If There is a Time For Lebron To Demand a Trade, It Would be NOW

[Mavrelous]

There is no "demand a trade" LeBron and clutch make their calls, find the destination and hand the details to the Lakers to sign...

[gottamakeit]

LBJ isn't going to publicly demand a trade. He'll have Klutch call around and test his market first. There may not be a trade that would be acceptable to both the Lakers and LBJ, in which case, he'll keep cashing checks well into the season, and revisit the market around the deadline.

Mid-season buyout, book it

I'm not sure LBJ takes a buyout. He might, but he's really not built that way.

Is it because he would incur too much of a loss on the buyout? How much would he be willing to forgo to position himself on a contending team (a chance to add to his legacy) ?

Would he be better suited financially to negotiate a buyout now as opposed to midseason?

Just spit-balling here, but i think he would be willing to accept $.80cents on the dollar of his original contract for a good shot to win another chip. He could even negotiate his new team to take on his sons.

[Iwasawitness]

"Nooooooo guys dont mention lebron has left 3 different teams! thats not his character stop mentioning it - it was freee agency!!!!! !"

Dude has been on more teams than most star players save for worst offender in Kevin Durant.

Jokic - 1 Team
Embiid - 1 Team
Duncan - 1 Team
Kobe - 1 Team
Booker - 1 Team
Curry - 1 Team
Giannis - 1 Team
Lillard - 2 Teams
Wade - 2 Teams
Brunson - 2 Teams
Kawhi - 3 Teams

Bron - 4 teams so far

Dude is a team hopper, jumping from team to team looking for opportunities to win more rings. Being pedantic and insisting that leaving a team once his contract is up when he intentionally signs for PO contracts is silly. He's a team hopper.

None of this changes the fact that him demanding a trade is something he's never done in his career. Not our fault if you guys can't differentiate between the two.

I don't think anyone said he has a history of demanding trades.

It was an over-sensitive reaction from the LeBron fanbase that took the term 'jump ship" and immediately flew to defend Brons reputation.

Any time a player leaves their team, it's pretty common and fair to say they "jumped ship" regardless of how they did it save for the actual team trading them against their will.

KD jumped ship when he left OKC.
LeBron jumped ship when he left CLE and MIA and CLE again

Jumping ship is leaving the team you're currently on.

Again, only deeply overly-sensitive analysis would be so pendantic.

So we should just use factually incorrect terms and anyone who corrects them is being sensitive. Got it.

Jordan got carried by Pippen. Anyone who disagrees is clearly sensitive.

[In-N-Out 247]

Realistically if you are the Lakers - who would you not trade Lebron for? I am thinking Beal and PG13. Anybody else?

[jbk1234]

Mid-season buyout, book it

I'm not sure LBJ takes a buyout. He might, but he's really not built that way.

Is it because he would incur too much of a loss on the buyout? How much would he be willing to forgo to position himself on a contending team (a chance to add to his legacy) ?

Would he be better suited financially to negotiate a buyout now as opposed to midseason?

Just spit-balling here, but i think he would be willing to accept $.80cents on the dollar of his original contract for a good shot to win another chip. He could even negotiate his new landing spot to take on his sons.

He doesn't like giving back money, there's the optics/legacy angle, and he can't sign with a second apron team this season. I'm not saying it's impossible, but there are a lot of factors weighing against it.

[jbk1234]

Realistically if you are the Lakers - who would you not trade Lebron for? I am thinking Beal and PG13. Anybody else?

Well, LBJ is expiring so I don't see them taking back any bad long-term money.

[Ssj16]

Who cares what Lebron wants. A team would have to give up two very good players salary wise to deal with the drama. Dude used to be worth it, not anymore though. Let him finish his career in the situation he created.

He created the Lakers FO being incompetent from 2013 onward?
Sure, he had some say with regards to Westbrook, what else was his fault?

AD demanding a trade to LAL?
Trading Zubac for nothing?
The FO not wanting to resign Caruso and prioritizing THT instead?
Trading Green and a 1st for Schroder?
Signing a Montrezl Harrell who’s out of the league?
Refusing to give Ty Lue a long-term contract?
Refusing to offer DeRozan a 3-year contract in 2021 which resulted in him choosing Chicago?


Yeah let’s not do this. He definitely has some fault with regard to the Russ move, but not much else. At the end of the day, in any case, a competent FO makes more successful moves than poor ones, and that is absolutely not the case with the Lakers over the past 12 years.

Yet Lebron signed with the Lakers even knowing the front office was incompetent since 2013.

This is the exact definition of lying in the bed you made.

[Lunartic]

None of this changes the fact that him demanding a trade is something he's never done in his career. Not our fault if you guys can't differentiate between the two.

I don't think anyone said he has a history of demanding trades.

It was an over-sensitive reaction from the LeBron fanbase that took the term 'jump ship" and immediately flew to defend Brons reputation.

Any time a player leaves their team, it's pretty common and fair to say they "jumped ship" regardless of how they did it save for the actual team trading them against their will.

KD jumped ship when he left OKC.
LeBron jumped ship when he left CLE and MIA and CLE again

Jumping ship is leaving the team you're currently on.

Again, only deeply overly-sensitive analysis would be so pendantic.

So we should just use factually incorrect terms and anyone who corrects them is being sensitive. Got it.

Jordan got carried by Pippen. Anyone who disagrees is clearly sensitive.

Jumping ship has a factually correct definition? Sure let's take a look:

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/abandon-jump-ship


Synonyms include "leave" "abandon"

So tell me more about the factually correct terms my friend.

[SSUBluesman]

None of this changes the fact that him demanding a trade is something he's never done in his career. Not our fault if you guys can't differentiate between the two.

I don't think anyone said he has a history of demanding trades.

It was an over-sensitive reaction from the LeBron fanbase that took the term 'jump ship" and immediately flew to defend Brons reputation.

Any time a player leaves their team, it's pretty common and fair to say they "jumped ship" regardless of how they did it save for the actual team trading them against their will.

KD jumped ship when he left OKC.
LeBron jumped ship when he left CLE and MIA and CLE again

Jumping ship is leaving the team you're currently on.

Again, only deeply overly-sensitive analysis would be so pendantic.

So we should just use factually incorrect terms and anyone who corrects them is being sensitive. Got it.

Jordan got carried by Pippen. Anyone who disagrees is clearly sensitive.

It's because LeBron isn't as bad as they say he is, so they have to goal post shift and be dishonest about it, causing them to project their own sensitivity on posters calling out their bull.

Take the bolded. The term "jump ship" is etymologically a pejorative term and continues to be used as such. In no way is it commonly used or done so with a neutral tone. It's the height of free agent frenzy in the NBA (and the NHL) and the phrase is almost entirely absent in the free agent threads on the GB.

And then of course there's this...

"Nooooooo guys dont mention lebron has left 3 different teams! thats not his character stop mentioning it - it was freee agency!!!!! !"

Dude has been on more teams than most star players save for worst offender in Kevin Durant.

Jokic - 1 Team
Embiid - 1 Team
Duncan - 1 Team
Kobe - 1 Team
Booker - 1 Team
Curry - 1 Team
Giannis - 1 Team
Lillard - 2 Teams
Wade - 2 Teams
Brunson - 2 Teams
Kawhi - 3 Teams

Bron - 4 teams so far

Dude is a team hopper, jumping from team to team looking for opportunities to win more rings. Being pedantic and insisting that leaving a team once his contract is up when he intentionally signs for PO contracts is silly. He's a team hopper.

LeBron only played for 3 teams, but because they have to be dishonest to make their point they claim "4 teams so far". And if history is any indicator they will cry about people being pedantic and sensitive for pointing out that they are wrong.

Kawhi?!?! LOL the guy who forced his way from the SPURS, and then left a title winning team to in LAC by having PG13 force a trade there?

Wade? As in Dwyane Wade? The guy who brought LeBron (and Bosh) to Miami and then later joined back up with LeBron in Cleveland. Also like LeBron he played for 3 teams total, with 2 stints with the team that drafted him.

[ChumboChappati]

he will only go to Cavs if they agree. Question is what will be the Cavs package to get him

[PistolPeteJR]

Giannis is dealing with the worst supporting cast out of any star in the league, a worse supporting cast than Lebron had in Cleveland in 2018, and yet he has still never once publicly called out the Bucks front office. Meanwhile Lebron is already publicly calling out the Lakers front office less than five months after stealing Luka from Dallas in one of the most lopsided trades in nba history. Comparing Lebron to Giannis here is laughable.

2025 Lillard was by far better than anyone LeBron had in 2018, let alone his first Cavs stint. Let’s not do this. It’ll end laughably for you.

and 2025 Luka is better than anyone Giannis ever has or will ever dream of playing with outside of the all-star game. But we all know a top 5 superstar in their prime is not enough for Lebron, he also needs the front office to trade every single asset they own to make another win-now move, so then when he bails in two years we can all talk about how bad they are without him.

You're really comparing 40-year old LeBron to 30-year old Giannis?

Yup, apples to apples, for sure. /s

[PistolPeteJR]

Giannis is dealing with the worst supporting cast out of any star in the league, a worse supporting cast than Lebron had in Cleveland in 2018, and yet he has still never once publicly called out the Bucks front office. Meanwhile Lebron is already publicly calling out the Lakers front office less than five months after stealing Luka from Dallas in one of the most lopsided trades in nba history. Comparing Lebron to Giannis here is laughable.

2025 Lillard was by far better than anyone LeBron had in 2018, let alone his first Cavs stint. Let’s not do this. It’ll end laughably for you.

the LeBron stans truly live in their own world of delusions

Okay GiannisAnte34.

Would love evidence that I'm a stan. I'll wait, endlessly.

[PistolPeteJR]

Who cares what Lebron wants. A team would have to give up two very good players salary wise to deal with the drama. Dude used to be worth it, not anymore though. Let him finish his career in the situation he created.

He created the Lakers FO being incompetent from 2013 onward?
Sure, he had some say with regards to Westbrook, what else was his fault?

AD demanding a trade to LAL?
Trading Zubac for nothing?
The FO not wanting to resign Caruso and prioritizing THT instead?
Trading Green and a 1st for Schroder?
Signing a Montrezl Harrell who’s out of the league?
Refusing to give Ty Lue a long-term contract?
Refusing to offer DeRozan a 3-year contract in 2021 which resulted in him choosing Chicago?


Yeah let’s not do this. He definitely has some fault with regard to the Russ move, but not much else. At the end of the day, in any case, a competent FO makes more successful moves than poor ones, and that is absolutely not the case with the Lakers over the past 12 years.

Yet Lebron signed with the Lakers even knowing the front office was incompetent since 2013.

This is the exact definition of lying in the bed you made.

Actually, LeBron signed there because two individuals made the biggest difference in the recruitment process, both of which have had nothing to do with the organization for over 5 years.

[bledredwine]

Hm, I'm not sure when he jumped ship?

Are you referring to the summer of 2010 after 7 years of all-time-low FO handling in Cleveland when he decided to leave after having played out his contract?

Perhaps you're referring to 2014 post-contract when he decided he wanted to go home and try and win there again, his broken relationship with Pat Riley simply being the final straw?

2018 post-contract? After having been very clear with the FO that they shouldn't trade Irving the summer prior and to let him have a chat with him first, but they decided not to wait? Or after having made it clear to them that he would wait and see what they do to continue building a championship cast, but they wouldn't budge unless he signed an extension, the exact same situation Giannis is in right now for which he has received no backlash?

No idea what you mean.

1. Quitting literally on court against Boston and then teaming up with two MVP candidates in his own conference and proclaiming championships before winning one (bogus/uncompetitive move)

2. Quitting and leaving Miami to go to Cleveland

3. Leaving Cleveland to form a team in LAL.

You know this and let’s not pretend or downplay the obvious. Sure, forcing a trade is not beyond the realm of possibility and it’s ridiculous to act like you’d know if he would or not. That’s the beauty of having opinions on this forum.

1. Everyone knows what happened in 2010 when he seemingly, “quit on court”, so let’s not pretend it’s something else because we’re biased. If you want to die on that hill, provide cold, hard evidence, nothing speculative. Else, move on.

2. I addressed this, you clearly have your own, again, biased, not-built-off-of-concrete-evidence view.

3. See above.

All you’ve presented is unfounded opinion and extreme bias.

Won’t be responding further until concrete evidence surfaces, which I know it won’t, so toodles.

You have significant bias, obviously.

Once again, this is a matter of opinion. You admitted to number 1, as everyone knows. Number 2 - He definitely quit ON COURT against Boston.
I was a Cavs and Lebron fan at the time and I was pissed.

Watch on YouTube

This dude ring chases and you know it, fan or not.
Nearly every time he's been out of contention after winning, he bolts for another team.

So once again, bringing back to my original point that you're dancing around, YES, demanding a trade is within the realm of possibility.
The only reason he's sticking around is for his son and because it's the LAL lakers, who are known to make huge moves,
like... the Luka steal.
Sorry

[BigGargamel]

Would a theoretical team that traded for LeBron have to trade for Bronny as well? That would be freaking hilarious. I want to see it.

[Lunartic]

It's because LeBron isn't as bad as they say he is, so they have to goal post shift and be dishonest about it, causing them to project their own sensitivity on posters calling out their bull.

Take the bolded. The term "jump ship" is etymologically a pejorative term and continues to be used as such. In no way is it commonly used or done so with a neutral tone. It's the height of free agent frenzy in the NBA (and the NHL) and the phrase is almost entirely absent in the free agent threads on the GB.

And then of course there's this.

Tell us more about the meaning a term that has a clear and obvious meaning. I actually posted the meaning and synonyms to the term but please choose to ignore that and decide you know better.

So what if it's a pejorative? Leaving the team that drafted you is generally considered negative. Leaving multiple teams is considered negative in the eyes of most fans, Lebron or otherwise. When KD left OKC he was viewed negatively - we don't have to be a KD hater to see that. It's not some grand anti-Bron conspiracy to dislike him leaving teams multiple times when it's obvious they aren't able to contend. He has always gone to a better situation.

LeBron only played for 3 teams, but because they have to be dishonest to make their point they claim "4 teams so far". And if history is any indicator they will cry about people being pedantic and sensitive for pointing out that they are wrong.

Kawhi?!?! LOL the guy who forced his way from the SPURS, and then left a title winning team to in LAC by having PG13 force a trade there?

Wade? As in Dwyane Wade? The guy who brought LeBron (and Bosh) to Miami and then later joined back up with LeBron in Cleveland. Also like LeBron he played for 3 teams total, with 2 stints with the team that drafted him.

You're making my point for me. You listed players and have a seemingly negative reaction to their behaviors when leaving their teams aka jumping ship.

Lebron leads most modern stars with how many teams he has played for. That's a genuine, statistical fact and fans are absolutely in their right to dislike it. Similarly, you're in your right to be upset if people dare say BronBron has "jumped ship"


Here's another definition for you to ignore

https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/jump%20ship

to leave (a cause or party) often in order to take up another

Example - He jumped ship when he found out the non-profit's founder was keeping much of the funding for himself.

[nolaPELSfan]

Le Bron
for
Herb Jones, Dejounte Murray, Saddiq Bey, Karlo Matkovic

Fly, peliBron, fly

[jbk1234]

he will only go to Cavs if they agree. Question is what will be the Cavs package to get him

The Cavs have to trade $20+M just to get below the 2nd apron. Then they have to salary match LBJ's $50M. They have no bad contracts. It's not happening.

[SkyBill40]

This is definitely a weird time for James and it would seem, rather low key, he's being shown the door by the new ownership. I get that he's up there age wise, but he's still a key figure in the league and handling things in this manner seems off. And the possibility of him being traded are pretty surprising to hear even though I truly doubt we'll see that happen. But things have been very interesting this early offseason, so one can never be too sure.

[Iwasawitness]

I don't think anyone said he has a history of demanding trades.

It was an over-sensitive reaction from the LeBron fanbase that took the term 'jump ship" and immediately flew to defend Brons reputation.

Any time a player leaves their team, it's pretty common and fair to say they "jumped ship" regardless of how they did it save for the actual team trading them against their will.

KD jumped ship when he left OKC.
LeBron jumped ship when he left CLE and MIA and CLE again

Jumping ship is leaving the team you're currently on.

Again, only deeply overly-sensitive analysis would be so pendantic.

So we should just use factually incorrect terms and anyone who corrects them is being sensitive. Got it.

Jordan got carried by Pippen. Anyone who disagrees is clearly sensitive.

Jumping ship has a factually correct definition? Sure let's take a look:

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/abandon-jump-ship


Synonyms include "leave" "abandon"

So tell me more about the factually correct terms my friend.

Well neither of those apply. Once your contact is up, you're no longer part of that organization. So in other words, no, it's not factually correct.