[WINDHORST]: Lakers May Need To Trade For LeBron This Summer

[WindyCityBorn]

I wonder if he can get to 6 rings.

Nope. He’s done.

[infinite11285]

let's amend "jordan" to "many of the goats"

Only 2 have an argument over him. It's time to face reality.

The reality is that is there's no consensus.

So, as long as that happens, a debate can be had.

Particularly, I have LeBron currently at 4, behind Jordan, Russell and Abdul-Jabbar.

Fair enough, but do you still have those 3 over LBJ if he eclipses KAJ's point record and 40k, 10k, 10k?

[SpreeChokeJob]

Only 2 have an argument over him. It's time to face reality.

The reality is that is there's no consensus.

So, as long as that happens, a debate can be had.

Particularly, I have LeBron currently at 4, behind Jordan, Russell and Abdul-Jabbar.

Fair enough, but do you still have those 3 over LBJ if he eclipses KAJ's point record and 40k, 10k, 10k?

To be fair KAJ didn’t have the benefit of modern “medicine”.

[GSWFan1994]

Fair enough, but do you still have those 3 over LBJ if he eclipses KAJ's point record and 40k, 10k, 10k?

I prefer to assess a player's career once he is retired, not in the heat of the moment or inside the eye of the hurricane, if you understand me.

That being said, IMHO LeBron can only reach #2 all-time... Jordan had a storybook career, it will be extremely hard to top that.

[meekrab]

NBA teams as a whole need to stop letting Klutch Sports run them. Excise the tumor, don't deal with Rich Paul.

[KrAzY3]

I wonder if he can get to 6 rings.

Nope. He’s done.

Well, he can still ring chase right? Ray Allen at 37 left the Celtics to join LeBron, Wade and Bosh and got a ring. If LeBron were to go to some stacked team he can win a ring or two and just imagine how amazing he could be as playing a lesser role. Duncan at 37 had already been in decline for several years but still played a vital role in beating that Heat team with Ray Allen the following year.

LeBron is currently on a Kareem/Karl Malone type trajectory where he could average 20 PPG at 39 and play past 40. Kareem won a championship when he was 40. It seems clear though that LeBron's days of carrying teams to the Finals are behind him.

[Lalouie]

LeBron thinks he's a master 693D chess player & manipulator through "leaked" info and comments via the media and his cohorts (Klutch), but for me he's only a petulant child who runs away to greener pastures once his demands are not met and he senses a better opportunity somewhere else.

This is one of the main reasons LeBron will never be on the same pedestal as Jordan. It's as simple as that.

let's amend "jordan" to "many of the goats"

Only 2 have an argument over him. It's time to face reality.

the only reality is there's too many millenials and people younger than 40.
meaning they were 10yrs in 1990

and not enuf people who are 50
meaning they were only 10 in 1980

forming opinions on players they've only seen on video and never viscerally living through those moments

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

I think Lebrons being ridiculous and trying to control the narrative as to why he wants to potentially leave the lakers. This recent lakers experiment is mostly his and Klutch’s doing and now he wants to further damage the lakers future by trying to get them to include a FRP for a dude that hasn’t played in a verrry long time. All because said dude is also a Klutch client. At this point if he wants to leave, as a lakers fan I’m am all for it. Players make terrible GM’s and he’s the most notable example of it.

“What have you done for me lately?”

Cue up Janet Jackson

Doesn’t LeBron get some credit for bringing the championship back to LA?

[HMFFL]

So sad for him.
But no Thank you on cavs trading any of our core for LBJ.

This. If LeBron wants to come back, he'll sign the for the MLE. He knows time is running out, a ring would boost his legacy greatly.

I'm concerned that the Lakers think they can get a huge package from the Cavs. He's 37 years old, giving up assets for him is a no-no.

I don't see Lebron giving up any money but I could be wrong. If he truly wants to win more championships he should, even if it's not as low as the MLE, but giving up some would make since to capture his goal, if indeed it's to win more championship.

I can only assume he wants to be the all time scorer in a Lakers jersey.

Sent from my SM-N975U using RealGM mobile app

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

let's amend "jordan" to "many of the goats"

Only 2 have an argument over him. It's time to face reality.

the only reality is there's too many millenials and people younger than 40.
meaning they were 10yrs in 1990

and not enuf people who are 50
meaning they were only 10 in 1980

forming opinions on players they've only seen on video and never viscerally living through those moments

I am 61. If a certain legendary player from the University of Maryland were still alive he would turn 59 this year. Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley recently celebrated 59 three days apart. I knew Leonard bias and if you check with Albert King and Bernard King they may remember me. (Short guy. Wedding)

What the hell am I doing on real GM?

Lol

In my opinion if Michael Jordan were along today and in this soft NBA would he be the same?

One thing is for sure and that is LeBron would not have gotten away with much of his stuff in the 80s. Charles Barkley would’ve taken it right to LeBron. Dennis Rodman would have really irked LeBron.

But at the other end of the coin LeBron would be magic Johnson on steroids if playing in the 80s. For that I believe with Scotty Pippen is now correct about is that LeBron James is the best player even if he does manipulate the media and be a worse at times I can’t even blame him for that.

LeBron James is the man, like the man or not.

[Lalouie]

Only 2 have an argument over him. It's time to face reality.

the only reality is there's too many millenials and people younger than 40.
meaning they were 10yrs in 1990

and not enuf people who are 50
meaning they were only 10 in 1980

forming opinions on players they've only seen on video and never viscerally living through those moments

I am 61. If a certain legendary player from the University of Maryland were still alive he would turn 59 this year. Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley recently celebrated 59 three days apart. I knew Leonard bias and if you check with Albert King and Bernard King they may remember me. (Short guy. Wedding)

What the hell am I doing on real GM?

Lol

In my opinion if Michael Jordan were along today and in this soft NBA would he be the same?

One thing is for sure and that is LeBron would not have gotten away with much of his stuff in the 80s. Charles Barkley would’ve taken it right to LeBron. Dennis Rodman would have really irked LeBron.

But at the other end of the coin LeBron would be magic Johnson on steroids if playing in the 80s. For that I believe with Scotty Pippen is now correct about is that LeBron James is the best player even if he does manipulate the media and be a worse at times I can’t even blame him for that.

LeBron James is the man, like the man or not.

actually,,,lebron had every opportunity to be such a player. he had his choice of hi octane players and shooters alike. kyrie, klove, korver, miller, frye, jr, bosh, wade, allen, ad, battier,.

he had in almost all of those 8yrs a team in the top10 in BOTH 3pt% and 2pt%
with all that hand-picked fire power he chose instead to be a 28/8/7.5 player,,,not a 20/11/7.2 player like magic. lebron chose scoring over assisting. for a guy who mouths that passing is everything and those mediots who agree with him, 28ppg is not a pass first player,,,sorry

i will posit that if lebron was more like "magic" he might have had better teams, those miami teams had all the makings - the goat of it's generation, fire power, and great D. but none of those teams are in anybody's "greatest teams" i would surmise. heck, they're not even top3 it it's own decade!

the fascination of lebron is the package not the deeds. a 6/8 linebacker with pg skills and we may not see that for a long long time. but i think that has clouded people over the hard numbers. because in that club of GOATS, they only care about the rings. and i would guess they aren't too bowled over by the way lebron chased his rings. 11 teams of his choosing, two really bad teams, a failed year, a ring against a team that was almost as young as the 77 blazers, a lucky ring vengefully reclaimed the very next year by that same spur team against that same heat team 4-1. a covid ring, and a once in a lifetime come from behind ring

for a "goat" who has basically had his way, i'd say lebron's hardware is a bit sheepish and underwhelming

[brettski]

Personally think the Lakers should trade Lebron, make it ADs team in the short term to regain trade value then trade him too. Get their draft pick stash back together and start a rebuild. Let Westbrook expire (who is gonna want him??) and go from there. Lakers can always attract stars via the destination itself so try and get a few good quality rookies to pair with a couple of max players in 4-5 years time.

It would be quite a sight to see Lebron get traded too.

[downtownpie]

LeBron recruited his friends to the lakers and now it ain't working he wants to bail.

Dude is as self centred as any pro athlete ever.

[LAL1947]

The reality is that is there's no consensus.

So, as long as that happens, a debate can be had.

Particularly, I have LeBron currently at 4, behind Jordan, Russell and Abdul-Jabbar.

Fair enough, but do you still have those 3 over LBJ if he eclipses KAJ's point record and 40k, 10k, 10k?

To be fair KAJ didn’t have the benefit of modern “medicine”.

Good point. Neither did Wilt but he still owns the record books.

On the other hand, KAJ had the benefit of watching Wilt, Russell, etc to learn from them and improve on what he saw... as well as the benefit of playing in the ABA era when some stars left the NBA to play there... and still went 9 whole years without a title, from 1970-71 to 1979-80.

I think there are only 2 candidates for GOAT, MJ and Wilt (MJ is it for me). Russell can be the "Lord of the Rings". KAJ can be the "owner of the most unstoppable shot in the game". Lebron can be the faux-GOAT.

[Lalouie]

Fair enough, but do you still have those 3 over LBJ if he eclipses KAJ's point record and 40k, 10k, 10k?

To be fair KAJ didn’t have the benefit of modern “medicine”.

Good point. Neither did Wilt but he still owns the record books.

On the other hand, KAJ had the benefit of watching Wilt, Russell, etc to learn from them and improve on what he saw... as well as the benefit of playing in the ABA era when some stars left the NBA to play there... and still went 9 whole years without a title, from 1970-71 to 1979-80.

is this not the way it is in life??? no man is born fully formed. kobe, mj, lebron,,,,et al built their training on those before them

which is why oscar, bill, wilt, kareem have a SPECIAL place above all others. maybe i should throw in drJ too. he gave basketball it's voice. kareem may have watched biil and wilt, but his game was all his own,,,nothing like wilt and nothing like bill. and kareen was also basketball's first teen idol

[Pennebaker]

The Los Angeles Lakers might have to trade for LeBron James this summer.

James has clearly been offended by Lakers' management twice over the past two weeks. First when it elected not to make a deal before the Feb. 10 trade deadline after he had both publicly and privately prodded for something. More accurately, he expected it. And second when Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka stepped over the line when he announced James was on board with the status quo; a source told ESPN there was no prior sign-off from James.




He has been hammering the team's knuckles with rounds of trademark passive-aggressive maneuvers since, both on social media and in news conferences. Then he went aggressive-aggressive during All-Star Weekend in an interview with The Athletic in which he dropped lighter fluid on a previously bubbling concept that he might make one last return to the Cleveland Cavaliers before he retires.


Same as he was doing last week, in the wake of the trade deadline inaction, when he spoke about how his recent knee injury would likely bother him the rest of the season. The knee surely is an issue, but James was also laying the groundwork to give himself options depending on how the rest of the season plays out for the Lakers (27-31). What James is doing is likely aimed at one primary goal: Force the Lakers into major action this summer. He tried to do it nicely and now he’s doing it harshly.

https://www.espn.com/nba/insider/insider/story/_/id/33338796/lebron-james-used-all-star-weekend-put-los-angeles-lakers-notice

Say what you want about Windhorst, he obviously has legit NBA sources & has been right on ALOT of NBA news over the years. This could be LeBron trying to get major changes but it's also LeBron at the tail end of his career... let his gr8ness compete...

Rich Paul already cleared that up. It didn't happen. LeBron wasn't upset over these things. This is a non-story.

[Jables]

I remember the Cavs refused to trade their pick because he didn't commit, I wonder if the Lakers are being as cautious.

[nomansland]

Does he really have any control over the situation anymore?

[MotownMadness]

LeBron leaving Hollywood at this point in his career? I'm not so sure about that.

[hauntedcomputer]

He's absolutely going to wherever his best ownership prospects are.

I don't think it's about rings at this point, although he would grab an easy one if he could. Right now all that matters is:
1) Passing Kareem
2) Bronny
3) future ownership stake

All of these can be done at the same time. Every single move he's ever made has been about one thing and that's building the LEGACYBRAND(tm). This guy's been whining about his legacy for 30 years.