Re: Lakers To Pursue James Harden, Klay Thompson, Jonas Valanciunas With MLE

[RealGM Wiretap]

James Harden, Klay Thompson and Jonas Valanciunas are among the players the Los Angeles Lakers could target with their full midlevel exception, sources tell Dave McMenamin of ESPN. 

James is willing to take less than his three-year, $162 million max contract if the Lakers are able to secure a commitment from an impact players at the full $12.9 million mid-level. 

"He is prioritizing a roster improvement," Rich Paul told ESPN on Saturday. "He's been adamant about exuding all efforts to improve the roster."

Via Dave McMenamin/ESPN

[cheese318]

I highly doubt this happens. He’s never taken less and has always traded away any asset possible for the future. Maybe some of his teams could have manufactured youthful talent with progressive growth if he ever believed in the drafting of players for a teams roster.

I wonder if this all started in the beginning of his career when CLE 1.0 was one of the worst drafting teams (Boozer was the lone spotlight) put around him. I say this all the time if MEM gets the #1 pick that year with Jerry West at the helm with the roster they already had in place he’d have close to 6-7 titles at this point

[Temuhjan]

Maybe Bron should sign with the Mavs for the MLE. Guaranteed to get him silverware.

[tigerae]

I highly doubt this happens. He’s never taken less and has always traded away any asset possible for the future. Maybe some of his teams could have manufactured youthful talent with progressive growth if he ever believed in the drafting of players for a teams roster.

I wonder if this all started in the beginning of his career when CLE 1.0 was one of the worst drafting teams (Boozer was the lone spotlight) put around him. I say this all the time if MEM gets the #1 pick that year with Jerry West at the helm with the roster they already had in place he’d have close to 6-7 titles at this point

He took less money in Miami in 2010, 15 million less to be exact. Him taking less now wouldn't be a surprise but I don't see Klay or Harden taking the MLE.

Also, in terms of trading away any asset possible for the future, any team with LeBron James should be in Win Now mode and should try and put the best team around one of the best players in the league to try to win a championship. I find it funny how that gets put on LeBron but then trades like Kevin Love and AD which brought championships to those teams are overlooked. He's either the GM, Coach and President all the time or none of the time. He wanted Ty Lue with the Lakers and they offered him only a 2 year deal and tried to force Jason Kidd on his coaching staff. If LBJ was running the show, Lue would have been head coach instead of Vogel.

He also carried bum teams to the Finals. Multiple franchises still have no championships and the Cavs got their lone championship thanks to LeBron. I bet all those teams would trade away the entire house to build a contender around LeBron, if they were given that opportunity. I would rather have a great chance at a title once or twice over building a mediocre playoff team for 10 consistent years.

The Cavs were just incompetent when it came to drafting. They had 3 #1s after LeBron and even Kyrie wasn't the best in the class. Not to mention Anthony Bennett. They also wasted #4 on Dion Waiters.

Of course if LeBron got picked by a different organization, who knows. Memphis is a great example when Jerry West was there. Spurs could have also been a great spot for him with Pop.

[hyberx]

How about 1 MLE for all 3 guys?

[G R E Y]

Bwahahahaha!

[cheese318]

I highly doubt this happens. He’s never taken less and has always traded away any asset possible for the future. Maybe some of his teams could have manufactured youthful talent with progressive growth if he ever believed in the drafting of players for a teams roster.

I wonder if this all started in the beginning of his career when CLE 1.0 was one of the worst drafting teams (Boozer was the lone spotlight) put around him. I say this all the time if MEM gets the #1 pick that year with Jerry West at the helm with the roster they already had in place he’d have close to 6-7 titles at this point

He took less money in Miami in 2010, 15 million less to be exact. Him taking less now wouldn't be a surprise but I don't see Klay or Harden taking the MLE.

Also, in terms of trading away any asset possible for the future, any team with LeBron James should be in Win Now mode and should try and put the best team around one of the best players in the league to try to win a championship. I find it funny how that gets put on LeBron but then trades like Kevin Love and AD which brought championships to those teams are overlooked. He's either the GM, Coach and President all the time or none of the time. He wanted Ty Lue with the Lakers and they offered him only a 2 year deal and tried to force Jason Kidd on his coaching staff. If LBJ was running the show, Lue would have been head coach instead of Vogel.

He also carried bum teams to the Finals. Multiple franchises still have no championships and the Cavs got their lone championship thanks to LeBron. I bet all those teams would trade away the entire house to build a contender around LeBron, if they were given that opportunity. I would rather have a great chance at a title once or twice over building a mediocre playoff team for 10 consistent years.

The Cavs were just incompetent when it came to drafting. They had 3 #1s after LeBron and even Kyrie wasn't the best in the class. Not to mention Anthony Bennett. They also wasted #4 on Dion Waiters.

Of course if LeBron got picked by a different organization, who knows. Memphis is a great example when Jerry West was there. Spurs could have also been a great spot for him with Pop.

$15M combined? Kind of surprised he would take $15M pay cut per year. What’s being reported right now is he would take $16M/yearly pay cut which I just kind of doubt he’ll do. As for the win now mode there’s levels to this and when you are a team that’s always capped out the best way to bring in youthful cheap talent is by drafting. Other teams seem to be able to manage being a contender and building blocks for the future via the draft.