How will LeBron respond to Luka’s Lakers takeover? + Giannis’ Bucks future in limbo 😮 | First Take

How will LeBron respond to Luka’s Lakers takeover? + Giannis’ Bucks future in limbo 😮 | First Take

Now, the Lakers finally got their big man on Wednesday, agreeing to terms with the former number one overall pick, DeAndre Aton. And yesterday, they added to that depth, bringing back Jackson Hayes on a one-year deal. These moves were made just days after LeBron James’s agent Rich Paul came out saying LeBron wanted to compete for a championship. So, LeBron wants a title. Obviously, there’s a lot potentially standing in the way of that. Remember at the end of last season, Luca Donuch was also the one being called out for not being in shape. So, David, starting with you here, does Luca or LeBron have more to prove next season?
First of all, let’s start with LeBron. LeBron has nothing ever to prove. This dude is the maybe goat of basketball. And there’s we should move that away from our vocabulary. The idea that LeBron James should ever have to prove himself with all the accolades that he has. So, by default, the guy who has the most to prove right now is Luca Donuch. As you mentioned, he got dropped from the Dallas Mavericks and was unceremoniously discussed as a guy who was lazy, who was out of shape, who could not play defense, and he came back, you know, admittedly with the ball on fire, played great defense, played great for the Lakers until that fizzled out come playoff time. He was not the best player on in that series against uh the Wolves. It was Anthony Edwards. His defense was atrocious. They were blowing by him left and right. And now there’s all the talk about what is he going to look like in the offseason. When you have a situation where people are talking about are you in shape in the offseason, then yes, you are the guy who has the most to prove. Luke has to come back to this Lakers team as a top three to five player, an MVP candidate, and he has to be the guy who elevates this team to a championship level team. We could talk about DeAndre Aiden. We could talk about the people on the bench. We could talk about Laravia and those guys, but this is about Luca Don showing up being the MVP level guy and saying, “I’m going to put this team on my back.”
Yeah. I mean, it was very clearly throughout the season the baton was passed. It did it went from LeBron’s team to Luca’s team about that halfway point of the season when those two got together. So, do you see it the same way?
I would say no simply because the Lakers have to get Luca Donuch to agree to stay on their team, right? This whole season is about making Luca Donic feel like he wants to spend the rest of his career, the rest of his prime at a minimum with the Los Angeles Lakers. And that begins on August 2nd when he can opt into or not opt into, he can extend his contract beyond next summer when he can become an unrestricted free agent. And by the way, I think we’ve been talking a lot about LeBron James this week. If Luca Donic does not extend his contract in August and he goes into next season as a guy who could be an unrestricted free agent next July when there’s going to be a lot of cap space around the league that is going to become the dominant story in the NBA not just about the Lakers. So to me this is about LeBron James. LeBron James does not have much time left in the NBA. LeBron James says, “We have spent the last week debating and discussing the meaning of the rich ball, you know, opaque statement that he gave to Arsham Shirania on Sunday where the door was left open to the possibility of him wanting to play somewhere else. All of this noise around LeBron at the end of his career. There aren’t many chances left for him to make any kind of a statement or a message or or an an argument about whether he should potentially be on the same level as Michael Jordan when his career is over, which is really the only thing left for LeBron James to do. to David’s point, he’s done everything else he can possibly do. We’ll see if he can actually get to that point. But this season now, especially after the last few days have gone, whether it’s LeBron James final season or not, it’s going to be about what is LeBron James going to do in the final bit of time he has left. Whereas the Lakers for this season, to me, it’s about them proving to Luca Donuch that he should want to be there, not the other way around.
So, okay, so riddle me this because I know we’ve talked about the possibilities of LeBron potentially going somewhere else and he has that no trade clause. It would there would be a lot of things that would have to take place in order for that to happen. Is it when you talk about him having the most to prove? Is it with the Lakers? Like what happens if that idea that Alan Han I believe threw out on Get Up yesterday, maybe he goes to the Knicks somehow someway, is it only that he has the most to prove if he stays in Los Angeles? What about if it’s somewhere else?
I I just think it’s the same thing either way. You’re talking about a guy who is still one of the 10 or 15 best players on the planet and only has so much time left, whether it’s one year, two year, three year, four years, whatever. He only has so much time left to play. So to me, it’s just a matter of all right, what is he going to do in that time he has left? And that does begin with the next few weeks, like are at some point, are we going to get any clarity on what the future of the situation is with the Lakers? Are the Lakers going to come out and say, “Yeah, we’re not going to entertain any of these ideas. LeBron’s going to be on the team. Are LeBron and Rich Paul going to say anything beyond the opaque statement that left us all basically opening opening it to interpretation, trying to figure out what the meaning of it was and what they were trying to do after having a chance to become free agents and instead opting into the $52.6 million that he was owed for this coming season. To me, that all comes back to the same question, which is how is LeBron James going to end his career, whether it’s this year over the next few years. And to me again if this question you talk about the Lakers Luca or LeBron who has the most to prove this year if you want to just change the question a little bit to me it’s very clearly the Lakers the Lakers have to show Luca Donic after making this trade that they deserve to be the place he wants to be. They’re on an audition more much more to me. I mean, David’s points about Luke are all correct, right? If if he was in Dallas, we’d be talking about all those things, but he’s not. He’s in Los Angeles and they have to prove to him that the Lakers are the place he should be rather than him saying, you know what, I’m going to wait till July. I’m going to see where I want to play next. Do you say it’s Luca because it’s his team now?
Well, yeah. This is the Lakers are Luca Don’s team, right? And you have a clear lineage with the Lakers in the 21st century. Shaq, Kobe, LeBron, Luca. you were following up on those guys and the Lakers, this story franchise who now also has new ownership, who is now trying to pump a whole bunch of money into you are saying, “We’re going to put all of our eggs in the Luca Dantage basket for the next 5, 10, however many years.” And Luca Don also has something to prove here. Luca Don has to show that I am worth that because you can also have a situation where you look at Luca Donic and you say come to the same conclusion that the Dallas Mavericks did. Now look, we talk about Nico Harrison and the trade and all that stuff. There are a lot of reasons to criticize the trade, not looking at other teams, not looking at uh getting more for him. But around the league, there has been concern about, hey, there the things that they worried about in Dallas are legitimate. When we’re talking about Luca, can he play defense? Can he stay in shape? How motivated will this dude be? Can he maintain the health for the next few years? He also has to show that this is a Lakers franchise that you are taking over.
Only thing I would point out about that is if you go, you went through that list of players in the past with the Lakers, right? They have this incredible lineage of players. Elgen Baylor, Jerry West, Karema Dul Jabbar, Wilt Chamberlain, Kobe Bryant, now LeBron James, Magic Johnson, right? All of those guys chose to be in Los Angeles. The difference here is that Luka Donic did not. Luka Donuch was stunned to be traded to the to the Los Angeles Lakers. He was not trying to leave the Dallas Mavericks. He had no intention of leaving the Dallas Mavericks. He would have signed a supermax extension this off season, right? So again, all these questions about Luca after, you know, the conditioning, his his ability to get through the season healthy, can he get a team back to the finals, all these things are fair questions, but the question is who has more to prove this season. Luka Donic has nothing to prove in the situation he’s in because this season is about the Lakers proving to him that’s where he should be. Because I’ll tell you what, the Dallas Mavericks might not have wanted Luka Donic. All the other 29 teams in the league do want Luka Donic. And if he does get to free agency next summer, it doesn’t matter how this season goes. Every team that can potentially try to get him will be lined up at Bill Duffy, his agent’s door, saying, “What can we do to get Luca Donuch on our team?” That’s why to me, while all the questions you’re bringing up are fair, he didn’t sign up to be the face of the Lakers. He didn’t sign up to be the guy who took the mantle from LeBron James. This isn’t when Anthony Davis asked to be traded there. This isn’t when Shaquille O’Neal signed there as a free agent. This is a totally different unprecedented situation where Luca Donuch was very happy to be on his team and frankly arguably in the history of the league to have a top five player in the league where a team said you know what we don’t want this guy on our team anymore. So now to me the next 12 months it’s about can the Lakers prove they’re an organization that deserves to have Lucas stay there long term and we’ll see what happens with that beginning with how they handle the situation with LeBron James.
I’ve just I’ve just never heard this I’ve never heard this before. I’ve never heard of a situation where a dude has all these questions in the offseason about staying in shape. Staying in shape is a big question.
Calculated from JJ Reic when he said that. He wasn’t saying anything about what LeBron James needed to do this offse. I’m not saying the questions aren’t And I’m not saying the questions aren’t fair, right? Lucas had a history of this. But the question is who has more to prove where right now for the next year it’s going to be about proving to Luca Donuch where he should be.
Well, I mean, but nobody’s going to ask nobody’s asking these questions. LeBron James. If LeBron James does not win a championship in the next couple years or however long he’s in the league, nobody will say that this is a dink on his legacy. LeBron James will be the best 42, 41, 40, 39, 38 year old player that we have ever seen. LeBron James is still right there with Jordan. No matter what happens next, if LeBron James not winning a championship at 41 and 42 years old, nobody’s going to say that this is a failure at the end of his career. And everybody knows that LeBron James is coming into this season in shape. Everybody knows that LeBron James is going to play defense if you know his body can hold up. We’re asking Luca Donis, are you in shape? Your coach is talking about are you in shape and engaging defense? And there’s no way that anybody who has those questions asked about them says they don’t they don’t have anything to prove coming into the league.
I would like LeBron to prove where he wants to play. That’s what I would like. I would like to I would like to hear from Rich Paul and hear from LeBron to say, “Hey, you gave this statement the other day. What do you want? Do you want to be on the Lakers? Do you want to be somewhere else? Do you want to be traded? Can you can you please tell us because we spent all week wondering what it was the meaning was? It’d be nice to know. A
lot of reading between the lines there on that statement to Dave McManaman. Last thing I want to ask you before we leave this here. You mentioned that the Lakers need to prove it to Luca like why he should sign there when he has the option for the big contract.
DeAndre Aton goes there as a free agent. What needs to happen? Is the roster as constructed enough to contend to a level where you think Luca will be happy next year? Is there something else that has to happen in the meantime?
I mean, it depends on what level we’re talking about. If the Lakers are going to be a team that makes a run in the Western Conference playoffs, they have a lot of work left to do. His one of his best friends in the league is Dorian Finny Smith. He just left to go to the Houston Rockets, a rival in the Western Conference. That to me is not a great sign for the Lakers doing what they need to to show Luca Don she should be there long term. I do think DeAndre Aton will help them. He’s probably the second best center on the market this summer behind Miles Turner. Obviously, as David has pointed out earlier this week, there are plenty of questions about DeAndre 8 in terms of his long-term ability to make a huge impact, but he is a talented player who can help them and is certainly an upgrade over Jackson Hayes, who they’ve now assigned to be his backup, as you mentioned earlier. But this team still has a lot of holes on the perimeter defensively. They have very little perimeter defensive talent. They’re still lacking in shooting. They’re they’re a team that when you just stack them up player for player, yes, they finished third in the Western Conference last year. I’d say overall they’re either the same or a little worse. We’ve seen Houston get better. We’ve seen Denver get deeper. We’ve seen the Clippers get better. The Warriors are probably going to get better depending on what happens the rest of their offseason. There are a lot of teams making moves forward. The Lakers are at best staying flat and that’s with LeBron James’ future and his motivation in Los Angeles still being very uncertain.
Plus 850 for the Lakers. That is their odds right now. After the Eightton acquisition, that’s the fourth best currently in the Western Conference. At the beginning of the off season, our Shams Trania reported that Giannis was open to the idea of playing somewhere other than Milwaukee for the first time in his career. And since then, the Bucks have made several big moves, including signing Miles Turner and waving Damen Lillard in hopes of keeping their star player around. But it’s still unclear whether it’s going to be enough.
All right, David. It’s the Fourth of July. We’re leaning into who should want independence from the team. We love a good theme here on First Take. Who wants independence more? Is it Giannis from the Bucks or LeBron from the Lakers?
I think it’s LeBron from the Lakers. Like if if Giannis wanted to leave, right, he would have done that. He would have told them at the beginning of the offseason, I don’t want to be here. I want to go somewhere else. Like, let’s manufacture this trade and figure this thing out. I am still of the belief that he has some hand in this Miles Turner thing. I like Luke like Giannis and the Bucks are just looking for reasons to stay together, right? Giannis wants to be in Milwaukee. He does not want to go anywhere. He, you know, thinks is part good part of his legacy to be with one team. That’s one thing that, you know, a lot of his peers do not have. He wants to do this, right? And so they are grasping at straws to find a situation where he feels like it is worth it to stay Milwaukee. LeBron James on the other hand wants some sort of independence from this team. Uh, and it’s clear from what he said. But the problem is LeBron also wants $52.5 million. So that you have to thread that needle where he wants that money, but he also wants to have some sort of control over these last two years of his career. And I think that’s really what it’s about. The control that he can have over these next two years, which makes it difficult, though, is because, you know, he’s just in this one year and it’s not his team anymore. The leverage is not there. But if it was between the two, I would say LeBron is the person who wants to dictate his future wherever he wants to go more than Giannis.
And it still is Giannis’s team, right? They’re making all these moves to sweeten the pot so he’ll want to stay. Just like you said, we’d like to hear from LeBron. I would like Giannis to come back from his European vacation so we can hear from him about everything that’s happened. The Miles Turner move, the Damen Lillard being waved. Um,
we go through this every offseason though. There’s a GQ article probably waiting to be dropped right now where Giannis ponders his future in Milwaukee and the thought of winning a championship and being on the other side of 30. Can you tell me that this roster right now, Miles Turner, Gary Harris, they, you know, they move on from Pat Conson, they send him in a trade, no more Brook Lopez. Like, is is this roster in and no better in the back court than they were before Damen Lillard got injured? How could this roster possibly be better now to contend for a championship in the East when teams like Atlanta, teams like Orlando have continually escalated and the Bucks kind of feel like they’re stuck in no man’s land, eighth or ninth? Well, it’s kind of two different things though, right? Because like one thing is how close are the Bucks to a championship than they were last year? Not any closer. They’re a worse team than they were last year. And I think it’s hard to argue against that, right? But the other thing that that’s on the other side of this is how close are they to keeping Giannis, which I think is their main goal. Their main goal is convincing Giannis to stay. Whether that puts them closer to a championship or not, they are all in on the Giannis thing. I have been of the belief that it’s been both best for both of them to move on, for the Bucks to maximize they can get for Giannis and Giannis to maximize what he can at a championship contender because I want to see Giannis in a championship contender. I always want to see a top three player in the league competing for a championship. But if he wants to stay with Milwaukee and they feel like they’ve done enough to keep him and they want him to stay there, that to me is more important than what it is to actually get them closer to a championship. I
I still think he’s going somewhere else. We have heard rumored for a while it’s going to be somewhere in the Eastern Conference. Tell me that him in Miami isn’t intriguing. Giannis wanting independence from Milwaukee, staying in the Eastern Conference. The Knicks don’t feel like an option anymore. That’s feels like that passed. I think Giannis in Miami would probably be the best spot for someone who probably wants to win a championship. He’s on the other side of 30. He knows that his time is still limited to do this. Do you Where are you at? Like you siding with me on here on this Giannis one or do you think it’s LeBron who wants independence? cuz what you said is that Luca is the one who has the most to prove for the Lakers this year. Having said that, is LeBron’s best chance if he really wants a championship somewhere else?
Well, a couple things. One, I don’t think Miami would be the option I would choose if I was uh Yansteado and I was looking at my options given they just finished, I believe, 10th in the Eastern Conference last year and then lost by about a trillion points in the stats. He the team would be built around him. But I digress.
That’s fine. They still aren’t very close to winning. And to me, this question is very simple. One of these two players has not said he is considering actually leaving his team publicly, right? I’m not disputing Shams’s reporting, but Giannis hasn’t said anything. The other guy has an agent in Rich Paul who said 5 days ago when he opted into his contract, we’re evaluating our options. So to me, if it’s does one guy want to leave or does the other guy want to leave, one guy has said I’m thinking about leaving and the other guy hasn’t. So to me, this is a very simple choice. I would like to agree with you, but I have to agree with David. LeBron James has publicly said through his agent, I am evaluating my options to have the best chance to win a championship going forward. That is very clearly deciding what it is you want to do. Now, we can debate the merits of how insane that is to opt into your contract when you could be a free agent and have the ability to choose any of the 30 teams and then say, “Well, I want to take my money and then see if I can potentially go somewhere else.” But he has said that and while yes, it would be nice if Giannis came out and said that the Miles Turner signing is the greatest signing in the history of signings and that he wants to stay in Milwaukee, he also doesn’t have to do that. He’s under contract. There’s no reason for him to come out and say that. And to David’s point, we don’t know if he has been discussing that with the Bucks and has teamed up with them in terms of saying, “Hey, I’d love to have Miles Turner there.” But we also didn’t have that with LeBron James. If LeBron James on Sunday didn’t have his agent say or his agent didn’t just say, “Hey, we’re evaluating our options, deciding what we would be doing.” We wouldn’t be having this discussion. We’re only having it because LeBron and his agent have created this discussion over the past week. So again, if you ask which one wants independence more, one of them has openly said, “I’m thinking about it.” So I’m going with that guy.

On First Take, Tim Bontemps and David Dennis Jr. join Courtney Cronin to discuss the futures of LeBron James, Luka Doncic and the Los Angeles Lakers, as well as the uncertainty surrounding Giannis Antetokounmpo’s commitment to the Milwaukee Bucks.

0:00 Jaxson Hayes returning to Lakers
0:34 More to prove: LeBron James or Luka Doncic
3:48 Will LeBron James leave the Lakers?
5:26 The Lakers are Luka’s team!
9:52 Have Lakers done enough with signing Deandre Ayton?
11:30 Who wants out more: Giannis Antetokounmpo or LeBron?

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