Perk says ‘the future of Lakers is Luka NOT LeBron’🗣️👀 + Are the Bucks keeping Giannis? | First Take

Perk says ‘the future of Lakers is Luka NOT LeBron’🗣️👀 + Are the Bucks keeping Giannis? | First Take

[Applause] on Sunday several notable veteran players decided they won’t be going anywhere julius Randall intends to sign a three-year hund00 million deal to stay with the Timberwolves sources told ESPN the Wolves Wolves went 44 and 25 with Randall and 5-8 without Randall this past season sources also telling ESPN that James Harden is declining his 36.3 million player option and intends to resign with the Clippers on a 2-year $81.5 million contract harden made all NBA last season his first selection since 2019 2020 and Bobby Portoris intends to sign a three-year $44 million contract to return to the Bucks according to sources Poris has played five seasons with Milwaukee and won the 2021 NBA title perk and Wendy back with us so Wendy do you believe that Milwaukee will be able to do enough to keep Giannis i understand why you’re framing the question that way but I’m not sure that Giannis sees it the way you’re framing it and so what I mean is if you’re asking me do I think the Bucks can put a team together that compete to win the Eastern Conference i do not and I that’s not an insult to anybody with the Bucks that is just the reality of where they are after competing for the East for seven years i do not think they have what it takes and I also question after humongous losses the last few years I question whether the Bucks are going to even enter the luxury tax world this year i look at the Eastern Conference and yes there have been bad injuries to in Boston and Indiana but I see Orlando and Atlanta rising up i don’t see the Bucks as a top four team the question really is does Giannis feel that that is enough to make him want to make a change because while there’s been lots of speculation that this will happen and there’s been you know reporting that he is taking a more critical eye Giannis has yet to say anything and guys he the draft came and went no comment from Giannis free agency is here no comment from Giannis so if if Giannis isn’t holding them to the standard of have a championship team for the draft and through free agency then then why would I expect his position to change in the middle of July or the middle of August kirk have they done enough to keep Giannis i believe they will do enough to keep Giannis i mean and history tells us that right like every single offseason the Bucks are making moves that’s why that’s why Damen Lillard is in Milwaukee because they have done every single thing in their power every single off season to make Giannis stay in the Milwaukee Bucks uniform if I’m the Milwaukee Bucks I actually go out and try to get Russell Westbrook for right now right russell Westbrook i know he’s a guy that get criticized a lot but the one thing about Russell Westbrook he will bring some life to Giannis bring belief to Giannis and with the East being wide open you add a Russell Westbrook to being the starting point guard right now was still a high motor had some great moments with Denver last year as a starter and off the bench when Jamal Murray was out Russell Westbrook elevated his game to another level you put him alongside Giannis two guys with high motors that bring a certain type of tenacity i could see those guys coming in and being you know right in the thick of things and can’t holding this team right in the thick of things uh far as you know being in the uh in the contention of being in the fight in the Eastern Conference no disrespect to Russell Westbrook but when we are at the Russell Westbrook is the piece you need for a contendership it’s time it’s time to move on i like I I’m We’ve seen relationships like this nobody wants to go they’re treading water nobody wants to be the first to break up it’s time for Milwaukee and Giannis to part ways and that doesn’t mean that this has been a bad relationship they won a championship together they’ve gotten everything they can out of this but there are no moves out there for Milwaukee to be competitive are they going to move picks for Cam Johnson are they going to do People are floating the Dame Lillard Bradley Beal like that’s not going to do anything to get Giannis closer to a championship in spite of the fact you know that the East is just not competitive as it was last year for both parties for Milwaukee to maximize what they can out of a Giannis move they need to do that now and for Giannis to not waste a year out of his career when he is still a top three player in the league it’s best for both of them to just look each other in the eye do the Pton Manning treatment and say “Go do a press conference together i love you i love this time here there’s no hard feelings and let’s find the best solution for both of us that does not involve us being together anymore.” I I would agree with you if the if the East was loaded if the Boston Celtics still were the Boston Celtics if Tyrese Hallebertton wasn’t injured I would agree with you David but it’s not the East is wide open right now and Giannis arguably one could say is still the best player in the Eastern Conference if we want to be real he came off of another career seat type season 30 points 12 rebounds so he’s going to win you 45 to 50 games alone all I’m saying is with Giannis Anakoupo all he need is some type of life or belief and go and get a guy like Russell Westbrook that don’t hurt the situation that actually helps the situation again if we’re talking about if none of these
Huh go ahead let me explain the Bucks situation here they have not even paid for the Drew Holiday trade yet all of it they still owe three pieces of draft capital for the Drew Holiday has been traded three other times he’s been traded to the Trailblazers twice they haven’t even paid what they owe for Dame Lillard yet they’re they’re in Hawk two star trades ago again that doesn’t mean that the Bucks are bad executives doesn’t mean that they’re bad owners doesn’t mean they’re bad players they’re just at the end of the line but that doesn’t mean Giannis is going to leave because we’ve yet to hear Giannis say that he doesn’t want to be in Milwaukee he we’re assuming that he has to be in a championship contender he may be fine being on the team that’s fighting for fourth or fifth place i don’t know he hasn’t done anything different
well he he said himself he does not win another ring he will see that you know he will be disappointed and he needs another ring this is not getting you to another ring this is getting you further away from another ring now Wendy I’m with you if Giannis says “I just love Milwaukee i love this organization i want to see it through we can’t do anything about that i can’t say anything about that cuz that’s his personal preference but if the dude is out here actually wanting to win another ring as soon as possible this has to happen now otherwise he’s you know really limiting his chance of doing that before the his career is over after a postseason that saw the Lakers get bounced in the first round LeBron James has exercised his $52.6 million player option with the Lakers for next season but not without some interesting comments by his agent Rich Paul as told to our Shan Chirana quote “LeBron wants to compete for a championship he knows the Lakers are building for the future he understands that but he values a realistic chance of winning it all we are very appreciative of the partnership that we’ve had for eight years with Genie Bus and Rob Pelinka and consider the Lakers as a critical part of his career we understand the difficulty in winning now while preparing for the future we do want to evaluate what’s best for LeBron at this stage in his life and career we want to make every season he has left count and the Lakers understand that and are supportive and want what’s best for him wendy do you like or dislike Rich Paul’s comments i don’t I wouldn’t frame it that way i don’t understand them totally i think they are they’re setting something else up i could guess at what they’re setting up but I don’t want to guess i want to wait and see it play out i will just say for the for the back part of his career LeBron has prioritized two things repeatedly he’s prioritized making sure he maximizes his earnings which I totally understand he’s still underpaid at 53 million even at age 40 and he’s prioritized playing in Los Angeles now he’s prioritized winning through 20ome years like that’s not to say he’s not but he has consistently when he’s had the chance to to to to not do that he has leaned into prioritizing those two things the fact that he would pick up this money to play for the Lakers is 0% surprising the comments are open to interpretation and I think what they are doing is they are setting something else up and they are Lakers are and the when the LeBron and Rich Paul will watch how the Lakers operate the next few weeks and then we will see what they’re setting up they could be setting up LeBron very enthusiastically reporting to training camp with Luca Donuch excited about the Lakers chances of of of competing for a title this year or they could set up something where as Rich has implied here that that uh there isn’t a place for LeBron on this particular version of the Lakers i don’t want to get there i don’t want to jump ahead i want to wait and see it watch out i’m just saying that there was a lot of thought put into each one of those sentences and I’m not sure we totally understand them now but I think we’re going to understand them in the future so I just want to be clear on this Wendy obviously you’re not suggesting that he is asking out you’re not suggesting he’s going to ask out what you have just said is they are setting they being LeBron and Rich Paul are setting something up as in a part two of this we just don’t know what that part two may be but big picture Perk do you think there’s any chance the Lakers hope he asks out here’s the thing right here’s the thing that was just it’s so hard to say goodbye right you saw you saw uh Rich Paul comments it’s been eight years right eight years of us having an influence and having conversations with Jeannie Bus and Rob Pelinka for far as the direction of the team it’s a new sheriff in town it’s a new sheriff in town his name is Luca and his name is Bill Duffy right 42 years of experience guess who else uh is represented by WME who Bill Duffy work who uh Bill Duffy works for deandre Aiden it’s a new sheriff in town that’s what That’s what’s happening right now it’s a new shot caller this is all about Luca and what Luca wants and Luca is going to get because the Lakers need to make Luca happy and make sure that he signs that contract extension this is what this is about if we keeping it real it’s plain and simple it’s a new sheriff in town and it’s not LeBron Rich Paul and Clutch is Luca Bill Duffy W and me that’s the thing
yeah yeah there’s a new sheriff in town in Los Angeles in in Luca right but there’s a new mayor of the city in the second apron the way that teams are constructed and for the first time in LeBron James’ career he’s not looking at a situation where if I step if I want to leave every team is going to come kicking the door down to come and get me what are the options for LeBron James where can he possibly go right now if he says “I’m out of here.” He’s opted into $52 million where is he going to go where a team is going to give them enough assets to satisfy the Lakers and he’s going to be happy with the team and feel like they’re still competitive i don’t see it i don’t see teams going coming after LeBron like where he can do this in the years past maybe I’ll leave i like the GM over here this thing that LeBron does every year like clockwork at different times of the season usually that gets antennas going in the league you know moving and shuffling and calling the Lakers how many of those calls do you think the Lakers are getting right now for LeBron well that’s interesting wendy just help on this just from a clarification purpose not reporting anything obviously but when David asked who could get LeBron it is very difficult to do multiplayer deals and it’s very difficult to get to over the $50 million like LeBron and he also has a no trade clause so of the teams in a hypothetical world that we could maybe make up in our heads that he could get traded for I’ve gone to the place Wendy of a one for one whether it’s Jimmy Butler at Golden State Carl Anthony Towns in New York or as crazy as this sounds Anthony Davis in Dallas none of these are going to happen i’m not saying they are but Wendy technically those types of deals could get done am I correct
it’s much more clean to do a one for one player trade than it is to do a multiplayer trade also there’s teams out there that are in the second April for example if you’re just a casual fan and you see these comments and you think “Oh LeBron wants to get traded he maybe he’ll go back to Cleveland okay like this is this is what a casual fan might say the Cavs are in the second apron they are not allowed to put multiple players together in a trade that is just the rules okay so the Cavs would have to literally do two or three separate trades potentially trading five or six different players to bring in LeBron so that’s could they do it could if I had Bobby Marks a whiteboard um you know and a and a computer program yeah I could do it but it’s not feasible so the other thing is this lebron has a no trade clause which means he doesn’t he not only gets to pick the team he gets to pick what he’s traded for so I don’t think a trade is going to happen at all i think it’s I mean I would not say impossible it’s the NBA extremely unlikely that there’s going to be a trade for LeBron James
i got to find out what Perk’s laughing about which hypothetical trade just made you laugh the most B well it wasn’t that it’s it’s a couple text messages I’m getting right now that that’s what made me laugh but here’s here’s the thing right if LeBron I I’m a strong believer that if LeBron James did request a trade which he hasn’t but if he requested a trade it’s teams out there that would be knocking at the door that will be willing to give up players to get LeBron James and bar him for one year especially if you’re in the Eastern Conference we just finished talked about how wide open the Eastern Conference is if LeBron James wanted to be traded and let’s say he wanted to go to the New York Knicks I’m pretty sure Leon Rose and Worldwide West figure out a way to get that done to get LeBron James to the New York Knicks the Mecca and I’m pretty sure LeBron might be excited to go play in Madison Square Garden because he as a opponent he loves playing in New York he calls it his playground so I’m just saying I’m not saying it’s going to happen i’m with Wendy it’s unlikely that he’s going to be traded but if he comes out public and Rich Paul says that LeBron James won out and we we in December and January I guarantee you it’s going to be more than just a handful of teams that are going to be blowing up the Lakers phone
well well the problem is the other side of that you go to the Laker I mean you think Luca is going to be excited about hey I’m going to go to team replace LeBron with Carl Anthony Towns who I saw who I you know dominated in the playoffs a couple of years ago who’s inconsistent playoffs carlin Towns can can be great offensively but that’s not a guy I think would instill a lot of confidence in Luca that you’re building around him or are you going to do the OG and Bridges and those guys and take away a lot of the wings out of New York and do like there’s two parts to this yes teams may like I said there are two parts the team teams may want LeBron but to make that work LeBron will also want a team that is still there for him to get into the championship level the things you’re going to have to lose for the Knicks don’t necessarily work for LeBron and the things that would work for LeBron don’t work for Luca and the Lakers it just it just does not fit
wendy do people around the league and and yourself and you’re reporting look at Oh sorry go ahead Brooke again this is just hypotheticals i don’t believe that LeBron James is going to be traded i don’t I think I think the Lakers are going to do what they need to do because again when you talk about the future of the Lakers the future is now especially when it comes down to Luca luca wants to win now luca wants to win a championship right now i guarantee after him watching the NBA finals and watching SGA go and lead that Thunder team to winning the NBA championship is no way in hell nobody could tell me that Luca is coming into this season with the same with the same type of mindset or trying to go compete and go win the title
yeah I think that’s a very good point and I can’t underscore this enough the Lakers number one priority for this summer is not LeBron it is not a center it is not wings it is not extending anybody although those things are important their number one priority is to get Luca ressigned in August and Luca when he evaluates that resigning is going to evaluate the Lakers in 2026 going forward of course he cares about what they are in 25 26 but when Luca makes that decision it’s about the future which is exactly what LeBron is saying he’s not prioritizing so that’s what the Lakers have to have to focus on and I expect that’s what they will focus on [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause]

On First Take, Evan Cohen, Brian Windhorst, Kendrick Perkins and David Dennis Jr. discuss Giannis Antetokounmpo’s future with the Milwaukee Bucks, LeBron opting into his player option with the Lakers and much more.

0:00 Will the Bucks be able to keep Giannis?
3:30 Perk’s reaction
7:55 Rich Paul’s comments on LeBron’s future
11:05 David Dennis Jr. reacts
14:00 What teams would be interested in LeBron?

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