As opposed to blowing it up with no picks and no young talent and no real high value trade pieces?
The official 2024 NBA Playoffs thread - no tankers allowed
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Don’t worry Lakers fans. You’ll have Bronny ‘don’t look at the stats’ James suited up for you next season. 
hawkman
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Couldn't be worse than DLoDon’t worry Lakers fans. You’ll have Bronny ‘don’t look at the stats’ James suited up for you next season.
Genius to get into that position with a squad blind Freddy could see wasn't good enough
AD didn't need extending, could have traded. Reeves could have been traded. Could have traded their first last year instead got a guy who doesn't play
LBJ should take less to try and win but Americans don't think like that so he'll get a max tying the Lakers and himself to mediocrity for a while longer. As a LeBron fan I wish he'd leave, take way less, and try and win another ring but won't happen
Dannnnnnnnnn
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So glad I don't have to watch DLo anymore. Conley and NAW + picks, lol.
- Feb 16, 2020
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If I'm Lebron or Davis I'd be willing to take a paycut to Join Luka and Kyrie in Dallas (depending on how the deep Mavs go this year).
But yeah the "This guy makes more than me" attitude will stop him from those extra rings, and thus Jordan's record will be safe.
I agree on wanting Lebron to leave and chase one last ring but on the rest.
Trade Reaves for what? Move AD and get cents on the dollar back? The Westbrook trade was a disaster and since then they have just been playing catch up. I think they have made the most of what they’ve had for the past couple years.
You'll never get an American team with the Hawthorn dynasty attitude of 'let's take pay cuts and continue winning'.
The first team to do it will win 5 rings in a row plus all have 8 figures in the bank. Instead players preference 9 figures and no rings, as if they could ever spend the $ to begin with. Complete and utter madness imo
Didn't they not want to trade Reeves? As if he's off limits...
Getting off AD's contract at least gets them some cap room to start again?
Russ trade was a disaster but it then should have freed up space as he was expiring wasn't he?
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Happened at North too during the 90s, Archer turned down hundreds of k more from Sydney and Carey took pay cuts too.
But yeah once you get to the point where you can afford your second private yacht you should just be chasing rings
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It's a funny one. LeBron has enough money so it's kind of comical that he thinks he needs more.
He should give away money like Mr.Beast.
He should give away money like Mr.Beast.
I’m sure he wasn’t untouchable but role players on long term good value contracts are a good asset. They would only trade it for someone who made them considerably better.
AD is at worst a top 15 player in the league, you don’t trade that just to clear up cap space.
At the end of the day they just didn’t have any really good options.
If he wants to buy a team he actually needs more money, depends what his goals are.
Is he just buying a team so he can guarantee his son gets a contract until he's 40?
Seems absurd but his ego is the size of the the samsung s so wouldn't surprise.
Seems absurd but his ego is the size of the the samsung s so wouldn't surprise.
- May 23, 2012
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I'm not even sure the latter part is true.
Statistically they've been a .500 team or worse for the past three seasons. The Rockets had a higher expected win total than them this season.
They always own us though, which is infuriating as we technically control their draft pick.
The one thing OKC is vulnerable to is size.
They play small by design, and do it well. But you can get them on the glass. Also depends if you have a small or mobile '5' option to match their smallball. It's a big reason why we were doomed against them without Zion, cos he's our small 5 option unless we want to play Nance 40 minutes a game, which we don't.
In the Lakers' case they have AD, so he's quick enough to make that work.
Same thing seems to happen in rugby league. Only difference there is that they're dealing in hundreds of thousands, not tens of millions. And probably at much greater risk of lifelong injuries, ie CTE.
The NBA on the other hand, I don't understand why players don't take less. I mean some do, Tim Duncan did. But it's relatively rare, all things considered.
Never understood why the max salary rates keep increasing the later into the career the player gets. The spike should come between the 5th and 10th years, maybe 12th year if you're pushing it. Two genuine max contracts after your rookie deal expires, if you're a genuine star. Thereafter should be a decline.
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yuck
Amazing how people get sucked in by his rubbish. That contact under the basket wouldn't have knocked a 3-year-old child over.
peternorth
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The Lakers have to go down the tank route. If the NBA aren't gonna provide priority picks like the afl, they can't compete with the likes of denver who have cashed in with first and second round picks and succeeded with their selections.
He’d a top 15 guy in the league, he is helping them win.
stewie griffen
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Ah yes, good old pick 41
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- May 23, 2012
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He's not obliged to take less, but he should consider it if he wants to make the most of his remaining pro years.
Taking less for the good of the franchise is a different matter altogether. That's more along the lines of whether athletes are overpaid, in which case most people would probably agree they should be paid commensurate to the value they provide.
In basketball terms though, there's definitely an argument. Players do do that, albeit often only in certain circumstances. To use some Warriors examples, David West took minimum contracts his last three years in the league with the Spurs and Dubs because he wanted to win, even though he could undoubtedly made more elsewhere. Ditto Otto Porter and Bjelica from your 2022 championship team, albeit in Porter's case it might have been a calculated gamble to rebuild his value.
Now LeBron is in a different category from those guys, but the basic idea is the same. Nobody argues that he's not worth $40-50 mil annually to the league or the Lakers from a financial POV - in fact he's underpaid in that respect. But in terms of the Lakers being a championship contender, it's definitely something to think about.
It's hard to work out the numbers this far away from July, but his player option next season is for $51.4 million. Now if he took say $10-15 mil less for next season, I don't think it would necessarily enable them to offer a third star a hefty contract, although you never know with enough trading. But if they traded away Gabe Vincent, LeBron taking slightly less might mean the difference between them being able to offer the full MLE - annual salary roughly $12.9 million - rather than just the taxpayer MLE, which comes in at only $5.2 million.
What that in turn means is that it might mean the difference between signing a player like KCP, Tyus Jones, Gary Trent, Buddy Hield, Royce O'Neale, Tobias Harris, Isaiah Hartenstein or Caleb Martin, or on the other hand being limited to adding a player like Eric Gordon or Mason Plumlee. It's not foolproof - using their MLE on Vincent last offseason is proof enough of that. But it is something, especially when the Lakers are limited in utilising other avenues to improve the roster, as people have already pointed out.
So I'm guessing Knicks fans won't be putting Embiid in their trade machine dreams anymore?
Unrelated news, Blood in the Garden is a great yarn for those in need of a book club idea.
Unrelated news, Blood in the Garden is a great yarn for those in need of a book club idea.
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