LeBron James to the Lakers 4 Years/$154M

[Bonanza23]

He’s going to stay in Cleveland. 

I think he’s come to realize he has no chance against the warriors so might as well stay in Cleveland and lose here.  Also won’t have to uproot his family. 

Cant lie I secretly hope he can build a super-dee-duper team wherever to dethrone the warriors ?

[Pastor Dillon]

He has kinda backed himself into a corner. He cant join the best team in each conference. He obviously cant loss 3 of 4 to the warriors and then join them, and he certainly cant lose and then go crawling back to Kyrie Irving.

He is also entering free agency in a pretty dead year. There are really only 2 guys out there in Lebron and PG, and there are only 2 or 3 teams with max cap space. He doesn't have a good option without forcing a team to gut its roster, and you need 8 solid players in order to beat the warriors in a series. 

He should just sign long term with the Cavs. They will add a number 8 pick, which maybe they can hit on. At worst next season he has the same team with more time to gel together. Hes probably the 3rd best team in the East, and maybe he makes the finals again.

next summer they can shed a ton of players and cap. They would only have Lebron/Love/Thompson/Pick 8/Clarkson/Osman on the books. Clarkson and Thompson both would be on expiring deals. 

Lebron could opt in, make more money, and he would still be able to sign a 4 or 5 year deal next off season where ever he wants. He can go after that 5th MVP award with this team. Now that Harden is going to finally get his MVP, there is no way they are going to let him have a 2nd one. Curry and Durant both hurt each others bid for MVP. Davis probably wont win enough games, Same for Giannis. Simmons and Embiid will share credit for the 76ers getting the 2 seed and Boston has so many good players that I dont see Kyrie winning the award, but he could.  Kawhi is a threat, but the Spurs probably are a 3 or 4 seed. Thunder may not even be a playoff team if PG leaves. Its open for Lebron to win MVP if he stays in Cleveland. 

Stay home Lebron! Make all that money, win those awards. You aren't getting 6 rings, so you might as well focus on MVPs, 1st team all NBAs, All Stars, and Total Points/Assists numbers. 

I know its been heavily debated, but Lebron is never going to be widely proclaimed better than Jordan, but He is going to have to hold off the next guy from passing him. Maybe a Kevin Durant or a Jayson Tatum or whoever becomes the next big deal. I think Durant is the current threat to pass Lebron, hes obviously not there yet, but he could have an impressive resume that deatures a decade of 1st team all NBAs, 4 or more scoring titles, maybe even 5 or so NBA Championships and Finals MVPs. He really needs a couple more MVP awards too. 

[MWil23]

I think that it may make more sense for LeBron to opt in for this upcoming year, get paid a lot of money this year, and then hit the free agency circuit again next year to see what happens.

It puts the Cavs in "win now" mode, something LeBron will demand if he were to stay. If he stays, I'd bet on them dealing that #8 pick for a player or packaging it with other players for another star. I'm still crossing my fingers for Canton, OH native McCollum.

It gives other teams flexibility to dump cap for next year, when this year is kind of a dead period in free agency.

That Warriors team will have decisions to make in a year with Klay, Iggy, and Dray.

No one is beating GS next year either IMO, barring injury.

[Raves]

15 minutes ago, MWil23 said:

I think that it may make more sense for LeBron to opt in for this upcoming year, get paid a lot of money this year, and then hit the free agency circuit again next year to see what happens.

It puts the Cavs in "win now" mode, something LeBron will demand if he were to stay. If he stays, I'd bet on them dealing that #8 pick for a player or packaging it with other players for another star. I'm still crossing my fingers for Canton, OH native McCollum.

It gives other teams flexibility to dump cap for next year, when this year is kind of a dead period in free agency.

That Warriors team will have decisions to make in a year with Klay, Iggy, and Dray.

No one is beating GS next year either IMO, barring injury.

Why would the Cavs trade the #8 pick for a player when there isn't some form of commitment from LeBron that's he's staying past next year.  I do think LeBron opting in and waiting till next year for FA is in his best interest, but I don't think that the Cavs would mortgage any possible future after LeBron leaves unless he signs a 3-4 year deal before player options.  But even then if LeBron opts-in, they draft Mikal Bridges at #8, the Cavs would look a lot better already as Bridges should be able to provide an additional defender and hit outside shots right away for the Cavs which will help against Boston and their stable of SFs as well as the Warriors.

Then you look at their expiring contracts, or virtually expiring contracts, such as George Hill and JR Smith, both only guaranteed $5 million total after this next season out of $36ish million. those could be valuable trade assets to a team looking to get under the cap for a bigger FA market.  I wouldn't be surprised if PG opts in this year unless he's willing to go to a worse situation in the Lakers or slightly better in Philly than he is currently in.  By waiting one more year for the bigger FAs they can allow teams more time to free up more cap space.  So Cavs could move that cash at the trade deadline to teams wanting to compete to bring in 2 of LeBron/PG/Klay etc and get even more assets, possibly even good players in return which would even let Cavs compete that year still.

[MookieMonstah]

Saw online that it'd actually be relatively easy for New Orleans to trade for Lebron if he opted into his player option, and then re-sign Boogie.

That would be a HECK of a team and would most certainly give GS a run for its money.

[Raves]

Just now, MookieMonster said:

Saw online that it'd actually be relatively easy for New Orleans to trade for Lebron if he opted into his player option, and then re-sign Boogie.

That would be a HECK of a team and would most certainly give GS a run for its money.

What would NO have that Cleveland would be willing to take back that would justify paying the repeater tax?

[MookieMonstah]

Just now, Raves said:

What would NO have that Cleveland would be willing to take back that would justify paying the repeater tax?

Etwaun Moore could be flipped at the deadline, he's a good 3/D guy. Cheick Diallo has actually shown some legit flashes, Frank Jackson could be a nice piece. Nikola Mirotic is an expiring and had a very good season for New Orleans, another asset Cleveland could flip. Plus draft picks obviously.

[MookieMonstah]

And they wouldn't pay the repeater if they could trade K-Love and find someone to take George Hill first.

[Pastor Dillon]

6 minutes ago, Raves said:

Why would the Cavs trade the #8 pick for a player when there isn't some form of commitment from LeBron that's he's staying past next year.  I do think LeBron opting in and waiting till next year for FA is in his best interest, but I don't think that the Cavs would mortgage any possible future after LeBron leaves unless he signs a 3-4 year deal before player options.  But even then if LeBron opts-in, they draft Mikal Bridges at #8, the Cavs would look a lot better already as Bridges should be able to provide an additional defender and hit outside shots right away for the Cavs which will help against Boston and their stable of SFs as well as the Warriors.

Then you look at their expiring contracts, or virtually expiring contracts, such as George Hill and JR Smith, both only guaranteed $5 million total after this next season out of $36ish million. those could be valuable trade assets to a team looking to get under the cap for a bigger FA market.  I wouldn't be surprised if PG opts in this year unless he's willing to go to a worse situation in the Lakers or slightly better in Philly than he is currently in.  By waiting one more year for the bigger FAs they can allow teams more time to free up more cap space.  So Cavs could move that cash at the trade deadline to teams wanting to compete to bring in 2 of LeBron/PG/Klay etc and get even more assets, possibly even good players in return which would even let Cavs compete that year still.

Philly is a 10x better situation for PG than OKC is

[Pastor Dillon]

2 minutes ago, MookieMonster said:

And they wouldn't pay the repeater if they could trade K-Love and find someone to take George Hill first.

Finding someone to take on 25 million and 20 million without sending back much salary is nearly impossible in this market. Teams just dont have the cap space to do that. 

[MWil23]

6 minutes ago, Raves said:

Why would the Cavs trade the #8 pick for a player when there isn't some form of commitment from LeBron that's he's staying past next year.  

If LeBron gives them an ultimatum that the only way he stays is if they do exactly that, which I think will most likely happen to be honest.

6 minutes ago, Raves said:

I do think LeBron opting in and waiting till next year for FA is in his best interest, but I don't think that the Cavs would mortgage any possible future after LeBron leaves unless he signs a 3-4 year deal before player options.  

I wholeheartedly disagree. They're resetting in 2019-2020 either way, so making one last desperate run isn't out of the question.

6 minutes ago, Raves said:

But even then if LeBron opts-in, they draft Mikal Bridges at #8, the Cavs would look a lot better already as Bridges should be able to provide an additional defender and hit outside shots right away for the Cavs which will help against Boston and their stable of SFs as well as the Warriors.

On paper, yes. But banking on a 21 year old rookie, not drafted in the top 5, to come in and be a legitimate championship caliber limelight player is unrealistic at best.

6 minutes ago, Raves said:

Then you look at their expiring contracts, or virtually expiring contracts, such as George Hill and JR Smith, both only guaranteed $5 million total after this next season out of $36ish million. those could be valuable trade assets to a team looking to get under the cap for a bigger FA market.  I wouldn't be surprised if PG opts in this year unless he's willing to go to a worse situation in the Lakers or slightly better in Philly than he is currently in.  By waiting one more year for the bigger FAs they can allow teams more time to free up more cap space.  So Cavs could move that cash at the trade deadline to teams wanting to compete to bring in 2 of LeBron/PG/Klay etc and get even more assets, possibly even good players in return which would even let Cavs compete that year still.

I think that they could do a lot of those things already after trading the #8 pick for a player/packaging some of those guys. I wouldn't be surprised if/when they deal KLove either.

Kyle Korver has some value as a sharp-shooter off of the bench as well.

TT's deal is an absolute KILLER on this team right now and I said so two years ago.

[MookieMonstah]

2 minutes ago, Pastor Dillon said:

Finding someone to take on 25 million and 20 million without sending back much salary is nearly impossible in this market. Teams just dont have the cap space to do that. 

But getting back 15m for 45m still lowers the tax bill significantly.

[kempus]

43 minutes ago, Pastor Dillon said:

I know its been heavily debated, but Lebron is never going to be widely proclaimed better than Jordan, but He is going to have to hold off the next guy from passing him. Maybe a Kevin Durant or a Jayson Tatum or whoever becomes the next big deal. I think Durant is the current threat to pass Lebron, hes obviously not there yet, but he could have an impressive resume that deatures a decade of 1st team all NBAs, 4 or more scoring titles, maybe even 5 or so NBA Championships and Finals MVPs. He really needs a couple more MVP awards too. 

Kevin Durant will never, ever be considered a better player than Lebron James. Regardless of how many rings or Finals MVPs he wins with the Warriors.

[Pastor Dillon]

1 minute ago, MookieMonster said:

But getting back 15m for 45m still lowers the tax bill significantly.

That still requires a team to take on 15 million in HIlls deal. A team would try and make it work for Love, but not for Hill

[Raves]

3 minutes ago, MookieMonster said:

Etwaun Moore could be flipped at the deadline, he's a good 3/D guy. Cheick Diallo has actually shown some legit flashes, Frank Jackson could be a nice piece. Nikola Mirotic is an expiring and had a very good season for New Orleans, another asset Cleveland could flip. Plus draft picks obviously.

2 minutes ago, MookieMonster said:

And they wouldn't pay the repeater if they could trade K-Love and find someone to take George Hill first.

The bare minimum NO would have to trade just to match salaries would be Nirotic, Diallo, Moore, and Ajinca.  Then all the Cavs are getting are expiring contracts and a potential flip in Moore to a team looking for a 3+D guy.  The first pick the Cavs coudl get, outside of 2nd round picks, would be a 2020 1st round pick.

 

1 minute ago, Pastor Dillon said:

Philly is a 10x better situation for PG than OKC is

It's debatable.  Philly looks like they could be much better next year, but right now I think OKC with PG is better than Philly with PG, without taking into account growth obviously.  Philly would be Simmons/PG/Covington/Saric/Embiid as they would lose Reddick to make room for PG.  That's an even worse shooting team than before and will still have much the same issues.  With growth I obviously think Philly would be better, but right now, no.