The LeBron James All-NBA (2nd) and Luka Doncic - 24-25 Thread

[TheGOATRises007]

Maybe I'm too high on LeBron/Luka as a pairing in the playoffs, but if the Lakers get in a valuable center via a trade, I think they're very very dangerous in the playoffs.

I wouldn't be surprised if they made the WCF(presuming they bring in another player).

[thebigbird]

He’s been a negative impact player this year. Sure he can have throwback moments, but he’s no longer an All-NBA level player.

He’s not good enough for a team to cater to his needs anymore. This move allows the Lakers to be in charge again, because before this year, LeBron was still good enough to warrant that and there were no better options available. Both are no longer true.

The LeBron threads are notorious for LeBron hero worship and for pretending he’s God’s gift to basketball and can do no wrong, and everything that goes wrong is someone else’s fault. Your post still confirms that.

He can be the GOAT and still have flaws, especially as an older player now.

That’s a long winded way to say no.

I watch a lot of basketball, and not just Lakers games. But my interest in basketball has waned recently, if I’m being honest, at least in the regular season, so I don’t obsessively watch like I used to.

Not sure what part of my post is inaccurate though.

Is LeBron still an All-NBA level player? What evidence is there for that? Is he still good enough for a franchise to cater to him? What evidence is there for that?

Do him and Luka work as an on court pairing? Again, where is the evidence for that? Are the Lakers still going to be good this year without any sort of interior defensive presence and without their best overall player?

And if you think this move doesn’t shift the power dynamic back to the Lakers front office from LeBron’s hands, then I think that’s just not reality. They have a younger, better star now. They don’t need LeBron nearly as much now that they have Luka.

We can debate if they’ve really had his best interests in mind, but let’s remember that they made the AD trade (good), and also stripped the championship team of all its good role players to then pair LeBron up with his buddies as well as move on from the head coach that just won, in part to keep him happy (bad), drafted his son and hired a head coach hand picked by LeBron (TBD). They’ve at least taken his opinion into account far more than other franchise players around the league.

LeBron’s never had the power in LA, at least not nearly to the extent some people have thought he did. They traded for AD, but that was an absolute no brainer. They didn’t hire Ty Lue. They let Caruso walk. They wouldn’t trade picks and drafted bummy JHS instead. They just grade LeBron’s great friend without even telling LeBron beforehand. He’s never had much power in the organization, to the franchise’s detriment.

Lebron had a slow start to the season, likely because he had a shorter offseason due to the Olympics. He just went for 25/9/7 on 63% TS in January and the Lakers went 9-5, and then he had an outstanding game last night.

I don’t like the trade at all. I think it makes the Lakers a worse team right now. But it is what it is. The lakers don’t have to “cater” to LeBron right now, which they didn’t really do anyway, but they do have to cater to Luka. He can walk next offseason for nothing. LeBron and Luka excel in similar offenses so it’s not like the moves they make for Luka are going it harder for LeBron. But we’ve seen them fail to put complimentary pieces around LeBron for years so I doubt they’ll do much different with Luka. Pelinka is the same dunce he’s always been. He just happened to get lucky that the Mavs’ GM is an even bigger one.

[trickshot]

Some of the good, the bad, the ugly.
- 25year old Luka is an even bigger win now piece than 32yr old AD. He's that good.
- Lakers don't lack talent, the roster is just dysfunctional with multiple young scorers and no defenders. Literally can't run more than 2 or 3 lineups without 3-4 bad defenders. It's bad but fixable because they held on to some of their best contracts. Literally couldn't trade Rui's 18m because of the scoring drop. That's no longer a concern.
-Rob also haven't catered to anyone since the Westbrook trade fiasco, not even fans. No move was made for almost a year. That's part why the frontcourt situation got THIS bad.
-2 high usage players can play together. The diminishing returns traditionally starts at 3.
-Lebron isn't even that style of on ball high usage anymore. He's been playing off Austin Reaves all season, who is a homeless version of Luka.
- Lebron has a NTC. He benefits the most from playing with Luka and would probably get someone fired for asking.
- Rich Paul brought AD and many others to LA via Klutchsports connections who Lakers flipped for Luka. The franchise didn't heal by pure luck. They need him a while longer.
-Lakers ownership aren't loaded and make money from basketball and nothing else. The arena deals and sponsorships halve without Lebron. Unless you want to really blow it up and pay no tax for a season. Then you'll learn the next bit.
-Luka is an even worse loser than Lebron. If a team Fs around too long they'll be the ones trading him next.

[XTC]

Man if the Lakers flip Austin Reaves for a legitimate big man, and round out the rest of the roster with shooters and defenders. They are going to be scary.

[zimpy27]

What do you guys think of Rui+Reaves for Ausar+Stewart?

Luka, Ausar, DFS, LeBron, Stewart
Vincent, Knecht, Vando, Wood, Kleber
Bronny, Milton, Reddish, Markieff, Hayes


Stretch bigs and Ausar who could be one of the best perimeter defenders in the league. The rebounding would be great too with Luka, Ausar, LeBron all being plus rebounders for their position.

[trickshot]

I wouldn't trade Reaves just yet. See if it can work. They can get legitimately get greedy, make Reaves a 6th man if the defense is too bad. If I'm doing moves Rui and co are the first to go.

[TheGOATRises007]

Man if the Lakers flip Austin Reaves for a legitimate big man, and round out the rest of the roster with shooters and defenders. They are going to be scary.

I also think they should flip Reaves.

He's become redundant with Luka.

They can win a title this year if they make good moves. There is no way Luka doesn't have a fire lit up his *** after the hit pieces coming out from Dallas. He's probably pissed af.

[zimpy27]

I wouldn't trade Reaves just yet. See if it can work. They can get legitimately get greedy, make Reaves a 6th man if the defense is too bad. If I'm doing moves Rui and co are the first to go.

Well currently this is their playoff rotation:

PG: Reaves (28) | Vincent (20)
SG: Doncic (38) | Reaves (10)
SF: DFS (38) | Rui (10)
PF: LeBron (38) | Rui (10)
C : Vando (23) | Kleber (15) | Rui (10)

18 mins: Reaves, Doncic, DFS, LeBron, Vando
10 mins: Reaves, Doncic, DFS, Rui, Kleber
10 mins: Vincent, Doncic, Rui, LeBron, Vando/Kleber
10 mins: Vincent, Reaves, DFS, LeBron, Rui

Rui for a C is a definite need.
Next up is an upgrade of Vincent.

If you can make Rui into a defender via trade then you can make the biggest impact on the defense. Probably go from 20th to 10th defense

[The Master]

I also think they should flip Reaves.

I wouldn't trade Reaves just yet. See if it can work. They can get legitimately get greedy, make Reaves a 6th man if the defense is too bad. If I'm doing moves Rui and co are the first to go.

Reaves has amazing value considering his level of play (20-4-7 since Russell trade) and contract (27/2 and PO, this season included), fans always underestimate financial ramifications of NBA trades and I can easily imagine Lakers getting a surprisingly good player in return as long Reaves is on this awesome contract. Let's see if there's time until trade deadline to find someone impactful already this year, but no pressure, I guess.

Considering he's not fitting that well to Doncic and he won't be on such friendly contract since 2026, he should be on the block.

[XTC]

Yall know what's crazy?

The Lakers will be resiging Luka to a BARGAIN contract (thanks Nico!), he's going to be making $115 less over 5 years. That is a serious discount, and going to give the Lakers alot of cap room to play around with. Crazy.

[zimpy27]

Yall know what's crazy?

The Lakers will be resiging Luka to a BARGAIN contract (thanks Nico!), he's going to be making $115 less over 5 years. That is a serious discount, and going to give the Lakers alot of cap room to play around with. Crazy.

Surely he signs a max 3 year deals with PO, then opts out after 2 years to get the 35% veteran max. He's going to make his money back.

[zimpy27]

I also think they should flip Reaves.

I wouldn't trade Reaves just yet. See if it can work. They can get legitimately get greedy, make Reaves a 6th man if the defense is too bad. If I'm doing moves Rui and co are the first to go.

Reaves has amazing value considering his level of play (20-4-7 since Russell trade) and contract (27/2 and PO, this season included), fans always underestimate financial ramifications of NBA trades and I can easily imagine Lakers getting a surprisingly good player in return as long Reaves is on this awesome contract. Let's see if there's time until trade deadline to find someone impactful already this year, but no pressure, I guess.

Considering he's not fitting that well to Doncic and he won't be on such friendly contract since 2026, he should be on the block.

Yeah on one hand Reaves will drop again when he's 3rd fiddle to Luka and LeBron. Meaning his trade value is highest now.
On the other hand his reduced value will make him cheaper to re-sign on 2026.


You got to commit to Reaves now long-term or trade him by deadline.

[zimpy27]

I'm actually happy with the wing defense and backup big spot with DFS, Vando, Reddish, Kleber, Wood, Hayes

But yeah Rui, Vincent, Knecht for a starting C and a Max Christie replacement are the needs.

If Lakers don't make a move then we're going to be watching Rui at C for the rest of the season. Will work some games and be a disaster others.

[TheGOATRises007]

If the Lakers don't explore trading Reaves, Pelinka is selling.

I wouldn't punt this season away. LeBron + motivated Luka in the playoffs with shooters and rim protection? They can win the title.

The Mavs made the finals last year with a similar formula and even at 40, LeBron > Kyrie.

[TheGOATRises007]

I'm actually happy with the wing defense and backup big spot with DFS, Vando, Reddish, Kleber, Wood, Hayes

But yeah Rui, Vincent, Knecht for a starting C and a Max Christie replacement are the needs.

If Lakers don't make a move then we're going to be watching Rui at C for the rest of the season. Will work some games and be a disaster others.

Kleber is out for the season I believe.

[Doug_12]

What do you guys think of Rui+Reaves for Ausar+Stewart?

Luka, Ausar, DFS, LeBron, Stewart
Vincent, Knecht, Vando, Wood, Kleber
Bronny, Milton, Reddish, Markieff, Hayes


Stretch bigs and Ausar who could be one of the best perimeter defenders in the league. The rebounding would be great too with Luka, Ausar, LeBron all being plus rebounders for their position.

I'm less sold on this as interior size with Stewart would be a problem. He seems to be smaller than RW3 and even him was a bit too small for a team w/ no one being 6'9+ (except Hayes). Also I don't like adding a complete non-shooter to the perimeter next to Luka and Lebron: Thybulle is also not a great shooter, but at least he can knock down some open threes. I think we'd be way better off w/ a bit less impactful defender and a bit more impactful shooter. (Kind of like: Thybulle, Dort, Ball etc... irrespective of their availability)

But my main question is: Why would the Pistons do this? Ausar is the best prospect in the deal and they are definitely not in win-now mode.

[Slava]

This team needs two centers and a starting SG to be scary in the west.

[zimpy27]

If the Lakers don't explore trading Reaves, Pelinka is selling.

I wouldn't punt this season away. LeBron + motivated Luka in the playoffs with shooters and rim protection? They can win the title.

The Mavs made the finals last year with a similar formula and even at 40, LeBron > Kyrie.

Yeah so the advantage Luka brings is efficient offense and plus rebounding. Lakers should be a better rebounding team than they were but they can get better still.

Mavs followed the 2015-2017 Cavs blueprint. Efficient scorers and playmakers (Luka and Kyrie) surrounded by 2-way wings and elite rebounding bigs.

So Lakers can do something similar I believe.

[zimpy27]

I'm actually happy with the wing defense and backup big spot with DFS, Vando, Reddish, Kleber, Wood, Hayes

But yeah Rui, Vincent, Knecht for a starting C and a Max Christie replacement are the needs.

If Lakers don't make a move then we're going to be watching Rui at C for the rest of the season. Will work some games and be a disaster others.

Kleber is out for the season I believe.

Damn did not know this. That makes him trade bait then. He can be flipped but not aggregated. So he could only bring back a C or guard defender cheaper than his contract.

[trickshot]

I also think they should flip Reaves.

I wouldn't trade Reaves just yet. See if it can work. They can get legitimately get greedy, make Reaves a 6th man if the defense is too bad. If I'm doing moves Rui and co are the first to go.

Reaves has amazing value considering his level of play (20-4-7 since Russell trade) and contract (27/2 and PO, this season included), fans always underestimate financial ramifications of NBA trades and I can easily imagine Lakers getting a surprisingly good player in return as long Reaves is on this awesome contract. Let's see if there's time until trade deadline to find someone impactful already this year, but no pressure, I guess.

Considering he's not fitting that well to Doncic and he won't be on such friendly contract since 2026, he should be on the block.

It's his deal. It's too damn valuable under the new CBA. Having two max contracts every mil after has to be worth its weight in gold. Almost guaranteed value isn't coming back in equal measure. Most of the players he's worth trading for are in the 'why would the other team do that?' range.