LeBron James Discussion: Not Returning To The Lakers

If I were the front office I’d toss the ball completely on to Klutch (which they likely already did). Bring us a deal that works and we will make sure you are happy.

There’s no deal. Which everyone understands but him.

He’s got to face that reality and get back to hoops.

 

Lebron the leader sucks, but Lebron the player is still top tier. If he retired tomorrow, we aren't replacing that level of production, with the money saved from his contract. That's just reality, we don't need a lot with him, without him, it's going to take a few seasons and a couple of moves, in order to be a contender again. It's chip or bust (right now) for me.

Hey..Folks are harping on James's salary, but we have around 40-50M, in other salary spots on this team, that aren't exactly playing to the value of their contracts.

To keep it a buck, I'd rather see Rob working to address that, instead of trying to run Lebron off.

For instance...Vucevic and Monk are around 38M combined...Just saying....

 

He was NBA second team last year and absolutely deserved it. He's worth the money. His contact is one year expiring.

You have Lebron and you won that GS team which everyone likes and who pays two old farts a ridiculous amount of money as well

 

I also believe LeBron the player could be helpful if winning is his goal. However, if he comes it with the mentality of trying to reduce Luka's shine and sow disruption it could go badly. Our team has a razor thin margin for error as seen last night. Curious to see how it plays out.

 

we aren't replacing last year's production with the same money. come next summer, the story might be quite different. hard to know. early returns are bad (he's got a back issue).

right. again, if lebron plays and butler doesn't, we kill them. but it's gs's brilliant front office and our dumb one that are being discussed today.

 

Lebron is obviously going to be trouble all season long since he didn't get what he wanted and isn't the franchise player anymore

 

I actually agree. Despite my comments, I'm in no hurry for LeBron to leave because I think its going to look a lot like it did last night. I definitely would rather move some of the other guys.

Problem continues to be that no one else seems to really want them either. Hoping we can make something happen during the season.

But yes, even with all the diva moments LeBron can still put up numbers and clearly help us.

 

Stephen A doesn't like LeBron and wants to fight him in the ring

 

Boy. Would I love to see that. lol

 

Stephen A basically continues to reel from LeBron punking him face to face at that game. He had his chance to be tough and blinked. Which was the right thing to do as an angry LeBron would mop the floor with him (well, honestly, a completely calm LeBron holding an oat milk latte in his dominant hand would still mop the floor with him but that's beside the point here).

Stephen A needs to just let this go. A "journalist" showing their personal bias like this needs to reigned in by his bosses on the various networks and the league.

 

you're assuming his job is to report news and not generate garbage. he made his millions generating garbage. he's a top-tier garbage generator.

 

Oh yeah. I'm sure the networks love it because its generating clicks.

But based on the NBC broadcast, I think the NBA is not so gently pushing its tv partners to settle down with some of the nonsense. Will it reign in Stephen A? Unfortunately no.

 

didn't everyone rag on AD for not reacting when lebron broke the scoring record too?

 

"stop throwing it to the other guys". "make a shot" /walton

 

Is it not cool to root for your teammates?
Looked like a foolish statue sitting there.

 

LeBron for Butler and Brandon Podz.

Both teams benefit.

Lakers get an elite off-ball defender who can take over games if needed.
Brandon Podz is like Derrick White. He'll be a 20/5/5 guy for many years.

Butler is under contract for one more season after this.. still gives you room to get a max talent player to pair Luka with.
Podz has a team option next season.. so you can still re-sign him after his team option.

I still think LeBron+Luka will work but I think LeBron's ball dominant nature and presence on the court will take away from Luka's greatness. Luka doesn't need another guy like LeBron to dominate and win games. He needs guys to defend and fill the gaps where needed. Can LeBron do that? It's too redundant of a 1-2 punch.

This is where LeBron fits the Warriors. Him and Steph would make for crazy ratings so Warriors have zero reason not to do it. They would mesh well because Curry just runs around for open shots whereas LeBron can go back to his natural passing style that he loves more. You have the vets to make it work and as much as I don't like Draymond, him and LeBron defensively in tight games could cause problems for other teams.


Just saying... The salary works, the contract terms work, and the styles fit. I think both teams get better.

 

Warriors get worse because Butler can still play very good defense and Podz can play with anyone and be good.
It’s not going to happen because it makes too much sense.
I would think LeBron would want it because then he would get all the attention focused back on him again.

 

yeah, i think the warriors say no to that, actually. guessing when they tried to trade for lebron it was with spare parts before.