The LeBron Thread 2021 Off-Season Edition

[MisterHibachi]

From LA Times



So now Lowry is interested in joining the Lakers? He said LA wasn't his preference near the trade deadline. Pelinka probably more willing to trade THT if it means keeping Lowry for a few years rather than as an expiring. S&T would hard cap the Lakers tho

If it's not a sign and trade, I think the most the Lakers could offer DeMar is the ~$5-6M tax payer MLE. That's a massive cut from his current salary, and I'm sure plenty of times would be willing to offer him $10-15M+. If he's willing to take that large of a discount, that's incredible. I think he would be great as a third guy. Lowry I think would have to be a sign and trade for sure, probably involving Dennis, and additional sweeteners like THT and maybe a pick. But it hard caps the Lakers, and I would hate it if it meant they can't keep Caruso.

Also wonder what Harrell is gonna do with his player option. I think there are rumors of Charlotte wanting him, but idk if they have cap room to sign him outright or not.

Spotrac says they have the full MLE (assuming Harrell opts out I think). Derozan opting in last year probably tells us that him and his agent don't think he's gonna get a contract that big again. So maybe full MLE is good enough?

I'm laughing at the idea of Derozan being on the team though. I like how he's been playing for the past few years, but LeBron/AD/Derozan is such a silly core

Wouldn't the Lakers still be over the tax if Harrell opts out? Ugh, the CBA is too complicated.

On an unrelated note, here's Marc Stein reporting two way interest in CP to the Lakers. Can't remember who reported this in the earlier rumors but Stein is as legit as they come.

Read on Twitter

[LikeABosh]

If it's not a sign and trade, I think the most the Lakers could offer DeMar is the ~$5-6M tax payer MLE. That's a massive cut from his current salary, and I'm sure plenty of times would be willing to offer him $10-15M+. If he's willing to take that large of a discount, that's incredible. I think he would be great as a third guy. Lowry I think would have to be a sign and trade for sure, probably involving Dennis, and additional sweeteners like THT and maybe a pick. But it hard caps the Lakers, and I would hate it if it meant they can't keep Caruso.

Also wonder what Harrell is gonna do with his player option. I think there are rumors of Charlotte wanting him, but idk if they have cap room to sign him outright or not.

Spotrac says they have the full MLE (assuming Harrell opts out I think). Derozan opting in last year probably tells us that him and his agent don't think he's gonna get a contract that big again. So maybe full MLE is good enough?

I'm laughing at the idea of Derozan being on the team though. I like how he's been playing for the past few years, but LeBron/AD/Derozan is such a silly core

Wouldn't the Lakers still be over the tax if Harrell opts out? Ugh, the CBA is too complicated.

On an unrelated note, here's Marc Stein reporting two way interest in CP to the Lakers. Can't remember who reported this in the earlier rumors but Stein is as legit as they come.

Read on Twitter

Well they're only over the tax if we're counting cap holds. The guaranteed money is below it. So in my mind, the full MLE is obtainable if you renounce some FA rights.

But I'm no expert either

[Mos_Heat]

Also wonder what Harrell is gonna do with his player option. I think there are rumors of Charlotte wanting him, but idk if they have cap room to sign him outright or not.

They will have about 20mil in room if they renounce Zeller and Monk

[Dupp]

So say Schroeder walks with no sign and trade how much can Lakers offer Lowry?

[Dupp]

I don’t really get the Paul talk. Dudes owed 44 million. They can’t take that on and surely he ain’t leaving that on the table. Like would he decline 44/1 for 80/4? To me that’s not happening.

[Dupp]

Anyone else think Lowry might be a much better fit than Paul?

[dcstanley]

What kind of cap machinations do they have to go through to get Lowry and Derozan? Doesn't seem all that feasible.

[LikeABosh]

I don’t really get the Paul talk. Dudes owed 44 million. They can’t take that on and surely he ain’t leaving that on the table. Like would he decline 44/1 for 80/4? To me that’s not happening.

Can't even sign him to a 4 year contract because of the Over 38 rule

[LikeABosh]

What kind of cap machinations do they have to go through to get Lowry and Derozan? Doesn't seem all that feasible.

Well it just depends how much he's gonna demand. There are ways to pay Lowry $20-22 million as a free agent, but you'd be left with something like Lowry, Caruso, THT, LeBron, AD, Gasol, and 9 vet mins. Matthews and Morris are decent vets for the min, but 9 of them? Ugh Idk. Just doesn't seem like a great idea to be one of the oldest teams AND the thinnest teams

If you don't go the free agent route and instead opt for a S&T, then you're hard capped. Which could you put you in an even worse position if some silly team wants to pay Caruso $20 million and you can't match because you'd be above the tax apron

[Slava]

Lakers supported a below average half court offence in 2020 by excelling in fast break points. If they bring in Paul, I don't know where that leaves them. Paul likes to touch the ball and leave his imprint on every possession, he'll play at a slower pace and I don't know if he'd trust others like LeBron did when he played PG with quick hit ahead passes. I see Lowry as a much more seamless fit there.

[MisterHibachi]

Lakers supported a below average half court offence in 2020 by excelling in fast break points. If they bring in Paul, I don't know where that leaves them. Paul likes to touch the ball and leave his imprint on every possession, he'll play at a slower pace and I don't know if he'd trust others like LeBron did when he played PG with quick hit ahead passes. I see Lowry as a much more seamless fit there.

I think you're overthinking it. Concerns with CP revolve around his contract, age and injury concerns, not the on court fit. CP is one of the best half court offensive players ever, and his slower pace would help the Lakers further exploit their size advantages. In the half court, a CP-AD pick and roll sounds unstoppable to me.

[Slava]

Lakers supported a below average half court offence in 2020 by excelling in fast break points. If they bring in Paul, I don't know where that leaves them. Paul likes to touch the ball and leave his imprint on every possession, he'll play at a slower pace and I don't know if he'd trust others like LeBron did when he played PG with quick hit ahead passes. I see Lowry as a much more seamless fit there.

I think you're overthinking it. Concerns with CP revolve around his contract, age and injury concerns, not the on court fit. CP is one of the best half court offensive players ever, and his slower pace would help the Lakers further exploit their size advantages. In the half court, a CP-AD pick and roll sounds unstoppable to me.

I think any player that takes the ball out of Lebrons hands, no matter how good is suboptimal next to Lebron. Lowry, like you said is a lot more malleable, robust health wise and a better defender at this stage of their careers.

[homecourtloss]

Lakers supported a below average half court offence in 2020 by excelling in fast break points. If they bring in Paul, I don't know where that leaves them. Paul likes to touch the ball and leave his imprint on every possession, he'll play at a slower pace and I don't know if he'd trust others like LeBron did when he played PG with quick hit ahead passes. I see Lowry as a much more seamless fit there.

I think you're overthinking it. Concerns with CP revolve around his contract, age and injury concerns, not the on court fit. CP is one of the best half court offensive players ever, and his slower pace would help the Lakers further exploit their size advantages. In the half court, a CP-AD pick and roll sounds unstoppable to me.

I think any player that takes the ball out of Lebrons hands, no matter how good is suboptimal next to Lebron. Lowry, like you said is a lot more malleable, robust health wise and a better defender at this stage of their careers.

In general, I agree, but CP3-AD, CP3-LBJ pick and rolls playing 5 out looks pretty unstoppable. Opted out CP3 on a smaller contract is the ideal, but it’s a pipe dream.

[Dupp]

That was one of the reasons I was saying I prefer Lowry. Cp3 needs the ball a lot more than Kyle but Kyle is still a very competent playmaker.


Lowry is also gonna shoot a lot more 3s which is a big positive for this team.

Not sure how good lowrys defense was last season but that may also be another reason to swing in favour of him.

[Mos_Heat]

CP is trying to milk every dollar from Sarver

Westbrook in LA is a much more realistic option, unfortunately

[McBubbles]

No Westbrook and no DeRozan, for the love of God what the **** is the LA front office doing. Have they watched basketball games? Do they have people that follow the sport of basketball in their employ? Just get some 3 point shooters / 3/D players and a single secondary playmaker and this team is literally ATG. Please don't make your incredible defence, crap offence and no shooting team worse by adding yet more players that add nothing on defence and can't **** shoot ;______;

[kayess]

For all the acclaim LeBron gets for his BBIQ, I have no **** idea why once an offseason there's legit sources linking his teams to players that would be awful next to him. And yes, I'm assuming that he gets significant input on who the team should look at.

[MisterHibachi]

No Westbrook and no DeRozan, for the love of God what the **** is the LA front office doing. Have they watched basketball games? Do they have people that follow the sport of basketball in their employ? Just get some 3 point shooters / 3/D players and a single secondary playmaker and this team is literally ATG. Please don't make your incredible defence, crap offence and no shooting team worse by adding yet more players that add nothing on defence and can't **** shoot ;______;

Not so easy to get those types of players. Russ appears to be one of the only ways the Lakers can upgrade from Dennis this off season. Worst outcome is losing Dennis for nothing. Russ, for all his faults, is still a good, positive player. He's not perfect and he has glaring weaknesses but he's better than Dennis. Obviously I prefer Lowry or CP, but I think CP is using the Lakers as leverage, and Lowry has too many options this off season for the Lakers to reliably bank on him. And, getting Russ doesn't hard cap the Lakers, unlike the other two, and probably allows them to retain their pick as well.

[LikeABosh]

Both Westbrook and Derozan are acceptable if they want to play more small ball. Not my favorite plan, but it's not horrible

Schroder-KCP-LeBron-AD-Drummond is what's horrible. I don't believe Westbrook + 2 shooters + LeBron/AD is even close to that kind of awfulness

Still not a fan tho

[Fadeaway_J]

No Westbrook and no DeRozan, for the love of God what the **** is the LA front office doing. Have they watched basketball games? Do they have people that follow the sport of basketball in their employ? Just get some 3 point shooters / 3/D players and a single secondary playmaker and this team is literally ATG. Please don't make your incredible defence, crap offence and no shooting team worse by adding yet more players that add nothing on defence and can't **** shoot ;______;

Not so easy to get those types of players. Russ appears to be one of the only ways the Lakers can upgrade from Dennis this off season. Worst outcome is losing Dennis for nothing. Russ, for all his faults, is still a good, positive player. He's not perfect and he has glaring weaknesses but he's better than Dennis. Obviously I prefer Lowry or CP, but I think CP is using the Lakers as leverage, and Lowry has too many options this off season for the Lakers to reliably bank on him. And, getting Russ doesn't hard cap the Lakers, unlike the other two, and probably allows them to retain their pick as well.

Westbrook might be better than Schroder in a vacuum, but he also requires you to accommodate his style of play way more than Schroder does. I mean, the Rockets had to literally banish all bigs from the kingdom to make playing him viable. He's not going to just chill in a secondary or tertiary role like Schroder did, and benching him if he's not playing well is far tougher politically.

I just don't see the point of guys like him and DeRozan if your objective is to win a championship, as opposed to just get a "better" player than the guy they'd be replacing. They make the Lakers' weaknesses worse, and the things they do bring to the table aren't really required if LeBron and AD are healthy - and if they're not, everything else is a moot point. To me, either of them would be the epitome of a "name" acquisition.