2025-26 Team Developments: Trades / Free Agents / News / Rumors / Ideas

To my understanding, the Warriors and Cavs will only have the 6 million or so tax payer MLE, unless they do some significant cap gymnastics. So from a financial standpoint we would in theory only have to match that. But, just to not even go there, I would be willing to pay him 25m if needed. Full MLE money (15m) is a sensible number to use for planning purposes, imo. But again, it's important that we allow the guy some agency in this. Narrative is something that seems to be important to him imo, so I think or would make sense for the narrative to be that he took less money to retain player x, and sign free agent y, instead of the market dried up for him and we paid him what others could pay him. With this narrative, I think there is a good chance that he will take a significant paycut down to 6 million. But it needs to be in a way where the narrative is that LeBron had agency in thai decision. From an on the court standpoint, there really is no better option at forward through free agency, anyway. Apart from that, it's the absolute right thing to do to treat Lebron with dignity and respect. Pay him a fair amount and not low ball him. If he wants to take less for the benefit of the team (and his reputation and legacy, then great.

 

All fair points, just different views in some. Really appreciate the read.
Only remark is how do we retain Bron at +20-25mil, retain Smart and Kennard and add a 30mil player? You may have laid out here already but I may have missed it.
As for the 20mil guy, I guess it's with Vando, Knecht and this year 1st? That's 3 players for 1 trade, 2 of them bad assets. I just don't see how we get an impactful player with that package, but would be great!

That brings me to a point I've seen here about using our future 1sts to trade Vando and Knecht. I hate that. I would avoid as much as possible using our 1sts to offset Vando/Knecht perceived negative value. We should use those 1sts to elevate our package, not make it less bad. See what I mean?
For example, trading those guys for Hart makes no sense to NY. Even if we threw all our 3 picks, they probably reject it. And it's still an awful proposal by us.

I rather try to find a team that sees some value in Vando or Knecht and has a win now player they don't need or some guy who's blocked by a young star the team has. Find those guys where we can send Vando/Knecht without them being perceived as negative, even if throwing a 1st as sweetener. But in any case, it will be hard to turn those 2 guys into a starting caliber player, probably more a 7/8 guy on a contending team

Yeah I think the main point is that we see Bron differently. I don't think Luka/AR/Bron is a winning formula for a title. It can be if Bron is the 5th/6th highest salary, not if he's the 3rd/4th. I still think we lack 2-way players and elite defense to be able to win the West. And I don't think we can get with Bron being in that 25mil range.

That's the divergence factor in this convo.

But for me it's really just a matter of salary and opportunity cost. With no money involved, 1000% I want Bron with us. He is better than any player we can bring this summer. I just think we have 2 to 3 other priorities first to address before we commit money to Bron.

I don't even think we can build a title team this summer unless we absolutely knock it out of the park. But I do think we can be closer if we don't go the Bron route, just for the selection of players that address our holes and flexibility moving forward.
OKC and Spurs have had several years with multiple picks to build these teams with a lot of cost-controlled assets and multiple summers doing moves specifically designed to fit their stars.
We had a couple of buyouts, a BAE and a Gabe trade to put around Luka so far. It's a world of difference

 

On another note....I think people underestimate how much playing with his son, has made LeBron adjust his leadership style. My biggest complaint about LeBron on the court here, was his subtle way of putting guys that were struggling some, on the spot.

Of course he would say that he was just showing confidence in them. Meh..I feel like it was his way, of getting certain players off the court myself.

He would ignore AD sometimes, in order to specifically force the ball to another player, for a shot. That came off as " Here! Show me something!" to me. That can mess with a player's confidence if they don't convert. And he always had that little head shake, with a look towards the bench if they missed.

I didn't like that crap, and he's knocked a lot of that off since Bronny came here IMO. However he back slides on occasion. In our last game, he rotated the ball to Bronny, and he hesitated instead of taking the shot, and James shot him that look like..." OK son, if you keep that up, I'm going to have your a** on the sidelines too!"

 

Yeah, those are great points. Seeing his own son in the same situation as the Rui's and the Knecht's of the world. It's another element that is probably humbling for him in a way. I think that playing with Bronny, and just his family in general are huge reasons why he will likely stay in Los Angeles. Him signing with a team like Cleveland, and then asking the Lakers to cut Bronny in a pre-arranged signing with Cleveland would just look messy.

 

They're quoting an account with 100 followers.

It seems like it's trending that way, but the "official" is premature

This is where it's currently at according to boots on the ground

If that happens, that removes the .0001% chance Bron considers them. He's not going to play for an unstable team with potentially a college coach just for a front seat to Steph's retirement tour.


Also will likely mean some roster upheaval from them