LABron James Discussion: The Final Year?

Cleveland wouldn't be foolish to trade some of their picks, expirings + 1 of their youngins for a chance at Lebron's 5th ring + pass Kareem's scoring record.

Half the time Lebron in on the road anyway it really makes no difference, he came to LA for filming Space Jam and its done. There will be no shortage of endorsements wherever he goes.

Except our credibility is gonna keep going down the drain, the optics and image will continue tanking as long as he's here as Klutch have already started rollin out the hit pieces. We have no picks until 2027, what qualityfree agents would willing to want to join us for a 2022-2023 run?

I'm on the same page with you as far the remaining 2022 season goes, just play everyone and hope for the best. Ideally that would be great but how does that affect the locker room knowing Lebron wanted some of these guys traded?

As for the champs, Milwaukee has been knocking on the door for the last 3-4 years, that Bledsoe/Holliday swap put them over the top. They're legit.

This will be Dwightmare 2.0, we will have no FA's wanting to come here and fewer picks to work with. We would have to resort to signing Mozgov's and Deng's of that FA class.



What's frustrating as a Laker fan is I know that Jeanie really wants Lebron to pass Kareen's record in a Laker jersey for $$$ reasons, she may resort to mortgaging the Lakers immediate future to do that

 

Presti is the MVP? What have the Thunder done with all those draft picks? 0. What have they done drafting all that talent? 0.

What have the Clippers done. f***ing 0!

17 banners in the rafters. 6 championships this century. Everyone can eat a giant uncooked sausage.

This world is about results from your work not your work. Any schmuck can work, but can that person work and Produce results!!!

 

can't see the lakers trading lebron unless he demands it sometime between now and next season's deadline

he will most likely leave via FA once his contract is up and sign with whatever team drafts bronny. whether that's the warriors, raptors, thunder, or magic. unless klutch somehow convinces the lakers to do it

 

Well, the league is equalizing. Everyone is leaving California. Hollywood ain't what it used to be and there ain't no Bunnies waiting for anyone at Hugh's house. The brand just might be losing it's appeal. I will root for the Lakers as long as they try to win but in the event that they are owned by someone who can't afford to win and selling hotdogs becomes the most important aspect of their team ownership, I could see myself move on. We are moving out ourselves so .........

Honestly, I think Lebron is being pretty stupid here. He is on the verge of becoming the all time scoring leader in the league and where better to do that than in LA?? The man is old, still solid but he should stick here until Bronny enters the league and then go play with him. Nobody would begrudge him that. What he is doing is going to leave a bunch of people pissed and it will effect his legacy. If he is really pissed at Rob P. it seems rather disingenuous. Rob is not perfect, but Rob did most everything he could do to meet Lebron's requests. Perhaps there is something more he could have done but if it came down to trading Westbrook for Wall and a first round draft pick, then I am on the scroo lebron train. Wall would have ended out coming here and washing out and then Lebron would leave us for nothing. I say trade him in the off season and rebuild.

The biggest bummer with this is that we will lose AD. But if Klutch and AD demand to move, fine, he has been a walking injury anyhow. We tried and things didn't work out, I can live with it. AD had better let his feelings be known ASAP. If he wants to stay and Klutch is not going to F with us, then fine. Anything else, trade him to the highest bidder and move on.

 

pretty much this.

i think lebron's latest tantrum is because he realized we're not going to sell the next five years out on his whims, so i'm actually pretty happy about that. the russ trade was the end of his general managing career (as it should be).

but we won't trade him unless he asks, and we're not getting much back if we do, no matter the scenario.

we better pray AD doesn't follow him at that time, too, because we won't get as much as we should there given the circumstances.

anyway, i expect lebron to be here through next year but gone after that. if AD gets hurt again, maybe we see lebron move at the deadline to go somewhere more competitive as a playoff rental (imagine the media frenzy), but i'm expecting AD to play, us to be a middle of the pack team, and lebron to just walk in FA the next year.

 

LeBron is putting up numbers and is guaranteed merchandise and ticket sales. Can’t see us trading him.

can’t see a team giving up much if anything for what’s sure to be rental since he will leave to play with his son.

 

Ehhh. He also left all those places with championships so I don’t know that any of those teams including us will regret signing him.

 

If Sam Presti is willing to give up a haul of picks this summer in an offer for Lebron, I would do it.

I am talking enough picks to replenish the Lakers not having any until 2027. The Thunder could do it and still have plenty of picks left over… they have 19 first round picks and 19 second rounders over the next 6 years. If they can meet the asking price of 8 first round picks, I would help Lebron pack myself.


Some of their picks will be very valuable because they will be lottery picks, but a lot of them have protections on them. However it’s not the picks and about who you may be able to draft with them, it’s also a form of currency to get trades done and rebuild much faster.

An example would be if we do get a pile of picks for Lebron, we can attach a combination of multiple seconds or a first to salary dump Westbrook. Suddenly we will have AD and a ton of cap space and picks to build around.

For the record, injury prone and all, I would keep AD. There’s only a handful of players I would trade him for and I don’t think we can get any of them (Giannis, Steph, Luka, Jokic).

But you think about the teams that are rebuilding now that would be open to salary dumping their very good players for picks, and it allows us to build a roster around AD… and it actually looks pretty good.

Armed with a ton of picks from trading Lebron, we use one to dump Westbrook, use 2 firsts to get Brogdan and Myles Turner, use some of the picks on a Jerami Grant trade… THT and a second rounder for Marvin Bagley (I would salary dump Kendrick Nunn in one of these trades)

There’s a way we could also expand it to get all the players mentioned above and direct a few picks in a sign and trade for Bradley Beal (using a trade exception from dumping Lebron or Westbrook). We would then have the non taxpayer MLE to re-sign Monk as Beal injury insurance and our microwave 6th man.

Suddenly you have a team built around AD being the focal point, it’s not about Lebron anymore. We can fill out the rest of the roster with whatever (if any) cap space we have left or the vet minimum. Because Brogdan also seems to be injury prone, I would target depth at point guard and I’m looking at Patty Mills and Dennis Smith Jr.

Use the same principle to build depth behind AD in case of injury by targeting Tauren Prince, Derrick Jones Jr., Thomas Bryant, and Javale McGee.


Brogdan/Mills/Smith Jr.
Beal/Monk/Reaves
Grant/Jones Jr/Johnson
AD/Bagley/Prince
Turner/Bryant/McGee


I have to say, that roster probably does better than 9th in the West.

 

i just don't see lebron going to okc or anyone offering up a big haul for him. i also think we're out on any beal s&t because gs or some other team with talent to burn will outbid us. our only shot at him is if he opts in this year and hits the market next year when we have cash.

again, there's a small chance lebron is traded at the deadline if we have another year like this one, but otherwise, i expect him to leave in FA.

 

Another amusing thought that just popped into my head is what if the Lakers trade Lebron this summer, and then drafts Bronnie James in 2024. LeBron would come for the vet minimum lol.

 

Winshorst now has returned to writing out of Cleveland. Latest espn insider article. The opening line weird but I think he meant make a trade in the roster to keep him satisfied

 

hmmm...i don't see any options on his contract, and threatening to walk after next year really isn't that big of a deal (does anyone think he'll be worth 45 million per after next year?). so...do your worst, i guess? but we're not trading 8 future firsts for whatever klutch client needs a change of venue.

 

Narratives are slowly being built right now

https://bleacherreport.com/articles...nt-to-leave-la-amid-rumors-surrounding-lakers

https://bleacherreport.com/articles...nt-to-leave-la-amid-rumors-surrounding-lakers

 

i'm not sure what the narrative is, though. do lebron's people really think that putting it out that they're mad because we didn't move russ for wall is helping him accomplish anything?

he'll turn pelinka into a sympathetic figure if they continue on this path. and again, now that lebron's not the league's best player, does klutch have the power it did three years ago?

 

No and no.

He's putting pressure on the Front Office to make changes this summer, which is fine.

This is just how LBJ goes about his business like it or not.

As I've said, the best thing that Rob can do is block out the noise and put together a competitive roster this season.

And he likely has to get rid of of Westbrook. That needs to be the bandaid that needs to be ripped off.

 

Same ol narrative.... Lebron needs help and his FO refused to make the proper move.

I think Pelinka said no against Klutch/Lebron's wishes and they're throwing a fit right now. Rob asserting his authority

 

I don't like the Wall/Wood deal.

If anything (worst case), we can revisit that during the summer.

We need to move smartly and methodically.

LBJ wanted Russ here and now he has to deal with the consequences.

Rob capitulated to his wishes last summer and look where we are because of it? And I'm not absolving Rob. He made the trade and signed off of it.

Let's deal with this during the summer.