 firsts.

 

ok, but you're depending on ayton opting out (not at all a sure thing) and then if he does, opposing teams not holding us over a barrel knowing we don't have a starting center (sound familiar?).

and we're also back to denver just letting watson walk (i really don't think that happens--they'll either trade him for something or find a way to match).

and it has lebron under 20, when what kicked this all off was me saying that lebron at 30 basically short circuits any chance at meaningfully improving the team. i just can't imagine the scenario where it doesn't.

anyway, i love that theoretical team, but i just don't think several parts of that are realistic--the two biggest ones first (kessler or duren for dead salary and picks, watson on straight RFA).

 

Lebron doesn't like running the floor on defense. Reeves had a higher plus minus than lebron

 

their advanced numbers were basically a wash in the metrics i favor. lebron's supporters weren't wrong he was still good this year overall. it's just how to decide how to pay a 42 year old with no real market (yes, yes, i heard everyone wants him).

 

Incoming Slick missle in 5 .. 4 .. 3 .. 2 .. whenever he stops horsing around and gets back on LB.

 

If Ayton doesn’t opt out, you trade him too.

But to be honest, I agree that this team is improbable. I’m not saying it wasn’t. I said in an ideal world LeBron would take 20 and Reaves would take 30 and we’d build out the team in that type of way.

I actually think we don’t get anywhere near that team and will go over the cap to retain our free agents and try to add a trade piece and someone via the MLE. That’s why I thought LeBron could be getting 30m. Not as exciting for our fans but outside of RFA’s, the best free agents are all our guys.

 

And it wouldn't be an off season without Bron on social media, getting reactions

 

He's going to do more annoying/passive aggressive social media stuff. I think he's been pissed for a year that the FO didn't give him the usual 1+1 last offseason and he is going to extract his pound of flesh this summer because he knows we need him to cooperate to build out the roster. I think it will ultimately be fine and he'll come back on a number that allows us to add pieces, but I think he's going to be kind of a d*** about it for a few weeks.

 

At the least Rich Paul will be out there Alec ABS ing like no other and we’ll see if he is (passive aggressive) toward Lakers. I guess they both could be .. hope not.

 

he better be careful, tbh. you could tell he and rich found their limits with the hissy fit after the contract. i think if they push it too far again, even the fans that rode with them the first time might jump off. and make no mistake: this guy cares very much about optics.

rob's not going to give him the opening to act like the scorned party, imo. this is part of what happened before--what are you mad about? no player option? is this a sensible thing to be mad about? do you want to address why, specifically, that's an insult? didn't think so.

we've bent over backwards for him repeatedly. if he wants to go to cleveland for the minimum, great. go for it. it's your life. if you want to be part of us trying to win, also great.

 

It will be interesting to see how our new ownership reacts to being pushed around if LeBron’s camp tries what they’ve done before.

 

LeBron Reveals Free Agent Timeline, RED FLAG For Lakers?

 

Lebron is a cry baby. He can kick rocks and leave

 

Disagree with lane that it’s a problem. Only a problem if you’re doing everything based on his whims. If he waits til August everyone gets to make their moves and he can see what looks best. So we operate under the cap and build a team he thinks is worth joining on a vet min. Or he takes Cleveland or gs’s vet min! But no way we can put the offseason on hold for him bc we have to choose whether to operate over the cap, like…next week.

 

LOL he’s trolling all the teams with “he may still be making his decision approaching “August”. No way that happens. Lakers and anywhere else competitive he might want to go likely won’t either.

 

Totally agree. The dates are a really interesting comment by Lebron. I believe he is indicating he will see which team builds the best team and leaves some space for him or offers the MLE that he wants to join. In my opinion, this is an avenue to offer him less.

When we look at important dates:

Date - Event
Day after NBA Finals - Teams can begin negotiating with their own free agents
June 23rd - NBA Draft
June 29th - Player-option/Team-option/ETO deadline
June 30th - Start of FA negotiations
July 1st - Moratorium period begins
July 1st - RFA offer sheets can be officially signed
July 1st - 1/2 year minimum salary exceptions can be officially signed
July 1st - 2-way contracts can be officially signed
July 1st - 1st round picks can be officially signed
July 1st - 2nd round picks can be officially signed
July 6th - Moratorium period ends
July 6th - Free-agents can be officially signed/extended
July 6th - Trades can be officially finalized
July 6th - 24-hour window to match a signed RFA offer sheet begins

We should be able to start negotiating with our own free agents sometime between the 12th and 20th of June. I imagine we'll know pretty quickly who will and won't come back.

I think the Giannis trade will be completed by the draft (or it should be).

The big decisions we need to make is if we want to operate over or under the cap and I think the Giannis sweepstakes could impact it. I personally like operating over the cap for these reasons:

- We get to bring back all our guys
- We get the full MLE
- In both scenarios we get to conduct trades and get an extra 7.5m back in salary, this to me acts as almost another bird right lever where we can send out 20-30m and get back an extra 7.5m back

If Lebron won't make a decision till the end of July / start of August. I try to operate over the cap and offer him the full MLE when he is ready. I'm not holding up my moves till his decision - sorry Lebron.

 

too many unknowns and moving parts for me to pick one, though every time i think about it, i actually prefer operating under. i think a lot of it comes down to how much you value rui. i don't think we have the luxury of him being a liability for 82 games and then making shots in the playoffs. maybe the spurs do; bully for them. i'm willing to test the market on him and gamble on the possibility that taking a one-year deal year at below market value (whilst retaining bird rights) ends up making sense for him. but i'm willing to gamble because i'm willing to let him walk. kennard, too. smart's the guy i'd prefer not to lose, but he'd be prioritized in either mle or room exception scenarios for me (after i'd begged him to opt in with a wink/wink hot dog stand promise).

yep. if lebron truly says he's waiting until august, i think it's the opposite of a red flag. it benefits us. if he's choosing between low-priced options, our natural advantages become even more...advantageous...

the media will paint it as him putting pressure on us to win-now, but...i think we've already put that on ourselves. again, this isn't two years ago.