🚨 **Chris Canty** discusses the Oklahoma City Thunder's strategic move to secure **Shai Gilgeous-Alexander** with a record-setting **$285.4 million supermax extension**. Canty compares this decision to the Boston Celtics' past challenges, emphasizing the importance of roster stability and leadership in building a championship-contending team.
🏀 In this video, we cover: • The details of SGA's extension and its implications for the Thunder • Canty's analysis on how this move positions OKC for future success • Comparisons to the Celtics' past decisions and what the Thunder can learn • Insights into the Thunder's current roster and potential for growth • The impact of SGA's leadership on the team's dynamics
đź“Ś **Comment below**: Do you agree with Canty's assessment? How do you think SGA's extension will affect the Thunder's championship aspirations?
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00:30When it comes to the Los Angeles Lakers, it's all about power and leverage and LeBron and Rich Paul do not want to lose that with a brand new sheriff in town that owns the Lakers in the person of Mark Walter.
00:44No, they don't. They don't want to lose LeBron James. And I said this on Monday, but it bears repeating the Lakers when they want to keep a superstar. They keep that superstar.
00:55I couldn't imagine the optics around the branding with the franchise of trading away the second greatest player of all time in LeBron.
01:01I just don't see that happening. It's the record setting year 23 for the King.
01:06I just don't see the Lakers moving off of them.
01:08But at the same time, I do think the pressure that LeBron and his agent, Rich Paul, are trying to apply on the Lakers front office is going to fall on deaf ears.
01:20Because at this stage of the game, the Los Angeles Lakers aren't building the team around LeBron.
01:26They're building a team around Luka Doncic with LeBron James happening to be on that squad.
01:32So with LeBron, typically he's able to force front offices, force ownership groups to bend to his will.
01:40In this instance, I think the Lakers brass balks at whatever it is that he's insisting in the way of roster construction for this squad.
01:48It's spot on what you just said, because he can't stack the squad to his liking like he was able to do in Cleveland a second time.
01:56Yeah, LeBron ain't never met a player he ain't want to trade.
01:58Right. And Miami, when he got together with Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh,
02:02and then the Lakers found a bunch of suckers known as the New Orleans Pelicans to have them move on from Anthony Davis and trade in the Los Angeles Lakers.
02:09LeBron knew that Luka was going to be the future of this team the minute that they traded for him or was gifted to them by the Dallas Mavericks.
02:17That doesn't mean that he likes it.
02:20And here's why I say that.
02:21When you're used to having the power of church and state, and now it's not going to revolve around you,
02:26you're not that heliocentric force that you're used to being,
02:31it can be very hard, CeCe, to give away that power dynamic, even though you know it's coming.
02:36That doesn't mean that you want that as a potential final year, either in the NBA or with the Los Angeles Lakers.
02:44And that's why when we got that word salad statement from Rich Paul, his agent and the CEO of Clutch Sports,
02:51that was their way of trying to say, don't forget about us.
02:55We still are important, but their importance is going to be lessened because the future is here right now.
03:01And there's a new boss in town who has shown he will find the right people to put in place to make sure the Lakers are not just fair to Midland.
03:08He did not pay that kind of money to be the owner of the Dodgers and Lakers to go 42 and 40 or 41 and 41 and hope to be in the middle of the pack as owner of the Los Angeles Lakers.
03:18Yeah, but what you know is that you have an ownership group led by Mount Walter that can be sober-minded about this scenario, right?
03:25And I think that any basketball person will tell you, looking at the Los Angeles Lakers,
03:29that while they'll be a good team, certainly a top six team in the Western Conference,
03:35based on the competition, based on the moves that we've seen made over the last 48 hours,
03:40there's no way that they're going to be able to contend with the likes of OKC and Houston when it comes to championship time.
03:46And so to go all in and to mortgage the future for the here and now because LeBron James has a short runway just doesn't make a lot of sense for the franchise.
03:59And if you listen to NBA people talk about LeBron James and what was out there for him before he opted in,
04:07there weren't a whole lot of franchises that were ready to line up to pay LeBron James $50 million a year.
04:13So, you know, the $52.6 million options, good chance that that was the best that he was going to get on a per-year basis.
04:20So he got the money that he was looking for.
04:23He's got the head coach that he wants.
04:25He's got the location that he wants.
04:28It just doesn't sound like he has the players that he wants.
04:33And I guess my whole point is this.
04:35At this stage in this man's career, when he's on the wrong side of 40, do you think it's reasonable for the organization to acquiesce to what he's looking for?
04:45And I would say no to that.
04:47For as great as LeBron James is, for as much as he's meant to the Los Angeles Lakers, for as much as he's meant to the NBA as a whole,
04:54this is the time for the Lakers to draw the line in the sand.
04:57And it feels like Rob Palenka is doing that.
05:01Chris Canty, Freddie coming together on Sportsmanlike at ESPN Radio, the ESPN app, and ESPN News.
05:06And that was something that Brian Windhorst, ESPN NBA insider on Get Up yesterday, he said when it comes to getting on the same page,
05:12that's what the Lakers and LeBron have to try to figure out.
05:15Yes, LeBron's time in Los Angeles is coming to an end.
05:18That has become clear in the last couple of days.
05:21However, he is 40 years old, so it's not like he was ever going to be a long-term solution here.
05:27The Luka Doncic trade and the ownership change that have happened to the Lakers have given a moment to look into the future.
05:33And LeBron is looking into the present, you know.
05:36But the Lakers are positioned to be a competitive team in the Western Conference this year.
05:42And the way that happens is with LeBron fully bought in.
05:45And so, while I would suspect that the Lakers feel like the fully bought in came when he opted into his contract less than 48 hours ago,
05:53it seems like he needs a little bit more to be fully bought in.
05:56So I think what needs to happen is everybody needs to sort of get on the same page.
06:00Because right now, they clearly don't seem to be working together.
06:04And that is worrisome, no matter who's on your roster, no matter who you sign in free agency.
06:07They don't need to get on the same page, CeCe.
06:10LeBron needs to get on the Lakers page.
06:12Is he willing to do that?
06:15Does he want to do that?
06:17Does he believe that he should do that?
06:19He's great, but he's not great-great.
06:22Which I know in relative terms, in contextual terms, you can be splitting hairs.
06:27What does that mean?
06:28What does that mean he's not great-great?
06:29Because you're trying to make that difference.
06:31You're differentiating between the level that LeBron James was once at versus what he is right now.
06:36Exactly.
06:36The numbers are terrific.
06:38But are they the impactful numbers that we're used to seeing?
06:42Because plenty of LeBron supporters will say, well, look what he's still doing.
06:44At this age.
06:46Not dismissing that.
06:47But the impactful numbers aren't going to be there at his age with the kind of team that the Lakers have.
06:53Because he can't be that great-great night in and night out.
06:56Especially in the playoffs.
06:57And that is something that the Lakers, in my opinion, have already weighed.
07:02As great as he is, CeCe, that great-great is not going to be there.
07:06They need Luka to be great-great going forward because this is going to be his organization.
07:12That's the page that LeBron has to get on.
07:15The Lakers don't have to get on his page.
07:17He has to get on the Lakers page in the near future because they've already made decisions what the far future is going to be.
07:23And it's going to center around Luka Doncic.
07:25No doubt about it.
07:26And the thing that we learned from watching the postseason is that defense still wins championships.
07:30And when you think about LeBron at this stage in his career at his best, when you think about Luka at his best, when you think about Austin Reeves at his best, all of those guys are defensive liabilities.
07:40So, think about that.
07:41The top three players on your team are essentially one-way players at this stage in their careers.
07:47So, you have to be better defensively.
07:49And you lost one of your best defenders in Dorian Finney-Smith in the early goings of free agency.
07:55So, how they address that aspect of their team is going to be key.
08:00In terms of what the ceiling for them will be.
08:03LeBron, Luka, and AR-15 will set a high floor.
08:06They'll be, you know, a top five team in terms of record in the Western Conference.
08:11But for LeBron James, it's about competing for championships.
08:14And right now, they just don't have enough.
08:16So, LeBron, I can understand why he would want to apply pressure on the front office to make moves.
08:21But the moves that the Lakers need to make are not about accentuating LeBron James as much as it is about accentuating Luka Doncic.
08:29And therein lies the tension between the King and the Lake Show.
08:32Great stuff by Chris Canty and Freddie Coleman together on Unsportsmanlike.
08:35Presented by Progressive Insurance on ESPN Radio, the ESPN app, and ESPN News.
08:40And you heard Chris Canty mention about Dorian Finney-Smith, who's now a longer part of the Lakers.
08:44He's part of the Houston Rockets.
08:46Where are the moves they made?
08:48Well, where do they factor in Canty's power rankings of the best moves in free agency?
