Silly hot take but...would LA be better off selling high on Bron?

[iggymcfrack]

LeBron + LA is way too attractive to free agents and pre-agents for it to be remotely reasonable for them to trade LeBron. They were second choice for Paul George last summer and they’re first choice for Anthony Davis right now. They just have to be a little patient.

[R-DAWG]

It's too soon. You really need to give it a shot this summer with your cap space and at the deadline next year with the young guys, assuming they can stay healthy and regain their value. If LA is still on the outside of the playoffs at the midway point of next season, which means they either missed in free agency, the young guys didn't step up, or both, then it would be a proper time to have the conversation. At that point, a team trading for him would have him under contract for his age 35 and 36 playoff runs (likely coming off a season with a significantly reduced workload considering he missed a month, will play reduced minutes down the stretch, and won't play playoff minutes). Additionally, Lebron would likely be more flexible with destinations since it would be for a few months in 2020 (FEB-JUNE) and then 1 season after that, at which point he can re-evaluate. Both sides can get together, admit they tried and it didn't work, and work on getting themselves into position to compete for another championship. And if the Lakers don't hit on free agency or a trade this summer, the window to build a contender around 35 year old Lebron might be closed.

I mentioned this in another thread, that while Lebron's dream might be to finish out his career living in Los Angeles and playing for the Lakers, he does not have the political capital he had with the Cavs or even the Heat in Los Angeles. The organization has won so much and has had so many all-time great players that even as good as Lebron has been, he's compared to guys who played their primes in LA. Similar to A-Rod with the Yankees. This situation, especially considering Lebron's off court reputation, has potential to get ugly if the Lakers can't build a superteam around Lebron.

[bulliedog8]

Nuggets get: Lebron

Lakers get: Milsap, Harris, MPJ, and 2 future 1sts


Nuggets are deep and wouldnt hurt at all from doing this trade. Gives the nuggets finals contenders easy.

Lakers get Milsap for salary filler. Harris is a legit role playing starter. MPJ is the boom or bust player. and the picks, but they will be between 26-30 unfortunately.

Lakers get deep and have max money for guys in 2020 with milsap off the books.

I think you are dramatically over valuing the price a 34-35 year old Lebron will bring back, especially with the results from this season.

Low key, was thinking people might not think that is close to enough for lebron. Id actually agree with you. People overrate lebron.

[rugbyrugger23]

Someone check my math...

To GSW: James + Frank (or other cheap asset?)

To Lakers: Knox + DSJ

To Knicks: KD (S&T)

Point of trade is can KD be traded for after signing 2x max free agents? Kind of like the plan for AD but using less capital and the flight risk of AD.

Irving + Butler sign (maybe little less than max?)

C: Robinson | Vet
F: Zion (does cap allow for draft pick to be kept?)
F: KD
G: Butler
G: Irving

Lakers do this to get more youth for either a AD trade, or punt until next season without aging James.

GSW gets James. Nice parting gift for KD who tells them he is leaving.

Knicks and GSW in the finals. Book it.

[Resistance]

Someone check my math...

To GSW: James + Frank (or other cheap asset?)

To Lakers: Knox + DSJ

To Knicks: KD (S&T)

Point of trade is can KD be traded for after signing 2x max free agents? Kind of like the plan for AD but using less capital and the flight risk of AD.

Irving + Butler sign (maybe little less than max?)

C: Robinson | Vet
F: Zion (does cap allow for draft pick to be kept?)
F: KD
G: Butler
G: Irving

Lakers do this to get more youth for either a AD trade, or punt until next season without aging James.

GSW gets James. Nice parting gift for KD who tells them he is leaving.

Knicks and GSW in the finals. Book it.

Wouldn't it be more practical for the Knicks to sign Durant into cap space? If the Knicks need more cap space, then trade Knox and/or DSJ for pick compensation. If they also need to dump Frank, they still should be able to come out ahead doing it separately from the Durant signing.

[rugbyrugger23]

Someone check my math...

To GSW: James + Frank (or other cheap asset?)

To Lakers: Knox + DSJ

To Knicks: KD (S&T)

Point of trade is can KD be traded for after signing 2x max free agents? Kind of like the plan for AD but using less capital and the flight risk of AD.

Irving + Butler sign (maybe little less than max?)

C: Robinson | Vet
F: Zion (does cap allow for draft pick to be kept?)
F: KD
G: Butler
G: Irving

Lakers do this to get more youth for either a AD trade, or punt until next season without aging James.

GSW gets James. Nice parting gift for KD who tells them he is leaving.

Knicks and GSW in the finals. Book it.

Wouldn't it be more practical for the Knicks to sign Durant into cap space? If the Knicks need more cap space, then trade Knox and/or DSJ for pick compensation. If they also need to dump Frank, they still should be able to come out ahead doing it separately from the Durant signing.

Well if my trade proposal is CBA legal — then no. Knicks would have to clear everyone and picks and still ask 3 players to take less money to get all 3 within cap space. Trading for Durant I think they can go over cap with the 125% rule. But I could be wrong. And more than likely in my proposal the draft pick has to be included.

So in theory, sign 2x max FAs and then use current contracts to trade for KD. Same as they are planning for AD. Just with KD, they should be able to keep more assets (as required to be highest bidder for AD) and get a locked in KD (vs. 1 year flight risk of AD).

[taikibansei]

So, the Lakers trade LeBron James and get back only Knox + DSJ?!!

Sign me up!

[The Rebel]

LeBron + LA is way too attractive to free agents and pre-agents for it to be remotely reasonable for them to trade LeBron. They were second choice for Paul George last summer and they’re first choice for Anthony Davis right now. They just have to be a little patient.

There are plenty of rumors out there that stars do not want to play with Lebron, and I do not know how you can say that the Lakers were PGs 2nd choice when he never even took a meeting with them despite saying for 2 years he wanted to be a Laker? I remember clear as day when Kobe and Dirk were trying to recruit Lebron, Wade, Melo and those guys, and the rumor was those guys would not even talk to them because they were just too old, why would guys in their prime now want to go play with those guys?

It also appears that the PElicans upper management are not the least bit interested in anything that the Lakers have to offer, maybe they get lucky in the lotto and that changes their mind, but I doubt Davis shows up there anytime soon.

[The Rebel]

Nuggets get: Lebron

Lakers get: Milsap, Harris, MPJ, and 2 future 1sts


Nuggets are deep and wouldnt hurt at all from doing this trade. Gives the nuggets finals contenders easy.

Lakers get Milsap for salary filler. Harris is a legit role playing starter. MPJ is the boom or bust player. and the picks, but they will be between 26-30 unfortunately.

Lakers get deep and have max money for guys in 2020 with milsap off the books.

I think you are dramatically over valuing the price a 34-35 year old Lebron will bring back, especially with the results from this season.

Low key, was thinking people might not think that is close to enough for lebron. Id actually agree with you. People overrate lebron.

The issue is that a lot of people forget that Lebron is 34 years old and is starting to show signs of declining and his body breaking down, while being locked on a max deal for another 3 years. While I think he is still better than Shaq when Shaq was traded from Miami with 2 years on his deal, I think that is the closest deal you would find. He brought back Marion who was a lower tier all star and a borderline rotation player.

So the question is how much is how much are teams going to give up to get a declining superstar on a max deal, and I just do not see more than 1 very good player and 1 solid prospect. I really do not see multiple 1sts, 2 good players, and a good prospect as something that any team is going to give up for Lebron at this point.

Like if the deal was Harris, MPJ, and a future 1st, than I can see that being a competitive offer, but realistically I would not give that for Lebron but I do not want him near my team at all. He needs to go to a veteran team that is not only really good, but that has veterans that are not going to worry about the constant media crap and passive aggressive **** while being constantly in trade rumors. I do not want to see him do to the Nuggets like he has done to the Lakers, no thanks.

[taikibansei]

I think you are dramatically over valuing the price a 34-35 year old Lebron will bring back, especially with the results from this season.

Low key, was thinking people might not think that is close to enough for lebron. Id actually agree with you. People overrate lebron.

The issue is that a lot of people forget that Lebron is 34 years old and is starting to show signs of declining and his body breaking down, while being locked on a max deal for another 3 years. While I think he is still better than Shaq when Shaq was traded from Miami with 2 years on his deal, I think that is the closest deal you would find. He brought back Marion who was a lower tier all star and a borderline rotation player.

So the question is how much is how much are teams going to give up to get a declining superstar on a max deal, and I just do not see more than 1 very good player and 1 solid prospect. I really do not see multiple 1sts, 2 good players, and a good prospect as something that any team is going to give up for Lebron at this point.

Like if the deal was Harris, MPJ, and a future 1st, than I can see that being a competitive offer, but realistically I would not give that for Lebron but I do not want him near my team at all. He needs to go to a veteran team that is not only really good, but that has veterans that are not going to worry about the constant media crap and passive aggressive **** while being constantly in trade rumors. I do not want to see him do to the Nuggets like he has done to the Lakers, no thanks.

I think it's pretty clear that LeBron has begun to decline. That said, man, he's still arguably top-five in the league. Moreover, when LeBron, Ball, and BI all played significant minutes, the Lakers were .550 this year. This suggests both that Ball's impact on the team is underrated, and that even the current squad was very competitive when all healthy.

While trading LeBron makes sense if they can get something significant back--much more significant than the majority of proposals above--barring that, there's just no reason for the Lakers to do it. They have cap space this summer, decent young talent, a lottery pick...and LeBron James. That's not too horrible a place to be.

[basketballwacko2]

First off I can't see this going well for long so if we don't play nice I'm locking this pretty quick but hear me out...

The Lakers had started finding themselves a bit last season. Lonzo helped them make strides on defense, Ingram had slowly started living up to his hype and giving people something to hope for, Kuz (and Hart this year) came out of nowhere and have shown a lot but then enters Bron and the group of meh "win now" players that come with him. He has did his part in ruining chemistry, management has felt compelled to make moves for stars and that's adversely affected the youngsters, and a lot of the vets aren't the most ideal team players.

With Bron getting older, is he worth the drama? If the Lakers strike out in FA and the AD sweepstakes, would it in theory be better to trade Bron for the farm and build from the ground up around Lonzo, Ingram, Kuz, Hart and whatever they get from Bron? (I know it's a pr suicide but yeah...)

LBJ for AD!!

[basketballwacko2]

LeBron is one of the most powerful players in the history of professional sports, trading him without him requesting it would probably cause the Lakers to be absolutely hated by literally every star and most fans.

IDK about that. It would be bad form, signing a guy then trading him in one year looks bad. But if the locker room has become toxic and he's the reason what do you do? Trade everyone else and hope the next years locker room is not toxic?

LBJ is the top dog even if he is getting older. He's never really been traded so it would be unprecedented. It all depends on the Front Office, do they think that he is worth tossing the rest of the team aside, when he's 34 years old and maybe only has 3-4 years left.

If they could get a haul of players and picks then I say trade him. But only after you see if the FA market this summer brings you some help. If they strike out in FA then maybe move him, because it might be him that is keeping the free agents away.