The Cavaliers Are the Best Landing Spot for LeBron

All right, last thing for you.

I wanna talk about, uh, who else?

LeBron James was on his podcast Mind the Game, uh, talking about how he's going to wait until late summer to make a decision.

We said July or August.

That's kind of late summer, right?

Well, the free agency isn't until July, so I don't know if it's August or if it's August, it's late summer.

He's gonna wait till the summertime, and I'm, I'm guessing when he says that he means he's gonna wait till the dust settles on free agency before deciding, uh, what to do, uh, next year.

So what do you think of that?

What is the Uh, the likely future of LeBron James, I guess we start with, like, do you think there's any chance now that he retires because you were riding that train for a little while that he could retire, he could retire.

Uh, do you think there's any chance that that is an option for LeBron?

If he doesn't see another good option, I can see him retiring.

I don't want him to retire.

He just played a fantastic year of basketball.

It's a great story.

He should stay in the league, but I also know he's a smart player who knows himself very well and what he likes and doesn't like, and there has to be an option he likes.

Assuming that's the case, how long does he wait to decide?

To me, it depends more on the Lakers.

I mean, after that quote came out, a lot of people were like, oh, the Lakers aren't going to want to wait for him.

I, I don't think it's the Lakers waiting for him.

I think the Lakers are going to tell him.

And he's waiting for them and that might be part of why he said August.

The Lakers have to decide where they want to spend their money.

They just do.

And if they want to spend their money, you know, we all think they're going to spend their money on Austin Reeves.

We all think they want to spend their money on players that fit better around Luca, age-wise, and certainly, you know, the, the kind of team that was built around him eventually in Dallas.

And are they able to do it?

Do they see ways to do it?

If they are able to do and want to spend their money in all those ways, and they tell LeBron James, hey, this is our plan.

We'd love to have you back, but where you would fit in is at this number.

And if it's, what, what's the exception, like 9.4 million or something like that.

Uh, the exception, I, I don't know, right around there, right?

OK.

So I also thought it was interesting that paired with LeBron's quote was from, I think it was earlier in the week, reports say, or, you know, sources say, which was obviously clutch saying.

You know he's not gonna come back for the minimum.

He's not, you know, and, and look, agents always do that, right?

I'm gonna set the floor.

He's never come back so for negotiations, he's not coming back for a little bit of money.

I don't know where $9 million falls into things.

He's certainly not a $9 million a year player at this point.

He's much more valuable than that on and off the floor, on and off the floor.

I have said this year, I think it's more about the role than the money.

I do think that's true, and I think that's another conversation the Lakers need to decide and have with him before he can make a decision.

But the money, when it gets down to $9.5 million is he really going to be on the court with Jared Vanderbilt making $12 million a year?

It's tough.

I, I just, I, at some point, and then, you know, look, the conversation, once he finds out what the Lakers are willing because he wants to stay in LA.

I think he wants to keep playing, that is my opinion, but he wants to keep playing and he wants to stay in LA.

So the question is, will the Lakers give him enough to make him feel like it is tenable to stay in LA money-wise and role-wise.

And if they can't, then the question becomes, does Cleveland want him?

I think they do, right?

And I got a scenario with Cleveland.

I think they do want him, especially considering the way the series is going, whether it's a sweep or whether it's in 5 games or whatever it is.

Like, how does that feel for LeBron?

I, I don't think Savannah and Missouri are moving to Cleveland.

I mean, they'll, they'll go back and forth, but I mean they might for if it's like he, when he signed with Cleveland.

When he went to Cleveland and he signed back there, he was committing long term.

If he goes back to Cleveland now, it's basically a one year and his family situation was much different then, right?

It's, it's basically a one year deal though to go back to Cleveland, um.

I, I think one of the scenarios that could be out there is the Cavs just say, fuck it, and then we're going all in on, on something crazy.

Like we're gonna give Milwaukee, Evan Mobley and some draft capital and whatever it does takes to make it work to get Giannis there.

We're gonna bring back James Harden maybe on a reduced deal and then we're gonna beg LeBron to take whatever we have left.

And I think that might be interesting to LeBron James.

I agree with you.

The role, the situation, like I don't think he's going to.

Golden State for the minimum.

I don't think he's going to like Houston for the, uh, he's not just even Miami, he's not going back to the Heat for a low number.

Like Cleveland may be that one place that he would go back to a low number.

And you know, LeBron loves a great story.

Is there any better story than him coming back to Cleveland one more time on a team that doesn't exactly do what they did before where they traded away Andrew Wiggins.

They did whatever they could to get Kevin Love there.

But like they sell out.

They go get Giannis.

They roll the dice on him.

You got a big fat hole in that small forward spot with Harden, Mitchell, Giannis, you know, you still have Jared Allen, I guess, or whatever you have to do, and it's palatable to Mitchell because it's LeBron James.

It's LeBron James, and you could say, look, Donovan, we're, we're, we're all in here, man.

Like we are, we're pushing our chips in.

They're not bringing someone who's sort of equivalent with Donovan to be like, I don't know whose team this is.

Like, no, this is LeBron.

This is LeBron, so.

I that that type of situation I could see being appealing to LeBron James.

And if I'm Cleveland, I'm, I'm, that would be my advice to Kobe I'm right now I'm telegraphing that from the moment you can.

If, if you get hit with tampering, so be it.

I mean, you think the Knicks would pay the Jalen Brunson tampering fine.

100 days in a row, um, you know, they were just so brazen about it too, well, but I'm saying like I, I don't think the tampering, first of all, I think tampering is ridiculous.

It, it just, it, the tampering fines in the NBA and the tampering rules are so disrespectful to players.

It implies that if the other team doesn't come to you, the player would just have no idea.

They don't read a newspaper.

They don't follow the league.

They don't have a good agent.

They just have no idea that this other team wants them.

Oh, but the other team, you know, put it out there.

We're talking to them or we're going behind so and so's back.

Come on, man, it's so disrespectful.

So whatever, but they're not, the fines aren't even big enough that it would matter.

If I'm Cleveland, the minute this series is over, whether it's tonight, whether it's Wednesday night, whatever it is, I'm supposed to go to New York, by the way.

I'm waiting to see by the end of this game, am I.

Getting on a plane, um, you know, I, I would take every big swing I could.

Absolutely.

Is there anything like, I, I don't think there could be anything that would burnish the legacy of LeBron James other than going back to Cleveland and winning a championship.

I, I think winning another championship in LA does really nothing for him.

It, it adds a title gets him to Kobe, but it, yes, OK, if you want to say that, it gets him to Kobe.

But, but all the Kobe fans are gonna say he didn't do it in the same way.

The, yeah, the, the Kobe fans are never gonna like LeBron.

We, we know that the ultimate punctuation is going back to Cleveland, delivering another championship, being that missing piece of the puzzle.

That's a story.

He could put his, put the banner back up on the side of the building, you know.

You're beloved once again in Cleveland and you do it one more time.

I understand the family situation is different.

A lot of things are different, but that's the one situation I could see him going back to, even if you don't win the title, because, frankly, a Donovan Mitchell, LeBron James, what did you say, Giannis and Harden team, I'm still not putting them up against the two teams we have right now in the West, but like we, we, we get into this next time, but like.

What's happening with the Western Conference and what's happening around the, it's true.

They beat it.

They're beating each other up so Miami's gonna, Miami, New York is gonna be on like a week-long vacation.

No, I actually would like to say something about that.

I'm gonna finish two thoughts at once here.

The Cleveland thought is I don't think he has to win the title to have it burnish his reputation.

I think going home, showing that respect to his hometown fans, getting far in the playoffs, maybe getting to the finals.

Whatever it is, will be like, man, he went out on a great note.

42 years old.

Can you believe he did this?

You know, cheers everywhere, blah , blah, blah.

No back and forth with Luca.

No whose team is it?

No, I got to be a role player that, you know, grabs the dirt to get that one rebound or, you know, the one loose ball or whatever it is.

So I don't think he even has to win the title.

Going back to the Knicks.

I would like to give a little mea culpa because there is something I did not consider when I was talking about the Knicks and could they win the title.

I kept saying through this run of the Knicks, this is great.

I think they're getting to the finals.

I still don't see how they win a title because the talent gap between them and these two Western teams is too big for them to overcome over 7 games.

What I did not take into account is those two teams were going to beat each other up so much.

Which we could foresee, but it just didn't click with me.

That is what would happen to them getting to the finals, that they might not be a talent gap team because they might not have players.

Look, if the Thunder make it, I, I don't know if Jay Will is gonna play, if Jay Dubruther is gonna play again.

I don't know if AJ Mitchell is gonna play again.

And whoever it is, I think this Spurs series, Thunder series could easily go to 7 games.

So what is that gonna be like when the Knicks have had a week off and have had perfect health?

And you and I both know that health is frankly, I think one of the biggest behind talent is the biggest determiner of whether you win a title.

It is #2, and they've got it and they've got it thanks to themselves because they've taken care of business.

I, I didn't think about that so much when I just flatly stated, man.

There's too much of a talent camp.

They can't win.

I'm not sure if I pick them still.

I, I wanna see.

I wanna see who the opponent is.

I want to see how the opponent gets there, who's hurt, who's not.

But I, I, I wouldn't say what I said two weeks ago because I, I think it matters how healthy you are and what's happening in the West.

The health matters, um.

I think you're not gonna have a situation like you have with Cleveland where they had to turn around in less than 48 hours and play.

The, the longest this series in the Western Conference Finals can go is Saturday, so it's May 30th.

So then you don't start till June 3rd.

So you've got what's that, 4 days of complete rest up there.

And I think the danger for the Cavs, or it's for the Cavs, I'm for my teams now.

The danger for the Knicks is that You have the same kind of scenario in game one happening Cleveland, and I don't think a team that's not gonna give up a 22 point lead on the road and you're on the road, and yeah, no, look again, I'm not picking the wins the Knicks to win the final right now.

First of all, I don't know who's they're gonna be playing, but I, I, I think that what I have observed with this West, where, look, the West has been more talented for so long since Jordan, that it's just, we talk about it offhandedly with two teams this good in the West, this young, who have such an equivalent sort of, you know, strengths, weaknesses, depth, draft picks to call on, like all the stuff, the fact that that could be so even by the time you get to Western Conference Finals.

That it just, it destroys whoever advances or at least really impacts them.

We just haven't seen it in that way.

We've seen some great Western Conference Finals, but I can't remember one where the teams felt just so even in kind of almost the same ways.

I think it'll be interesting.

Makes for an interesting dynamic, uh, and New York is gonna be crazy if they're competing for a championship.

It is going to be wild.

It's gonna be wonderful.

Look, no, the NBA.

I know people who don't live in New York.

I don't wanna hear about the Knicks.

The fix is in for the Knicks.

Guess what?

The NBA is better when the Knicks are doing well.

They're more fun.

They're more electric, and more importantly, the NBA makes more money, and they have revenue sharing in the NBA.

Your team out there will get better if the Knicks do well.

I agree.

We'll see what happens.