Andrew McCeltic wrote:Would love to see Cleveland get out in front of this, and take away a little player entitlement, by trading Lebron and Love now - not at the deadline or in deals next summer.
A trade of Lebron to LA for Deng, Jordan Clarkson, and Brandon Ingram would give Cleveland another piece for the future - Ingram, the BKN pick, TT, Clarkson, maybe IT isn't bad. Plus whatever they might get dealing Love. Even keeping him and playing him in a double forward lineup with Thompson would be pretty good.
LA would have Lebron, plus nearly enough money to max two guys. Also the possibility Lebron could opt out and take a slight paycut to facilitate adding Westbrook and George.
I'm not feeling strongly about it, but you do realize that we have a shot at 2-5 with the Lakers pick, right? Right now Las Vegas odds pegs them at tied for the 8th worst record with 33 wins, which seems about right for their roster.
So the Catch 22 is on- if the Lakers trade for LeBron, then we no longer will have to worry about Cleveland however the pick has no chance to materialize for the Celtics. If the Lakers are looking to save assets and wait for everybody in free agency it looks like we need an injury (Lopez LOL) or Pope to get down to the 2-5 range.
In looking at the current Lakers roster they've started a vintage 2010 Miami Heat sort of job that will be focused on figuring out a way to dump Luol Deng. They already got rid of Mozgov's contract.
Looking around the NBA, if I were the Lakers I would be looking squarely at the Chicago Bulls being way below the cap. Clarkson, Deng ,Ingram, future picks for Wade. I don't believe Wade has a no-trade clause. The Bulls get a decent player in Clarkson and get to take a flyer on Ingram that could be a nice move for a rebuilding team. The Lakers get to where they want to be to sign LeBron, Westbrook and Paul George as free agents with virtually only Lonzo Ball's salary on the roster. With Clarkson and Ingram gone, the Celtics get more of a crack at 2-5.
The biggest snags in this deal would be Wade getting pissy about spending time in limbo while waiting to be released in March, and Clarkson being too good for a Bulls tank in the last best year to tank. Maybe get a third team involved? Deng actually helps them as a bad player soaking up salary to get to the cap floor while the Bulls look high lotto in 2018. Welcome home Luol!