Is a trade involving LeBron James realistic for the Lakers? | NBA Today

Is a trade involving LeBron James realistic for the Lakers? | NBA Today

He opted into his deal. He will play a record 23rd NBA season. And his longevity, it’s unprecedented. Last season, he posted numbers that we’ve never seen for a player in their 22nd year. And he will be 41 in December. And there doesn’t look to be any evidence of him slowing down. Did you see the video of him, 40 years old, working out this past Saturday? Just another day, running line to line, alternating hands, dunking.
His knee looks good. Just another day for LeBron James getting ready for season number 23. And usually that’s where the conversation would stop. But with LeBron, it’s not ever quite that simple. So let’s get into it with some reporters who knows a thing or two about this Lakers team. Ramona Shelver and Dave McMinnon. Mark Spears back with us and of course Brian Winhorse. Dave, you cover the Lakers on a day-to-day basis here. The Rich Paul comments. I want to bring them back up here if we could just to remind our viewers about what Rich said. Uh what does it mean for LeBron James and the Lakers as you take a look at this statement here? Listen, I I spoke to Rich before we started the show. He wanted to make it clear that the Lakers weren’t blindsided by his statement or the decision to opt in. The Lakers were operating under an assumption that LeBron would be opting in. There was no discussion about an extension. The Lakers uh didn’t offer an extension, but guess what? Clutch and LeBron James didn’t ask for an extension either. So, there was no tension around that. Uh Rich made it clear to me that you know not only did he let the Lakers know this was coming but also Laura Beth Seager who is uh Luca Donuch’s representative she was also informed from Rich Paul this was coming. So that was extending an olive branch in terms of we’re trying to work with you Luca Donuch as a future phase of the franchise. Rich also told me that he understands in this moment this is important for the Lakers to look out for Luca Donuch, but him as a representative of LeBron James, he has to make sure he’s looking out for LeBron’s best interests as well.
So, this may be an oversimplified question. So, so what does this mean then? If Luca knows and LeBron knows and everyone is just doing their due diligence, what is what does this statement mean? I
I think two people made a statement. one on the record which was Rich Paul when he said what he said and then the Lakers by not discussing that extension because as Brian has pointed out a couple of times he’s never gone into a season where he didn’t necessarily have an option for the next year where he didn’t have control of that. But I think I also think about LeBron James and who he is as a person. This is a man who is incredibly disciplined in his personal life and how he carries himself on and off the court. He’s had control of over his life and his career the entire time he’s been there. He has been the sun, the moon, and the stars in every organization he’s ever operated on. It’s got to feel weird. It’s got to feel weird for somebody else to be the guy, right? To find out about the Luca trade, to find out about the sale. Like, he didn’t put a tweet out the same way Luca did afterwards. Like, it’s got to feel a little bit strange to not be as involved or as catered to as the other guy.
I’m not trying to discount anybody’s feelings. I’m just trying to understand and get down to the brass tax in is it realistic, Brian, that we are going to see LeBron James traded? I’ll even shrink the timeline between now and the start of the season.
I don’t think so. I’ll get down to brass tax and I don’t mean this to be controversial. It’s just true. This is the beginning of the end with the Lakers for LeBron.
Yeah.
I mean, when you’re 40 turning 41, that’s I think an acceptable thing to say. Again, for the first time in his career, he is on the end of a contract. Okay. So, how is that end going to be? Is it going to be with a some sort of really impressive playoff run alongside Luca next spring? Maybe. Is there going to be something that happens during this year? Maybe that’s what essentially I take from this statement. Now,
LeBron is a very good second team allNBA player. He is now under contract. He the Lakers cannot control a possible trade. The Lakers would like to see LeBron ready to go as he is getting ready clearly at training camp in September to play alongside Luca Donuch
with a couple of extra players hopefully that they’re adding over the next few days and make a run in the Western Conference. Let’s not forget they were the three seed. Sure. Okay. This is not a team that is that is an eon away. They were the three seed. They had a disappointing first round uh situation, but they can come back very strong.
Let’s just cross our tees and dot our eyes here because one of the reasons that I I wonder about if a trade is realistic at all is because I look around and I don’t see a whole lot of options. But admittedly, I was an English student, not a math student. So, that’s where I turned to Mr. Money Moves, Bobby Marks. Bobby, are there any trades out there that wouldn’t totally diminish sort of the team that LeBron would want to go to? Because again, championships is what he’s talking about. Well, I was neither an English or a math student. So, let’s look at here. Rich Paul does the releases the press uh notes yesterday and everybody says, “Fire up the trade machine. What can we do?” And of course, everybody says, “Let’s look at Cleveland, right? His former team. Here’s how hard it would be. Malikica, you would basically have to send out $70 million in contract. Darius Garland, DeAndre Hunter, Jared Allen, Max Strus, right? That’s basically like a quarter of their lineup here just for LeBron James. They are a second apron team. Let’s look at Dallas, of course, right? Could the Mavericks have done a deal? You’re basically trading Dan uh Daniel Gaffford who just signed extension, PJ Washington, um Naji Marshall, Kale Martin, a lot of like five or six players. This is how the money works. They just they’re at the second apron now. You’re basically trading six players in a deal. Also, everybody’s going to want to talk about the Golden State Warriors, of course, right? When you look at it, could they make a deal? Yeah, they could make a deal, right? Jimmy Butler, Jimmy Butler, LeBron James. But here’s where we’re looking at it, right? We’re looking at two different timelines. We’re looking at the LeBron timeline. We’re looking at the Luca timeline. Jimmy Butler has another year left on his contract. The Lakers salary cap is clear next year. They could have two max spots based on this LeBron James uh expiring contract. So, if you’re the Lakers, you’re going to want to reshape the roster around Luca, not what’s best in in the immediate fix right now.
He has not had any discussion with the Lakers about wanting a trade on the back end of this statement. He did say that uh four teams have contacted him in the last 24 hours, wanting to talk trades, but Rich didn’t have any substantiative conversations with those teams either. Right now, LeBron is focused on playing on a championship caliber roster. Rich told me like there’s no guarantees in building a championship caliber roster, but we know what it looks like and what it doesn’t look like. And we’ll see if in a week from now when Rob Plink is finished doing his work with this roster if it looks like a winning realistic situation.
Here’s the thing though, he controls this whole process. He’s got that old no he’s got that no trade clause and so he gets to say if he wants them to proceed with discussions, he gets to say where he would want to even even have some say over a trade if it ever got to that. And so we got to a position where he doesn’t have control and yet now he’s found a good way to place himself right back in the center of control.
I saw Jordan in the end, Kobe, Shaq, KG,
he’s not that respectively. He’s not. But how much longer does he want to go where he’s going to become that? To me, I think he has a tailor made ending this season. You got the All-Star game in LA, you’re at the last year, your deal. It’s tailor made for a Hollywood ending in Hollywood.
23 and 23. I was a writer in my life. James is on the team.
But there’s a lot. I think it’s it’s not so much the optim.
I don’t want to see them like those guys.
It’s the statement that has maybe opened up the door to more questions. And then f when you look at it further, it’s what’s the definition of a championship team and how can the Los Angeles Lakers get there? Denver has been busy here in the last couple of hours. They’ve been making a lot of moves here. Cam Johnson is in. Michael Porter Jr. is out according to our Sham Sharan. Cam Johnson fills the role of Michael Porter Jr. and is really going to thrive I think next to Nicola Joic here. Brian, do you think that this move plus also bringing Bruce Brown back is going to change where Denver’s at in the West? Well, they’re not done yet. They’ve got more safe space here. Look, Cam Johnson and Michael Porter Jr. are different players. They’re comparable players. They they do different things. It’s not like Cam Johnson is a huge upgrade. Michael Porter Jr. has a lot going for him, but Cam Johnson is vastly cheaper. He’s like 1617 million a year cheaper over the next couple of years. And in a second apron era, that matters. And that’s why the Nuggets send a first round pick in this deal to grease that extra money they’re sending to Brooklyn. So now with that extra money, the Nuggets can sort of build out their roster again, go to try to backfill some of the guys they’ve lost over the last few years. And Cam Johnson is a very good replacement for Michael Porter Jr. And Bruce Brown is a return to the 2023 team which had great depth.
Yes.
Already communicating with some people in Denver. They’re ecstatic about what this team is doing because it felt like when they won their championship, it was more than a one championship type of team with Jokic, with his age, with his skill level. Now you go out and you starting to reinvigorate this franchise. Now I think Cam Johnson is a major upgrade. These will be the best shots Cam Johnson’s ever gotten in his career. That’s what’s going to happen to the shot quality for a guy with a pure stroke. I think Cam Johnson’s gonna have a great year for Denver. And also not a liability at all on the other end of the floor. And then you go get Bruce Brown. A lot of people were very frustrated they lost him in the first place. Now he is back in the fold. And what that addresses is depth. Because you talk about the ultimate utility knife. And this is one of Joic’s biggest problems he had with the roster. They weren’t deep enough. And you saw that in the postseason. Bruce Brown helps address that as well. Not to mention, you know, Denver is coming off a season where they led the NBA in points per game from starters. So, a much needed sixth man coming back here in Bruce Brown. And when you talk about the West, you’re thinking about the Oklahoma City Thunder being the team that paces the entire Western Conference. Who did we say up until the NBA Finals was the team that pushed them to the brink more than anyone? It was the Denver Nuggets, UD. Yeah, it was the Denver Nuggets. And I’m with you. I love the Bruce Brown pickup because not only does he is he a dog defensively, but offensively he plays perfect. He fits perfect with them. He’s a guy who plays off the ball. He doesn’t have the skill set where he needs the ball in his hand. But when you run that pick and roll with Murray and Joic, he plays in that dunker. He slides back door. You turn your head. He gets offensive rebound. He does all the little things. This is a guy who’s going to impact the game, make winning plays, and you do not have to draw up anything for him at all.
Well, when you look at the favorites in the Western Conference, you of course have the defending champions at the top, Oklahoma City, but then it’s the Houston Rockets that are quickly catching up with them. many moves this off season already and they were the number two seed last year. The odds reflect that and then you see the Denver Nuggets with the moves that they’ve been making followed by the Lakers and then the Timberwolves. Let’s dive into some of those moves because it’s been a busy off season for the Rockets. Headlined of course by bringing in 15 time all-star Kevin Durant. They’re the fourth team to trade for a 25 points per game scorer the off season after a 50- win season. That’s a lot of numbers. It just means they’re really good. Fred Van Bleet, meanwhile, intends to sign a two-year $50 million deal with Houston after the Rockets declined his nearly $45 million team option. The 2019 champ ranked seventh in assist to turnover ratio this season. And then Jabari Smith Jr., he intends to sign a 5-year $122 million rookie extension with Houston. The third pick in the 2022 draft is one of three players in Rockets history to score 2500 points before turning 22 along with Jaylen Green and Alparin Shenon. I don’t know which one of you two is higher on the moves that Houston has made. You are singing their praises. Do you think that they’re in that same category with Oklahoma City or just right there knocking on the door? For me, I think now I’m looking at the Houston Rockets as a legitimate number two in the West that’s also a contender. Last year they finished second in the West. I don’t think anybody really looked at them as a team that could make a run through the Western Conference and end up in the finals.
Was that just lack of experience?
I think they were just a little bit too young. And I also think people had questions about, you know, the lead guard. Jaylen Green is a very talented player. He’s not a natural lead guard and they didn’t know how to close games. Well, guess what? They just signed the ultimate closer. Kevin Durant is the solution for their problems offensively. But it’s not just that. Just Durant alone, I think I said to you, I really liked it.
Now I love it. You go out, you add a Dorian Finny Smith to the mix. You get a Clint Capella to join them as well. Houston Rockets to me now have have I I I think separated a little bit from other teams in the West for that number two. You like it, I love it.
You’re like Cold Stone Green. Like it, love it, got to have it.
I’m a defensive guy and obviously you give up some defense when you lose Dylan Brooks, but you bring in a guy like Finley Smith who’s also a Gator. Go Gators by the way. But you bring in a guy like Finley Smith who shot 41% from three last year. So you’re talking about a guy once again who does not need the ball in his hand. You know your guys that are going to handle. Van Fleet is going to handle. We got to get Kevin Durant in spot. Jabari Smith is very very good offensively. Sang Goon needs the ball in his hand. This is a guy who does not need the ball in his hand. He’s going to shoot 41 42% from the three. He’s going to guard your best player. And also Mudoka loves to switch on defense. So this is a guy who can switch one through five on any given night.
The Rockets are on an organizational hot streak. They are drafting well. They are trading well. They are using free agency well. They are negotiating contracts well. They’ve been very active the last couple of days, not just with Kevin Durant, but also getting um Jabari Smith Jr. into a new contract, getting Fred Van Vleet into a new contract. Tonight, they signed Clint Capella to a three-year deal, which was a surprise. That will it will backfield them. They extended Steven Adams. When you play in the Western Conference, you got to have size. You got to try to beat Nicola Joic. They’ve retained Steven Adams and added Clint Capella. They’ve got Alpar Shining. They are really, really doing good moves. And then their their development of Tari East and of Amen Thompson has really been been going. If you’re going to beat the Oklahoma City Thunder, you’ve got to win across the board.
The the Rockets are piling up W.

The NBA Today Free Agency Special dives into LeBron James opting into a $52.6 million deal with the Los Angeles Lakers for next season before reacting the moves made by the Denver Nuggets and Houston Rockets.

0:00 LeBron opts in for 1-year deal
4:17 Potential trade fits
5:59 LeBron’s focus
7:40 Denver Nuggets
10:51 Houston Rockets

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