[Dave McMenamin] The Clippers were reportedly willing to offer LeBron James a one-year, $20 million contract
The Clippers were reportedly willing to offer LeBron James a one-year, $20 million contract
Source: https://bleacherreport.com/articles/25458911-new-lebron-james-rumors-celtics-clippers-pursuit-star-nba-free-agency-76ers-deal
How much under the table tho
Tree fifty
LeLochness Monster
LeCryptoCryptid
Quite the Aspiration
With aspirations for a championship
Lolz.
LeArbol
They’d have to plant enough fake trees to cover the entire city of LA.
If LeBron won the clippers the title while also solving global warming, he would surpass MJ and Al Gore simultaneously.
Gonna be like The Lorax and make sure they have the latest models planted. LeOnceler gonna come and destroy everything.
the entire city of Inglewood*
Trees over streetlights
500M of Microsoft stock sitting in a brokerage account in The Seychells
Ballmer’s Robinhood password on a napkin
They’ll make Savannah the creative director of Microsoft or something
2.3% of 2000 Microsoft stock
If Kawhi got Aspiration, LeBron was going to get Stash or Acorns money lol. Maybe Oportun
LeAspiration
5 years $200,000,000 for Bronny
An aspiring amount
For a while every Clippers deal will be looked at thru this lens. If the Clippers did do that, what other under the table moves are they doing?
In trades are they also sending endorsement deals?
Im dead certain GSW facilitated sweet heart private equity deals for Durant and others. The guys talked about it publicly as “being in SV” and “getting introductions” but I guarantee it was a free paycheck that was transparently circumventing the cap.
Interesting tid bit. Thank you.
Where are the lines drawn? A player gets into a fund owned by a fan who happens to be friends with the owner of the team. The fun has [real and] amazing returns. That player otherwise won’t have gotten into that fund if he was not on the team.
Could see this happen a lot. If not with a fund but a opportunity which might even be real.
That’s fine, because the ownership didn’t facilitate the investment, at least how you’ve laid your hypothetical out.
Imagine if he ended up taking the Philly deal with the clippers lmao Pablo would be FEASTING
It’s going to be the NBA equivalent of any time a PED-affiliated baseball player does anything innocuous there’s a million comments saying “don’t forget your roids” or “must have gotten a shot in the arm” or some comment about eating a well balanced breakfast.
Bronny James signed to 100 million COD streaming contract with Aspiration Gaming
Ballmer would never
Brings up the question, for one of the biggest discounts in league history, did the Sixers promise Bron something under the table
So much for wanting to play with Garland
He never actually wanted to play with the Cavs but he needed an excuse to make it look like it was their fault.
Wait you’re telling me playoff legend James Harden didn’t reel him in?
But bad knees Embiid did!
Well unfortunately, hoping Embiid is healthy by playoff time is a better strategy than hoping to win with a fully healthy Cavs roster.
Healthy or not Embiid has played the majority of playoff games. I can’t remember where I saw and what the number was exactly but he actually plays much more often than not.
Motherfucker had bells palsey and one knee and dropped 50 on the Knicks. He may be injury prone but he’s a tough fucker that has always wanted to play.
Either you lose in the 2nd round or get swept in the ECF, tough choice
We’ll see come playoff time but as good as a healthy Embiid is, he still hasn’t ever made it that far in the playoffs or even been available. Cavs were a final 4 team.
Cavs got swept by the Knicks just as the Sixers did.
Would the Sixer have gotten past Detroit is the question, I guess.
Yes? Detroit was atrocious on offense.
Worst possible playoff win percentage for a conference final team.
Embiid gets to coast now. He gets to rest as they walk into a decent playoff seed and once there it’s no back to backs.
bron still has an infinitely better shot at making and winning the finals with philly than he does with cleveland
Harden has reached Conference Finals 4 times with 3 different teams while Embiid has failed to get out of the second round. Harden in his prime was losing to the Warriors dynasty. Embiid was losing to everyone. They’re not even in the same league.
Well yeah, Harden’s the most talented SG since Jordan.
NOT THE BEST. The most talented. Kobe and Wade clear him due to playoff success and rings.
I’m seeing the Wade talking point a lot and I want to push back a bit. Wade’s playoff record when he’s not playing alongside a generational NBA talent like Shaq and LeBron is pretty middling for a guy who’s being talked about as a Top 3 SG of all-time. His nickname for years was D.Whistle because of the way he flung himself at stationary defenders and got calls, which young people here have forgotten about. Wade lacked longevity and got finished off in the first round of the playoffs in his final years, which I think improves people’s memory of him because they probably didn’t even watch those series. Most of Harden’s bad playoff games have come after he left his prime (but still stayed an effective player), but because they’re more high-profile series, he gets clowned for them more.
Or the Clippers aren’t close to contending and garland alone obviously won’t convince him to join?
If they had Jaylen brown instead of Harden he most definitely goes to the Cavs. Just not a good fit with Harden and then Cavs having 4⁄5 jammed. Their resource allocation wasn’t as well spread out like Philly
That brother was NOT playing with James Harden lol
The original statement from Rich Paul was that LeBron really wanted to play with Garland or Maxey, so it was kinda true
Is Garland represented by Clutch?
yeah and it was Rich Paul who was on a (successful) public campaign last season to drive Garland out of Cleveland.
The Cavs also wanted out of Garland’s contract. It was mutually beneficial.
He was too much of a defensive liability with the current roster’s construction.
Ah yes. Traded for Harden who is known for his defense.
While true, he is simply a bigger player.
Garland is pretty small by NBA standards. Harden is 4 inches taller and has more weight.
He’s not young anymore of course but he added size and strength.
Further more, I don’t even know if the Cavs would’ve gotten past the Raptors with Garland, let alone the Pistons.
The biggest reason for the trade was availability. Even if you want to argue Garland was/is better (I wouldn’t) it doesn’t matter if he’s not on the court. swear every time I tried to tune in he was hurt.
Yup he’s been playing hurt for like 2+ years now and wasn’t exactly reliably healthy before then also. I like Garland and hope he can turn it around and make the trade look horrible in hindsight but I can’t blame the Cavs for being done with him when they made the move.
Yup. Both him and Maxey are. I know Garland spent a couple weeks in the James household when he signed with Klutch and LeBron tries to maintain a personal connection with all the Klutch guys which is a big part of what makes them enticing as an agency
Why anyone would choose to believe what Rich Paul says, especially regarding LeBron, is beyond me lol
I mostly agree, though I think there’s some truth to what he said. LeBron does like Garland and Garland’s ability to play in more of an off-ball role is probably more appealing to LeBron.
But that being said, it was still mostly about Rich Paul plugging one of his clients and LeBron using it as a safe excuse to control the narrative on why he didn’t return to Cleveland. I 100% think it’s the reasoning LeBron wants the media to go with because it puts the blame on the Cavs for why he didn’t sign with them
Id say that comment was moreso that they have Harden vs they don’t have Garland anymore.
Nah, that comment was because Lebron can’t trust guys who aren’t Klutch, so if there’s not enough Klutch guys on his team, then Lebron plays with fear in his heart.
I’ve heard from a lot of Clippers fans that they think Garland is just a stopgap until Keaton Wagler is ready to take the reigns
I think that’s a little harsh but yeah Keaton is the future of this team and who we are going to build around for the upcoming years
What a dumb take, obviously garland with the cavs roster vs the clips roster is different. Ppl will just say anything but the amount of up votes is more shocking to realize how dumb everyone here is
He doesn’t have that kind of aspiration
LeScrupulous
”you know I’m a billionaire right?”
Right lmao 20mil to be a clipper, if it’s about money it’s gotta be at least 40 to even consider
How much would it take for you to be a clipper?
If I had Lebron’s money, there isnt an amount you could pay me to be a Clipper
what if ballmer offered his msft dividends for a year
That’s a billion
Last I read it was 900m. You could be right and it’s more. Imagine going to bed for the night and you wake up 900k richer
That math ain’t mathin. I think it is more than that per night
Undervaluing it by roughly a factor of 3. Ballmer earns a little under $3 million per day with that.
So I guess 900k is right on the money for 8 hours then
Cool now do your actual price🤣
I’ll gladly take a vet min to be a waste of a roster spot
Being a clipper ain’t that bad! Plenty of trees and shade 😎
Two teams that I’m sure Bron will never consider, that’s the Celtics and Clippers.
Don’t forget Memphis
Hyatt Centric all day everyday for him
He has said if he was ever traded to Orlando, he would just retire lol
Should have pounced when he had Disney aged kids and Dwight! But South Beach was too appealing.
LeMickey doesn’t want to make it too obvious
Orlando Magic. The nets. Hornets after the lamelo trade. Pelicans. Mavs. Probably add the trail blazers and jazz too. And probably bulls too, cause he can’t wear 23 there.
Throw in the jazz
Why would LeBron have an issue with the Clippers? What am I missing? This isn’t 2001 anymore. The Clippers have been a successful and well run organization for over a decade now.
What success exactly?
He’s not going to go to a rival organization or perceived rival.
Also, 1 conference championship appearance in its history is not a sign of success imo. If you’ve been a perennial playoff team but can never get past the second round, there are organizational and philosophical issues.
They also haven’t even reached the 2nd round in 5 years.
Warriors
I ask out of ignorance. Why never the Celtics?
He joined the Heat to beat the Celtics. Or, he doesn’t like the fanbase that drove Bill Russell into hiding.
Bill Russell stepped back from public life after retiring in 1969 due to profound mental exhaustion, intense privacy needs, and deep-seated pain from enduring severe racism—including vandalism at his suburban Boston home—which left him feeling alienated by the city where he won 11 championships.
and Memphis and Indiana apparently based on his text to Hali
Why the Celtics? Are you a Lakers fan?
Lebron trying to golf he ain’t got time for a bunch of trees
Yeah like LeBron was going to spend the last two years of his career with the Flippers
Philly was the perfect choice for him IMO. He has plenty of on-court help, an amazing coach, and he gets to live his dream of living live in NY. This Lakers fan is happy for him and thankful for the eight years he gave us.
Edit: god damn some of y’all tryna be linguistic professors here on r/NBA. Lighten up lol it ain’t that serious
LeBron was either going to:
Compete for a championship
Retire
LeTirement tour in Cleveland
Taking a medium sized paycheck on a bad team on a team he had no history with was never going to happen
Yeah he would have just stayed with the Lakers if he wanted to stay in LA.
Cleveland was the runners up per the article.
Also had an interesting tidbit of Gansey finding out the news while living in Cleveland.
I’m still shocked he didn’t go to Cleveland
That can still happen next year
I was but the more I think about it Philadelphia is the perfect fit of someone that needs his skillset where they could win a championship but not so much of a favourite that it’s really ring chasing (although people are gonna criticize Lebron regardless)
It can’t “really be ring chasing” when the sixers haven’t made it past the 2nd round in 25 years..
LeBron’s dream is to live in NYC??
People really just be making shit up lmao. Like when did he ever say this
It was part in jest but he definitely has been interested in going to NY.
Well sure, he’s expressed interest in playing for a lot of different teams, the Knicks being one of them. That’s a fairly big jump from “it has been his dream to live in nyc”
Exactly. Im sure if Billionaire Bron dreamt of living in NYC, he could have easily made that happen.
Like I said, it was part in jest. But there have been reportings of his interest in NY since his first stint in Cleveland so I wouldn’t say it’s equivalent
According to Windhorst, he’ll be living in NY while playing for Philly. Really funny considering what happened last playoffs.
Windy said that was conjecture, not a reported fact.
Everybody else just repeated it as such.
I know he will be, but that doesn’t mean it has been his longtime dream to live in nyc
This isn’t really that confusing, do words just not have meaning like they used to or what’s going on here
yall take shit way too seriously. I already explained what I meant in the comments. It’s r/NBA during the offseason. Lighten up
I’m just surprised that he isn’t commuting to the Philly arena from Memphis via private jet, it’s not like he can’t afford one
He’s been interested in NY for a long time, he was considering the Knicks back in 2018, and if his agent is to be believed y’all were his first choice if you didn’t win the championship.
He does love the glitz and glamor so it makes sense.
wasn’t he tryin to go to ny with Melo and drose
Wouldn’t surprise me
You mean DWade? Rose was still on his rookie contract when Lebron went to Miami.
No rose was involved iirc tho granted there was a lot of rumors at the time
Are you talking about 2010?
Yh
Rose was still on his rookie contract, just finished his second season. There was no talk of him leaving the Bulls to go to NY.
Ok I be remembering wrong. Or Bron entertained goin to Chicago
He’s been under the spotlights. Now it’s time for him to experience the street lights.
the lakers basically kicked him to the curb
Battle for LA: play-in edition is gonna be fun this year!
Neither LA team will be in the play-in, for two very different reasons
Lmao we’ll see
Remindme! 9 months
Yes we will
People been saying the clippers will be below .500 for years now
You’re putting 6 teams above the Lakers, and 5 teams below the Clippers? Lmao
Thunder, spurs, nuggets, Timberwolves, suns are all clearly better teams than the lakers. I can see them getting 6, so if you want to use that as dodging the play-in then sure, you win lol
Philly was the perfect choice for him IMO
Yeah. That’s what everyone was saying!!! SMH
after what they did with CP3? the audacity
Biggest facts. Nobody going there
worst nursing home ever
You mean sent him home and instantly got better turning their 6-21 start into a season above 500 while starting a win streak the literal game he was told to pack it up
Sure, but cp3 is LeBrons friend and widely respected by players around the league
Fair enough but I tbh I didnt see Bron joining the clippers either way especially not with the current roster. People hate on the choice to part ways with cp3 when it was beneficial to the clippers, if nothing else, to clear up space for the young players to get some reps
Wasn’t instant and the season didn’t start turning around until Zu got injured actually
It was effectively instant. Maybe 1-2 games removed. Realistically it was a combination of Kawhi getting healthy and cp3 getting benched/sent home allowing our vets to get back in form without cp3 and the rookies/youth getting playing time to succeed. Jordan miller and Kobe Sanders don’t touch the floor in the scenario that cp3 stays the backup pg
Clippers sent Chris home December 3rd, and then proceeded to lose 5 more games in a row….
Zu gets injured December 20th and then Clippers win 6 in a row
no, they instantly got better. even when it wasn’t showing up in the win column the visible change was clear, Brian was talking about how they were moving in the right direction even before they started winning.
crazy that anybody still tries to argue that getting rid of CP wasn’t the right move.
No we did not. As soon as we sent Chris home we lose 5 games in a row. Zu gets injured 12⁄20 and then clippers win 6 straight. Chris leaving did not “instantly” fix shit lmao.
Yes dismissing Chris helped for the rest of the season but it wasn’t an instant fix at all. And I never said it wasn’t the right move either, I just will argue about the word “instant” which is not accurate at all
Of which only $4M a year will be reflected in his nba contract
Despite how it ended with the Lakers, I don’t think he wanted to play for their crosstown rivals. The 76ers felt like the perfect situation, and he even gets to fulfill his dream of living in NYC.
The Clippers aren’t even a contender, and he’d be in a worse position with them than he was with the Lakers. I think the Warriors and Spurs were the only Western teams that he even considered.
It ended fine with the lakers tbh. I could see him joining them if they’re actually competitive, but of course they are even way further from it than the team he just left lol
Most teams would take a top 25 player for $20…
He really likes Garland lol
Article also says Boston reached out with interest!
Plus $350mil on gardening deals
The whole point of him going to the Sixers is they have a stacked team and no cap space left to give him more.
If you’re not offering him a chance at winning a title, then why would he accept less than a max?
Fuck LA lol
Jealous of our coolness?😎
How much tree planting did they want him to do
Clippers don’t even have any way to pay him that. Lakers renounced his Bird rights so S&T wasn’t an option and they have no cap space.
Maybe before we exercised Lopez’s option to keep him but it we wouldnt have a starting center. It is Dave McMenamin though, one of the biggest lebron glazers of all time
So he could what? Get cut midway through the season for coaching/mentoring his teammates?
Respect LeBron 🫡
Clippers, like most franchises, don’t have the superstars to carry LeBron like he wants to be carried.
This has fake report written all over it.
Can’t ring Chase there.
But it’s the Clippers.
Well if he loved Darius Garland so much why not sign there?
Hopefully Cavs fans aren’t falling for Klutch propaganda with Darius and the Cavs.
“This is lebrons city”
It was never about the money. He made that clear.
Fully prepared to fund a new division of Klutch as well: Inspiration
Who carezzzz
I have no idea if LeBron would have picked the Clippers, but if he had this mindset at any point in the last five years, they would have been a serious favorite. The current roster construction is probably the least ideal moment for that opportunity to come up.
Oh wow! Huge! To play for the team no one cares about that is planning a rebuild. Lol
Not even Lebron could get them a ring
Not in helicopter commute range from NYC.
(checks notebook) yeah, don’t care.
Lol to what end??? Maybe making the play-in as the 10th seed?
Bron would play for the kings over ever playing for the clippers lol
He got that amount from Topps with his side hustle
damn imagine if he won a ring with the clippers…. and he gets paid and he stays in LA with his family…
seems like the no brainer here ?
You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take 🤷
See NBA? We don’t do under the take shenanigans! We are even willing to overpay!
Just to one-up the lakers. They need to move to Seattle, it’s never gonna happen for them there
His play might be worth 40m or more. Off court value puts him to superman.
And they think 20m works? Lol.
He needs an amazing fit to forgo salary.
LeTree Planter Special
wow they were willing to offer him less than fair market value – riveting reporting.
Something about pins and grenades, I suspect.
LOL. Did the Clippers think that was an attractive offer? They couldn’t make the playoff, they are being investigated, and they asked LeBron to take a massive pay cut to go to them.
Doubt he would have taken double that.
The Clippers truly are the Epic Games Store of the NBA.
LOL
Don’t worry theyd give him 40 million extra through a new company called perspiration
Lebron wasn’t Aspired
He isn’t making his final decision for the money, nor chasing a ring! He just want the chance to be able to win another ring, and the Clippers does not offer that 😆
And a bunch of trees not being planted
Knowing LeBron the first thing he would do is plant a tree for free after signing.
Every clippers contract given in the past 8 years should be investigated. Fine them max draft picks those bastards
“*Willing*”, so why didn’t you?! Same shit after Jaylen Brown was traded for peanut, teams coming out of the woodwork saying, “we would have offered more!” So why didn’t you?! Fucking idiots. Shit or get off the pot. Coming out after the fact and saying what you would have done is some serious loser shit.