Lebron to the Lakers: 4 years, $154m.
Cool I guess.
I can’t even remember who is on the Lakers besides Lonzo and Kyle Kuzma.
Nevermind done deal. LeBron to LA
So Lakers can sign to two max salary free agents. Expect Boogie to join LeBron.
This was a no brainer. He was headed to La La Land the moment JR grabbed that rebound.
I’d love to see LA pull off the Kawhi trade. Kawhi is freaking awesome, and he’s being slept on because of his year off. I don’t exactly like LA but I’ll take anyone to compete w the Warriors.
Now it’s a Celtics romp to the finals, and/or a Raptors resurgence, unless Philly can snag Kawhi.
Hope he gets some good movie deals cause he doesn’t even get to the Western finals with that Lakers team. Maybe second round at best.
I think he prioritized what his family wanted over what’s best for his career. That sacrifice probably cost him another Championship but I guess he has enough already.
His new coach was drafted after him in the same draft.
Was he going to win another championship in Cleveland? The Celtics took them to 7 games in the East missing their two best players. And that’s before they would have had to face the Warriors and/or Rockets.
He was much more likely to win another one in the East, even if he went to another team. Now he’s got to get through a buzzsaw of good teams.
Now I can contentedly ignore the NBA again.
Wow. I was wrong. I think the Lakers will be strong next year, even without Kawhi. Ingram, Kuzma and Ball should all get much better with him on the floor (they shouldn’t trade any of them, even for a shot at Kawhi - wait a year), and JaVale McGee will be a nice add (pluse loads of fun to watch against Draymond - they had quite the prank feud going on while together on the Warriors).
Without Kawhi, they’re out of the lottery, but not by much. They’ve got 8-seed, first round exit written all over them. I mean, Lebron, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Lance Stephenson and…Lonzo Ball? That’s not a super-scary team, Lebron or no Lebron.
With Kawhi, things get much better. They become a much more credible foil for the Warriors and Rockets.
Caldwell Pope is an FA.
Starting lineup looks like:
Ball
Ingram
James
Kuzma
Randle/Lopez/McGee
That’s a better starting lineup than half the teams in the West who made the playoffs, and if those young players grow, better than all save the Dubs/Rockets, with a shot to beat either (because, LeBron).
Add Mo Wgner (who is a perfect fit for what Walton wants to do) and Malik Newman as rookies, and they are going to be solid, and a lot better than the Cleveland team which won the East this year.
Randle is out, Rondo is in for 1yr/$9m.
Yep. ESPN has already started up their “shit on Cleveland” machine. Of everyone, Disney is probably the happiest that Lebron is headed to LA.
Caldwell-Pope re-signed to the Lakers for $12.5m last night.
And I think that starting line-up is a bunch of misfit parts flung together. Rondo, Javale and Stephenson…if Lebron can make this work, then he really is the GOAT.
And Julius Randle immediately picked up by the Pelicans: 2 years, $18m.
He was much more likely to reach the Finals by staying in the East.
He is much more likely to win a championship, given that he reaches the Finals, if he goes to the West.
Probability analysis time.
I wouldn’t call the Lakers crappy, they finished well - started 11-27, finished 24-20 for a final record of 35-47. Before tanking down the stretch (using Mar 13 as the reference date), they had climbed to 31-36 (which was a 20-9 run).
http://www.landofbasketball.com/results_by_team/2017_2018_lakers.htm
LOL. Warriors got Boogie.