LeBron James Discussion: Not Returning To The Lakers

I don't want evil or the spawn of evil on this team. So that pretty much summarizes my take on this topic.

 

we'll find out soon, but i'm guessing lebron DOESN'T sign an extension. the media will freak out, but it's everyone's best interest (his AND the lakers') that he doesn't, imo.

i'll go further: if he signs an extension, i actually think it's kind of a bad sign. like when AD signed long instead of short-term, it could signal that he's kind of settling in and isn't interested in winning. if he were REALLY serious about winning, he'd be taking a paycut instead of extending, like harden did for philly.

 

I'm hearing it will be a 1+1. Look for him to extend through 2024, not 2025.

 

Yeah he's staying

 

I have never seen Bronny James play a game ever, but how good is he?

Is he good enough to be a lottery pick? Late 1st? 2nd rounder?

 

Second round unless he makes significant strides. But if Bron continues to say he'll take a paycut to play with his son, Bronny will easily go in the teens because you're getting Bron for free and the attention and $ that comes with that. I'm going to be interested to see how much Rich Paul pushes destinations and where he can steer them.

 

to me, it's rob saying the 50 million is here if you want it, but we could be a better team if you don't take it. and lebron saying ok, i'll take you at your your word--if you make something happen with space, i'll take less, if not, i take my 50 million + a player option.

this is where our history with kobe pays dividends (or should). we overpaid him when he was past his prime. we'll do the same for lebron, but it would be best for both parties if we had some flexibility. can lebron trust jeanie? i think so.

 

Lebron is about Lebron. He won't be taking less than the max.

and if I'm wrong..... well then we'll all be pleasantly shocked

 

Lebron is taking the max. I remember he took less in Miami but they amnestied some dude (Miller ?) and he got angry and left since Miller was paid with money he could have earned.

 

that was in his prime, though. the question is which team can clear enough space to pay him AND still field a competitive team. i think that list is precisely zero teams long. if he was just going to take the max, why didn't he agree to an extension yesterday?

 

I’m pretty confident the Lakers will give him the max they can regardless. I highly doubt they’ll say “go out and find a max. If you can we’ll match it, if not our offers less”. I can’t see them playing a leverage card and negotiating. I think they’ll happily take him for his name alone. Even as his game slips. We will all find out in due time though.

 

i'm not saying the lakers will play hardball; i'm saying lebron can't play hardball. there's no real threat of him leaving, imo, and if he does, it doesn't hurt us nearly as badly as him leaving his previous teams did.

i think he's the one considering whether it makes sense to take the full max, else he would have signed the extension that was certainly offered thursday.

could be he's waiting to see if we make a russ trade that adds salary next year. if so, he should just take the extension. if not, it makes sense to wait and see what can be done in FA by using his bird rights creatively.

 

He likes it here too much.

He isn't going anywhere.

He has everything here he wants, right?

Sure, he may get nostalgic when he goes back to Cleveland, but he spends one winter there, and he wants to come back to Los Angeles. LOL.

I'm really indifferent about him signing. I'm more interested in building around AD the next 2 years or so, TBH.

 

My first instinct was to respond with “Why would taking the max available to him be selfish? We didn’t blame Kobe for taking his last max extension. If it’s offered to you, it’s a no brainer”.

But then I thought about it and (a) I’m recalling that Kobe’s extension actually did draw some ire from some fans and (b) Kobe was in a completely different situation than Lebron right now. That team around Kobe had nothing. It’s not like by taking a paycut he could’ve given the team flexibility to become a contender. Lebron on the other hand has AD, and they all at least outwardly portray themselves as still having championship aspirations. The decision of Lebron to take a max extension or paycut can very well be what makes or breaks them from being a contender.

And then you have the additional factor of such a high profile player like Harden so recently taking a paycut to help his team retool. Could you imagine if in 2 years we somehow made the Finals against the 76ers but ended up losing because of a lack of depth, meanwhile the role players on the 76ers that Harden helped them get end up being difference makers?

But unfortunately yes, it’s my full expectation that Lebron will end up taking a max extension.

 

Was Kobe's last contract the max? I vaguely remember it being a little less than his actual max.

 

it was less. i think it was like 25 per when he could have made 30 or so? it was still a lot for the time, but as helljumper said, it's not like the extra money was going to do much for us. hell, might have saved us from more mozdengs.