Aloha,
Eric Pincu’s open up an idea that I hadn’t thought of.
LeBron to the Cav’s for Love, Allen and a 1st and 2nd. Note: I would love to include Sexton but he is a restricted free agent and a sign and trade would hard cap us.
AD to the Raptors for
Gary Trent Jr,
Anunoby, 2 1st round picks. and small filler
Russ and 2 first to the Pacers for, Brogdon and Buddy.
K Love and 2 firsts for Grant (2 firsts was the asking price)
Our line up would look like this
PG Brogdon
SG Trent Jr
Center Jarret Allen
SF Anunoby
PF Grant
Bench Buddy
Nunn
Austin
THT
Stanley
(Would love it if we could keep Malik)
Of course we would need a couple of smart Free agent back ups at PF and sF. Perhaps Melo?
Would this team be a serious contender? Perhaps but a lot of the guys are pretty young an may need another year.
Would this team be better then anything we can assemble keeping AD and LeBron? I believe it would.
Trades are always fun, Michael.
I would preface this by saying I still think Lakers best move is to keep the Klutch alliance going. It’s a huge competitive advantage that’s not going to go away once LeBron retires. But if we have to trade LeBron and/or AD…
Yeah, I had Sexton, Love, Allen, and 2023 and 2025 firsts for LeBron and THT. But I think there’s even better deals to be if LeBron refuses to do an extension and forces the Lakers to trade him.
The Lakers could basically choose the next NBA champion because there are a half dozen teams who would become immediaete favorites if they could get LeBron for next season. Raptors, Pacers, Knicks comes to mind as well as Clippers, 76ers, Celtics, and Bucks.
One interesting dynamic is there is no better sweetener to get teams to take Russ’ expiring contract than also getting LeBron James for a year.
Finally, there’s the chance Klutch could push for Lakers to trade AD too. Lakers have to be very careful. Don’t let a difference turn into a squabble and then a disaster.
The truth is the Lakers cannot replace what they will lose if they trade LeBron James. No matter how good the deal might be. There is only one LeBron. Starting to think you’re better off without him is a sign you’re losing it.
You just can’t stop thinking Lebron is still that guy. He had one good year here when he had a motivated AD still contributing at an All-NBA level and bubkiss outside that. I don’t think anyone’s really racing to deal with the baggage of an aging superstar, much less a contender with either cap space or trade pieces to get him. So can we please dispense with the Klutch unholy union being some big benefit? They’ve got Lebron who’s fading and AD who’s damaged goods. Those two can barely get you a playoff berth together. They’ll push you to make dumb decisions like overpaying for other Klutch clients. Then force trades for other washed up bums as a hail mary to take some of the load of a Lebron who can no longer handle it. Then when these bad moves all come to fruition, they cut bait, blame everyone but themselves, and leave your franchise in shambles. It’s not too late to stop the bleeding. Dump all the Klutch Klowns and spend a couple of years in purgatory instead of a decade or irrelevance.
Sorry, but that team isn’t getting past GSW, PHX, or MEM in the west. And if I’m an up & coming young team I ain’t trading away my future for a year with LeBron. Cavs would be much wiser to stay the course..Gilbert has shown he will spend the money to build a contender and keep that young core intact.
You notice that most of these contenders are doing it through the draft and we have no picks. Exception is the Bulls but they made some shrewd moves with undervalued talent.
We in trouble….
i want to make it clear that I am not in favor of trading our stars, that said, I’m even less in favor of our team being left in ruins like everywhere Lebron has left.
I’m in favor of all of it. It’s extremely hard to rebuild on the fly. It’s better to cut these dudes loose early rather than too late. Those years between Kobe & LeBron we had the worse record in the entire league.
Burn it down.
Well, if it comes down to it, you’re never going to get value for even a 37-year old LeBron. I mean AD can’t even post a positive net rating when LeBron is on the bench. But there are a half dozen teams who could win a ring with LeBron on their team. So they can get some value. Better than losing him for nothing to free agency.
The problem is….what’s left of your team after you trade to get LeBron? Are you still a contender then?? And then where are you after he retires in a year or two? Somebody’s gonna get left holding the bag at some point…
No and no and heck no!
MH, wouldn’t pay $1 to see any those guys!
You must not watch a lot of NBA adJ. Jarret Allen was an all star center this year. Trent Jr and Anunoby are both on their way. Tent Jr is averaging almost 19 a game, in the last 10 he’s scored 30+ 3 times and 42 once. He shooter nearly 40% from 3 and is already considered a lock down defender. Oh and he’s only 23. Anunoby is also a great defender with length and is averaging 18 a game and he’s 24. Brogdon is a very good point, capable of running a contending offense. And we all know about Grant. 20 points a game and another lock down defender. He’s old at 26 lol. Regardless of what the Lakers do they would not be able to put a defense together that’s this good especially with an all world fender who rivals AD as a paint protector. I would definitely pay to see them play.