Will LeBron James ask Los Angeles Lakers for a TRADE? | THE HERD NBA

Will LeBron James ask Los Angeles Lakers for a TRADE? | THE HERD NBA

We’re actually going to start the show, ladies and gentlemen, with the Lakers. And uh you know, listen, we are in a hottake society right now. Everybody knows that it’s really difficult to cut through. There’s so many outlets and mediums, TV, radio, you got the web, you got social media, YouTube, Tik Tok. To cut through, you increasingly have to turn up the volume and get a little hot. And folks, I’ve been seeing some stuff. You know, I love a good hot take. Hot take happy hour, but I’ve been seeing some stuff lately about my main man Luca Donuch that I got to step in. It’s time for J-Mack to jump in and be like, “Guys, can we take a deep breath? Can we get some perspective?” I know nuance isn’t a thing a lot of people like to do in July. It’s either black or white. You love him, you hate him, right? But let’s just pump the brakes on the Luca Donic bashing. And yes, I get it. He’s coming off a season where he was injured and he got traded. And hey, if if the Dallas Mavericks can move off Luca, how good is he, right? I mean, the guy doesn’t play defense. He can’t jump. He only had one dunk last season. I mean, Luca, what what are we doing? Is he that good? Jac, he couldn’t get out of the first round with LeBron James. How good is Luca? And you you start hearing all this and I’m like, wait a minute, hold on. Are are we talking about the same Luca Donic that just 13 months ago put the Mavericks on his back and led them to the finals? And now we’ve got hot takes like this, not just coming from dopey fans. And not just the media, but we’re talking about former players and coaches, folks. Avery Johnson, a point guard who knows a lot about basketball, was asked who he’d rather have, Cooper Flag or Luca Donuch. Take a listen. Man, give me Cooper Flag.
Really? Cooper Flag in this team. Yeah, give me Cooper Flag, man. You’re talking about a team when they’re healthy. Got three future Hall of Famers with Kyrie AD and uh Klay Thompson. So, this is really exciting. The Mavericks um that their future is bright, but they have a window when they’re healthy of the next two to three years with this roster as currently constructed. Yeah, I I I don’t totally disagree with Dallas being good, but Cooper flag over Luca Donuch. And this is what I’m talking about with society. It’s become so hot takey that a guy has a down year and we’re just writing him off. Like I I like Cooper Flag. Do you guys remember, I don’t know, two months ago on the show, Rick Buer sat here and I was like over under one and a half MVPs for Cooper Flag and he laughed at me. He’s like, “What on earth are you talking about?” I’m like, “I I’m high on Cooper Flag.” No way on earth am I taking him over Luca Donic. Have we forgotten I’m not gonna try out the resume, but have we forgotten that in the last 40 years, no player has started their NBA career as good as Luca Jic, not Michael Jordan, not LeBron James, not Shaq. Folks, Luca went rookie of the year and then was first team all NBA five straight years. first team allNNBA, top five player in the league for five straight years in starting in year two. Like that’s the kind of talent we’re dealing with here. Nobody makes their teammates better in the NBA, better than Luca Dodgers. Now, I know Joic has a strong case because he has a title. He’s a little older than Luca. I’ll just put that out there. But Luca raises the level of all his guys. You remember two years ago, Dallas, they had been fighting for years. How do we build around Luca? Let’s try Jaylen Brunson. And they screwed that up. Let’s try Porzingis. And he got hurt. This is what he does. Let’s try Kyrie Irving. Oh, okay. Okay. So, they bring in Kyrie Irving. I remember being I think live on the herd when it happened. I was like, “Oh my gosh, Mavs, they’re they’re set. They’re going to the finals.” They missed the playoffs that year. Okay. Do you remember how Luca Donuch responded the following year? He averaged 339 and Navs went to the NBA finals. So, if you want to write off Luca at 26 and say, “Well, he’s not dunking anymore. He’s become a step back artist.” That’s fine. Do you do you. But here’s the reality. Luca went to the finals last year exhausted, then played in the Olympics, and oh, by the way, then comes the calf injury. Remember on Christmas suffers the calf injury. And Luca wisely, I might add, did not want to rush it. He was seen on a scooter and it’s like, “Oh, geez, that’s bad news.” No, he was being cautious, which is smart in hindsight. You remember when uh guy on the Pacers had a calf injury in the finals and I was like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Hallebertton, sit out, my guy. You don’t want him have to miss a whole year. Hallebertton plays good in game six. Oh, he’s fine. It’s fine. Let’s not even rehash what happened in game seven. You don’t rush back from calf injuries. Nico Harrison wanted to rush Luca back. Luca said no. Oh, slow your roll, man. He took his time. They thought he gained weight. They shipped him out of town. I am calling it now. Revenge season is coming for Luca Donuch next year with the Lakers. I don’t know who the hell they’re going to have. We can get into that later. I’m going to go ahead and assume LeBron’s going to be on the roster. I’m going to assume Austin Reeves, but that’s not a lock. I think they’re going to be okay with two of the greatest players in the NBA currently. LeBron, all NBA guy, and Luca, who’s off to one of the best starts in NBA history for a young guy. Can we just take our deep breath with Luca? He’s going to be fine. All right. So, you know, every time for some reason Alex and I have hosted in the last couple months, some big news has dropped. I don’t know if you guys remember the first time Michael Malone got fired of the Nuggets. It was like middle of the show. They’re like, “Oh, the Nuggets fired their coach.” Oh, wow. Okay. And then a few weeks ago, maybe last month, it was like Tom Dibido fired. It’s like, wow. So, you know, I just we just did the first segment here and as soon as we get in a commercial break, they’re like, “Hey, LeBron just dropped something on social media.” I was like, “Oh, boy. I can’t wait to see this.” And we’re talking about LeBron anyway. But let’s just be real. Here’s LeBron on his Instagram within the last hour or so. You have to look closely on the screen, but he’s wearing a hat that says, “Welcome home.” And it’s possible he just grabbed the first hat he saw at his house in Ohio, where he currently is playing golf. So, just to remind you, LeBron, who’s been in the news the last 48 hours because of his contract situation, and then is he going to get traded? Is he going to ask them to buy him out? which is nonsense, but it’s a talking point. LeBron’s all over the news. And then he pops up on Instagram with a welcome home hat playing golf in Ohio. Guys, come on. This is awesome. How do you not love this? This is what LeBron does. He’s done this for 15 years. He wrote the playbook for how to, I don’t know, troll people. What are we calling it? Are we saying like get people to talk about him on social media? I I asked the crew here, is LeBron really the first social media athlete who grew up in the social media era? And you have to think back like Tiger Woods was early 2000s before social media. If you say social media was like 2010ish, that’s like when LeBron was peaking, right? Do you guys remember the internet melting down when he told Jim Gray, “I’m taking my talents to South Beach.” Like LeBron knows how to utilize and weaponize, if you will, social media to get what he wants. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. But the real question is, what is the endgame here? Is he just messing around? Maybe. Is he sending a message? Probably. My big thing that I keep coming back to with this whole would they trade LeBron is every time he’s gotten into a pickle, it was near the end in Cleveland. Hey, I asked for real contending dudes. The Celtics went out and got Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen and I asked for contending guys and you guys got me Antoine Jameson. I’m out. Right. LeBron didn’t he had nothing around him in Miami near the end. He starts to look around. His team’s breaking down. I’m out. In Cleveland, Kyrie Irving jump ship. LeBron, I’m not I’m not winning here with what’s left. I’m out. But you look around the Lakers locker room now and he’s got Luca Donic. Is he walking away from Luca? And then the counter would be, “Well, Jay, this is the first time LeBron hasn’t been the best player on his team or the guy that the team is asking for invi advice and input.” I was like, “Oh, okay. May maybe that’s accurate. LeBron’s unhappy about that.” But the guy’s turning 41 in December. He’s going into year 23. You really think he wants to jump ship for a year to go to, I don’t know, Detroit or Cleveland again or Atlanta? And listen, I know one thing is true for sure. LeBron loves the attention. Who wouldn’t? You guys don’t think I like it when you bombard me when I blast the Kansas City Chiefs and say they’re not making the playoffs. I love that. I love that you guys are worked into a lather and I could care less because it’s a genuine opinion backed up by facts and data. If if you’re in your feelings over that’s not my fault. I think LeBron is similar. He’s gonna put this out there. Knows his name is swirling and I think he probably likes it a little bit. Just a little. Now where it gets super interesting is if the Lakers don’t get DeAndre Aiden and there’s no centers left. And at that point Luca’s like, “What the hell’s going on here, guys?” And LeBron’s like, “You know what? We had a good one. My other son, he he’s going to Arizona next year to play college basketball. I let me let me go back to Cleveland and get a chance to win it. But I’ve seen the the trade scenarios, folks, with the Knicks and the Cavs. I don’t think those teams are giving up multiple starters and rotation guys for LeBron. I don’t see it. Like the Cavs aren’t going to do Darius Garland for LeBron. Lakers would be idiots to do that. Now you talk Evan Moley, we got a discussion. That’s not happening. I’m sure the Knicks are like, “Hey, do you want Carl Anthony Towns?” And the Lakers are like, “Absolutely not. Think about this. LeBron has one year left. Then the books are clear. Luca’s got his runway. Go get me this, that, and the other. We’re set. So, I listen, I love the LeBron antics. I love him going on social media and getting in everybody’s head and generating segments on TV shows. He’s got a podcast now with Steve Nash that’s kind of popping. I love this stuff. But ultimately, I just keep coming back like, it’s not happen. He’s not going anywhere. enjoy Luca and LeBron next year with the Lakers when they’re hopefully a top four seed in the West.

Jason McIntyre reacts to the NBA rumors regarding four NBA teams being interested in trading for LeBron James. Will the Los Angeles Lakers let him go and build around Luka Doncic? Jason also discusses whether Dallas Mavericks No. 1 NBA Draft pick Cooper Flagg is worth more than Luka Doncic.

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