He don’t wanna leave LA. I just don’t see how this team gets close to building a contender in one offseason. So many holes to fill

I truly think LeBron doesn’t want to move from LA. Maybe Warriors but I don’t seem him wanting to go back to the east coast.

Lakers going into the negotiations table with a gun to Bronnys back.

It’s not his fault at all, he’s still a pretty great player actually, but the fit is just weird in LA. Luka, Lebron and Rui are all their best guarding power forwards, none of those 3 and Reaves can really get over a screen vs anyone who has any quickness and none of them really makes help plays on the backside (Lebron CAN but he doesn’t for a whole season), your 4 best players not really fitting together is a problem, even if those 4 are good enough to be the 4 best players on a good team in vaccuum

He probably wants to stay living in LA I would imagine.

He is/was never gonna leave LA. When he signed there in 2018 that was it. People are absolutely insane to think he’s going to uproot his life in LA for one season for another mid team.

I see why LeBron would want to stay, but if I’m the Lakers my priority is building around Luka and an aging LeBron at a high salary doesn’t help that.

I feel like the Lakers are preparing to basically run this exact team back and hope they don’t catch the injury bug

LeBron has a lot of stuff tied up in Hollywood moving somewhere else especially with his son on the team would make the off court more complicated

Is it insane to think he should take a lower contract?

Wouldn’t plan on them winning anything soon then

this lakers roster would be chip contenders if it was still like 2015. they are too top heavy and shallow to truly compete nowadays and I dont see how they fix that in one off season

It’s obvious that they are both interested. The question has always been how much Lakers will offer, and how much salary LeBron is willing to give up.

LeBron is a cheap mofo (like me), so I doubt he’ll take a paycut to help the Lakers out. He would’ve done it already if he felt like it. That plus the fact he also doesn’t wanna leave LA means either the Lakers org sacrifices another year of roster building for the LeBron retirement tour or LeBron announced retirement in like a month.

Sigh

Luka’s never winning a chip is he

He said in his press conference he has nothing else to prove. “He’s seen it all and done it all.” Of course the dude being a professional and competitor, he wants to win a ring. The Lakers don’t offer the greatest chances though.

One thing that LeBron hasn’t done: play for a Canadian team.

LEBRON TO THE RAPTORS!!!

I don’t think he’ll play this long

But imagine if we played until 2028 when Vegas joins the league

If Lebron announces it’s his last year and they already have a team that made the second round without Luka, I can imagine some sort of Avengers thing happening where other players are willing to take less money to come to the Lakers for a year and try to get a ring with one of the best to ever play the game.

Imagine the hype all season long until they get eliminated in the second round by the Spurs or whoever. And now imagine if they actually win it all. The documentary money alone will cover any reduced salary other players gave up to be there.

Glad that Bronny’s bag is safe, but what about LeBron? /s

Tbh he should’ve just ringchased these last few years. He’s still good enough to where you can’t say he got carried.

If he got 1-2 more I think it would’ve been undeniable as the best ever.

Is another year of James (assuming there’s no paycut possible that’d lead to adding an actual game-changing piece to LA) worth burning a year of Luka not realistically competing for a title? I’m sure there’s huge upside of being the team James is taking his farewell tour with, if thats what it becomes, though not sure how much that matters for a franchise like LAL.

La clippers ?

For the MLE or vet min hell yeah

Of course they do, but if the Lakers don’t pay him a lot less they have no shot at competing 

Nice.

And Bronny

If LeBron comes back on $20m or less, the Lakers have a lot of mobility this summer. If they pay him something stupid that’s north of that… not so much. Signing Bron probably means they aren’t operating as a cap space team, but they’d still have the full MLE and be able to conduct sign-and-trades with their draft picks and other salaries, so long as they stay below the first apron. That’s probably the best move to make… surround Luka, Reaves and LeBron with more size and speed. Guys like Nic Claxton and Tari Eason should be on their radar. They also need to bring back Rui.

He should take on a Manu Ginobli esk run the second unit role (and close out games). He would wreck second strings

I feel like LA will pay him the most, lots of people talk about LeBron ring chasing but forget he won’t take a pay cut. He’s going to retire on a big contract no matter what

Why would he leave he loves the city and for what? No team is going to be better and Luka will come back.

partnership is a weird way to describe this.

Anyone else read this as LeBron and Bronny both had interest in playing together? Lmao

Hold on…That’s the vet minimum music!

But my delusions

LeFavre

Imagine he goes to spurs ( play with wemby)

Well duh, it’s that we don’t want to continue at the current price. But James doesn’t want to take a pay cut either. 

After Clippers escape punishment this off-season, we’ll see Lebron sign for \(10M and new owner Mark Walter announce a new Dodger's ambassador sponsorship for Lebron worth \)40M.

/s

Time to take his talents to Le.A.R.P.

Me too but only if he takes a mf paycut to like $20-25M

Both James or both Jameses?

Wants to stay in La on a max contract getting carried by Luka. Cant blame him

Lakers gave Bron Prime AD, Prime Luka, hired his preferred coach, signed his son.

Him leaving LA was always just fan-fiction. There’s no way he’ll stop clinging to Luka’s coattails.

Make Hayes the permanent backup center, release Kleber, Knecht, trade Laravia. Perhaps explore ways to get a more hardworker in rim protection and rebounding and just hope they won’t get too much injury bugs and they can still run it back.

No shit, Bronny goes to Alaska the minute Lebron leaves

LeBron Austin and Rui have great chemistry and have been to the wcf. They should keep em and seriously consider moving on from Luka. He’s redundant and not reliable