Is LeBron Setting Up His Own Exit from the Lakers?

Athlon Sports

LeBron's $52M opt-in raises more questions than answers… is this his final ride with the Lakers?

Transcript

00:00welcome back to the official review presented by athlon sports yesterday lebron james opted

00:12into his deal with the lakers but it raises more questions than it answers so let's talk about it

00:18the statement was from lebron's agent rich paul and i'll just read it here lebron wants to compete

00:26for a championship he knows the lakers are building for the future he understands that but

00:31he values a realistic chance of winning it all we are very appreciative of the partnership that

00:36we've had for eight years with uh genie bus and rob polinka and consider the lakers as a critical

00:42part of his career that to me sounds like a breakup text like a pre-breakup text that wow that doesn't

00:48sound like hey i want the lakers to go out and make another move that sounds like i don't think the

00:52lakers can build the team that i need it's not me it's you we've seen lebron put pressure on teams

00:59before to make win now moves by threatening to leave like there's that whole thing where he

01:05was in new york city and then put on like a nicks towel or something like that he's had these moments

01:11before where he's threatening to leave to put pressure on a team to like cash in their draft

01:16picks and go get another big player to to play next to them this was not that tone um at all and

01:26this sort of like oh i understand if you guys want to build stuff around luka because he is the future

01:32of the team and then also like implicitly giving permission to trade him really it feels different

01:39than the past times for sure i might be just way off on all this why did he opt into his deal

01:44if i know he'll probably get more money if he opts in obviously 52 million right 52 million to opt in

01:51i think you just answered the question right there lebron you've made so much money in your career if

01:55you want to dictate where you want to go and help a team win why opt into this deal like a first of

02:01all lebron opting into a deal is a big news because normally what he does is he opts out and then

02:07renegotiates for a two-year deal this is probably it for lebron this is probably his last his last year

02:12well i don't know if many teams can sign him straight up i don't think there's anyone out there

02:16who can just offer him a max so in order for him to go to a place where he still gets a lot of money

02:21even like maybe not the most he could have gotten but for him to still get paid what he

02:26somewhat deserves i think a team will still have to trade so that's probably why it makes sense

02:31he could opt out and then go sign somewhere but presumably no one wants to give him the max uh

02:40for you know two years or whatever because he's literally turning 41 in december 41 year olds vet

02:46minimum that's what it should be the most ideal situation be like lebron's like all right i'm

02:50gonna sign a veteran minimum for a team and just go win a ring but if he does that then he i think

02:54the league would shut that down yeah i think the the players association would be like nah i get it

02:59now okay i get that part of it of being like the money has to work out so in your mind hypothetically

03:06speaking if lebron were to be moved what team do you think would make sense that can can can do that

03:15i have my answer i don't think you guys are like my answer nba fans won't like my answer

03:19i think it's the dallas mavericks reunite with kyrie irving ad is already there here's my thing if he

03:26gets traded to the dallas mavericks for cooper flag was this whole luka ad trade getting the

03:32number one pick cooper flag's too much for lebron honestly i'm sorry for one year lebron james you're

03:37not trading cooper flag yeah but this front office doesn't seem to be making great decisions ad for

03:45luka donchich like ad is borderline broken knees i mean i think that that's where his friends are

03:51the thing with trading lebron at 52 million for this one year is that you have to get salary matching

03:59to trade that massive contract and you know the team that's been floating around for a while

04:07obviously has been cleveland where he's like oh he could go finish his career at home in order for

04:12cleveland to get him they have to trade like six players together and a similar thing would be

04:18happening with the mavericks if they don't trade away kyrie or ad because you know they just have

04:25to like get to 52 million which is a ton of money um and so they probably just end up trading away

04:32their entire rotation not to mention kyrie is still coming back from an acl tear that happened in march

04:39so he's gonna miss most of next year you can move kyrie in that deal as the dead money well i was

04:44thinking like clay thompson daniel gafford pj washington anyone else you can kind of throw in

04:49there throwing some picks it's either way it's not gonna be great but you also have to consider like

04:54lebron when he forces moves he doesn't always make the best decision for the team going forward it's

05:01like he's not a great team builder in terms of like who he picks to be his partners i don't think

05:06the maps are the best fit but i could just see it happening if you're the knicks do you move cat for

05:11lebron i would i don't i don't think so i think cat fits in better with the knicks as is right now

05:19and you just don't know with lebron at age 41 obviously all of this has been unprecedented

05:25but you know it's just going to get even more and more crazy that he's playing at a certain level

05:33uh into his 40s carl it was an all nba caliber player last year wasn't brawn also brawn's better

05:40than cat listen when it comes to playoff when it comes to push i'm taking brawn over cat i'm taking

05:4541 year old brawn over a lot of players in this league you trade cat and mikhail bridges for lebron

05:50you're you have a great team ready to go carl and mikhail bridges for the the knicks already don't have

05:57a bench and to trade two of their rotation away for 41 year old lebron james i i just can't see

06:04in the lakers wolves series it was pretty clear that there were games where lebron was there and

06:10locked in and playing 48 minutes and then there was it was clear that there are games that he just

06:16couldn't bring it or was choosing not to bring it because he just can't maintain that level of of

06:24physicality and exertion at that age like we saw we just watched this crazy nba finals where it was

06:31like so physical and fast and up and down i just like can't see lebron being able to get to a finals

06:38and win a finals in this sort of like pace and space in 2025 i mean carl towns will have four

06:45fouls at halftime sometimes like mikhail bridges will be oh for nine to begin the game it's like i know

06:50those are two very valuable assets to the knicks but the east has never been more wide open like

06:55next year people are like oh the orlando magic might make it because they got desmond bain we

06:59were we're not saying that any year from like that type of addition but because the east is so depleted

07:04the two top teams in my opinion south of pacers lost their best players it's the knicks best shot ever

07:10it's probably the hungriest fan base in the nba i could see them making a desperate move lebron to the

07:15knicks has kind of always been a topic every time it's like lebron knicks he's visiting schools in

07:21new york for bronny when he's in high school so i think the knicks actually do kind of make sense

07:24especially from a legacy standpoint is it the cow and cat maybe not maybe they don't need to do that

07:30maybe you just need one of them and then you fill out the rest of it mitchell robinson they love

07:34getting these like hyping up these seven footers who are like pretty good but not that great mark

07:38williams so i do think the knicks are a very intriguing option johnny well sam do you have a team

07:44i think his team is the lakers i you know bobby marks reported this morning on get up that there

07:50is not a trade market for lebron james right now i i think he's going to be returning to the lakers

07:55see that this statement is just bs do you think the statement is like a hey do not sign austin reeves to

08:01a huge deal trade his ass get a few more players for me no i think i think it's like a blessing from

08:08lebron to the lakers to you know make moves going forward but and and you know if he's included in

08:16that then then that's he's okay with that pending obviously as a no trade clause i don't think he's

08:23going to get moved because of this statement either necessarily interesting i i guess i hope he does

08:29because it would be the best story yeah it could definitely happen for sure

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