Will LeBron Take Less Money For A Title Run?

All right, we got a lot to get into here.

As we started recording this episode, the news broke that LeBron James would be taking his talents elsewhere next season.

LeBron informing the Lakers that he would not be returning to the team.

Instead, age 41 years old, he is going to be playing for another franchise next season.

So let's unpack this.

Um, Your reaction first to LeBron telling the Lakers that he will not be rejoining them next season.

Man, I was shocked.

I was super shocked, kind of.

I, I, I didn't leave it out, but I guess I wasn't just prepared to see him just being like, hey, you guys.

can move on, I'm going elsewhere.

And it's making me wonder, ever since the Heat kind of said, yo, we got $15 million for whoever wants it.

I originally thought that LeBron would go back and do the Cavs reunion, but I'm really wondering now, I'm putting my mind on if a Heat situation where he has I mean, he has two killers like Bam Adebayo and Giannis Antetokopo, and he's still able to make plays, or I like that little fairy tale up in, uh, you know, up north in, uh, Golden State where he might be able to partner with obviously the likes of Steph Curry and maybe Anthony Davis comes over with, but I like what they're going to build because no matter what, you need a super team or a very, very great team to go up against these young guys in the West.

OKC.

Literally not only are they still good and waiting to get healthy, they added two bruisers, like they added two dogs.

They almost are just like, yo, we're preparing for the guys in San Antonio.

It's a two-man race, in my personal opinion.

So I think LeBron is kind of smart in that sense and he's comprehending it.

There's not, even if you want to say he's being petty, there's not enough out there to bring them to the Lakers and for him to be happy and to do it in the right type of situation.

Yeah, I, I would say I was surprised that LeBron is electing to walk away .

I, I thought playing in Los Angeles, playing with his son, keeping some stability was going to be a more significant factor for him.

Um, I also took note of how he did adjust to that kind of third option role opposite Luca and Austin Reeves for the brief period he did it last year, and I thought that maybe that would be sustainable.

I also believe that Mark Walter, the owner of the Lakers with very deep pockets that he would have found a way to Make it worth LeBron's while on a short-term deal.

I did discover in the aftermath that really nobody in LA was surprised by this.

I mean, the last couple of days, from what I understand, um, there was starting to be some pretty clear signs that LeBron would be playing somewhere else next season.

So, they, they, they were seeing this coming over the last uh couple of days at least, uh, for LeBron.

Um, as you mentioned.

Everything is on the table for LeBron, who is no longer a max contract player, who is no longer going to get the full 4-year, 5-year max type of deal with whatever team he's going to.

So yes, a 3rd run in Cleveland, 2nd encore in Cleveland is on the table.

Going back to Miami, I guess theoretically.

is on the table, uh, but I do think as we go into this free agent process that Golden State is the clear favorite to land LeBron James.

Uh, what the, the Warriors have been transparent about all this, like having Draymond Green opt out of his contract gives them some flexibility.

Um, uh, you know, we can talk later about this kind of pie in the sky idea.

Getting Anthony Davis as well.

I'm not so sure about that, but I do think that they are poised to make a run at LeBron James.

Uh, look, a lot of this stuff is already, I mean, probably a lot of this stuff is already well known internally, right?

Like Draymond Green opted out for a reason.

I mean, he is represented by Rich Paul.

Rich Paul represents LeBron James.

Like they, they know the score here.

Like they know what's, what's kind of going on, so.

Uh, I would, I would not be surprised in the least if in the next couple of days we see LeBron signing with the Golden State Warriors.

I think they are a clear front runner at this point to sign him.

The question then is, like, what does that do for Golden State?

Like if you take Anthony Davis off the table and you add LeBron to this team with Porzingis, with Horford, with Green, with Curry, like, I mean, they're an old team.

Are they a contending team in your mind?

I definitely think so.

I think they would definitely be a contending team because Steph Curry, baby.

Like, you know what I mean?

I think Steph, he, he's still got a lot left in the tank.

I don't think it takes much for him to figure it out and win.

Last year, a lot of people got injured.

Of course, that team wasn't the sexiest, but I believe you're putting two great basketball minds together.

You know what I mean?

At the very least you're looking for the big 3, but I believe those big 2 right there are elite when you take the experience with Porzingis, who's, you know, even though he's sick and hurt, he had a championship Porzingis.

You go with Al Horford , that's the same type of situation.

You take so much responsibility off Draymond Green's back.

And allow him to be like the super fifth in that situation.

Now you're sitting there and the game is going from checkers, which guys like to play, and you're going with the old heads and you're being able to force it with chess because you have some of the best basketball minds of this past generation.

I, I, I particularly love that and I also like if this were a movie, how that would go in that situation.

I think, uh, you know, You, you, you, you add, possibly if you do add one more piece, Anthony Davis or not, but Yael Landenberg, he's 24, he's a good draft pick.

I believe they'll be able to operate in that right type of situation and all speak the same type of language.

But having Brian and Steph Curry coming at you in any type of sense is going to be a long, long night.

I just think if they add more pieces, you have to be more judicious in how you attack the season because Brian's gonna go need some breaks.

Whenever Steph sits, you know Draymond's sitting as well.

He's gonna go need some breaks.

Jimmy Butler's going to come back at a different time.

You're going to need to give him time before he ramps it up so you don't do the Boston Celtics thing where you overplay him or make him, you know, mess up again.

So, I believe you just need to add more firepower to make sure your horses are running at the right time.

What do you think?

Uh, I think it's interesting.

Um, it certainly is like assembling Voltron out there.

Like we're, we're just gonna add all these guys and all these names and see if it's gonna work.

I, I do think that's an old ass team, man.

Like you've got, you'd have two players in Horford and LeBron in their 40s, in their 40s that are playing.

Minutes on that team.

Steph's in his late 30s.

Draymond's in his late 30s.

Borzingis is a little bit younger, but Borzingis has dealt with so many injuries and this mystery illness that he's been battling over the last couple of years.

Like, where is the athleticism?

You know, beyond Steph, like enough reliable shooting on that team.

Like there's, there's a lot, I think there's a lot of question marks.

Defensively, where are they getting stops?

Like, look, Jimmy Butler, maybe he comes back mid-season.

That helps, um.

I don't know.

That, that's an interesting team for sure.

Do I put them on the same level as Denver, San Antonio, Oklahoma City?

No, not, not yet.

I, I look at them as kind of a middle of the pack team with that group if it comes together that way.

Yeah , but you just got, at the same time, you can't factor in, especially analytics, can't factor in for the intangibles, you know what I mean?

Back in 2022 that Any of us seeing, seeing the Warriors beat the Celtics, especially going down 2-1.

And Steph had to do it on his own versus Defensive Player of the Year?

Absolutely not.

We go down to your favorite guys, a favorite duo, Tom Brady and Gronkowski.

How many times did they try to send him up the hill for who?

Pat Mahomes and Travis Kelsey, and what did they do to them?

You understand what I'm saying?

Sometimes I believe it's uh, I guess the quote unquote ingenuity that's gonna help, but I wouldn't bet a lot against those guys when they're able to use their mind if they find it.

Rhythm.

And a lot of times when you get to a certain age, it's like, hey, let's, let's put, we're playing seeding, we're playing positioning.

It might be like, hey, we don't want to be the 2nd best team, maybe we want to be the 6th, the 6th seed, so we go up against the 3rd and then from here this will be a better matchup there.

Sometimes those guys that are that great, they're like, man, just give me 3 good weeks of clearance and I'll be OK.

You saw Bron just won the 1st round series after he said he was done.

I, I've been swept 100 million times in the first round.

So like, to win a first round series with your two best players out the way, I know he's old, but there's still something in the tank, and mentally if you get him in that right position, he's been to the finals 1012 times, like what, 10 years straight or whatever, like.

We got to throw something in there.

Steph Curry, you give him any type of anything, he's gonna make something of it, you know.

And then Jimmy Butler's is a wild child, Draymond Green is gonna be locked in.

And you have those others, some of those others will fit well and mold well coming off that bench.

It just looked terrible when they had to play 40 minutes a game.

Yeah, uh, it's, it's interesting.

It, it is.

Uh, I think it gets more interesting if they can find a way to get Anthony Davis cause I think Anthony Davis is a potential game-changer for them.

Um, at his best, he's a beast defensively.

He's a post presence.

He's all the things that this team on paper seems to be lacking.

Um, I, I don't, I don't have any indications yet.

Um, Just that the Wizards are interested in moving Anthony Davis.

Like they acquired him for a reason.

Like among the reasons that they went out and got AD and got Trae Young was because they're ready to turn the corner.

Like they're ready to go from this young team that's rebuilding and losing a bunch of games and losing a lot of them badly to being a team that can compete for a playoff spot.

And they should next year.

If they're fully healthy, they should compete for a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

They trade away Anthony Davis.

And you're kind of right back to where you were at the very beginning, overly relying on all these young players.

Now, does Golden State go all in to get Anthony Davis?

Do they offer the kind of package they're willing to put together to get Gianniston Deopo?

Do they put Jimmy Butler into the deal?

Butler's contract is almost identical to Anthony Davis.

Do they give up 3 first-round picks, some swap stuff?

Do they push everything in?

To go get Anthony Davis and create kind of a two-year window for this team to win championships.

I, I don't know the answer to that right now.

It'd be a big risk, but if you're looking to maximize Steph Curry, You know, LeBron's kind of a step in that direction, but Anthony Davis would be a much bigger one if they could pull it off.

Yeah, and to be honest with you, I love the Wizards to death, but An 80 Trae Young duo was not calling home for me unless I believe in those young kids taking major leaps, you know what I mean?

So that's the only reason why I think they could possibly still be one or two years away from building because it's like AD is gonna try to get out of there regardless, like, you know what I mean?

Or force his way out and, and, and he's not going.

Well, he better, he better play though.

Like, you know, he's got, he's got, he's got two guaranteed years left.

One is a player option on the back end worth $62 million.

Like you better, like if you don't want to be forced to pick up that option, you better play and you better dominate and you better make people believe that you're worthy of investing, you know, a 3-year extension on.

I think there's a lot to, to ask there.

I just think him and poor Zingis would be great communicating nightly on like who's off, who's on, cause they, they take as many, you know what I mean, take as many breaks as, as anybody, so it would be, it'd be legit, but I mean, who knows, we'll, we'll see when it happens.

Well, I like that.

I also like that LeBron seems to be just about finding the right fit right now by all reporting that's out there, and including some of my own.

Um, he's not, this decision is not being driven by money.

He's not looking to collect maximum dollars that he can, which is, I think, smart.

Look, I understand ego-wise, if you're LeBron James, you don't want to be making like less than Christoph Porzingis.

But at the same time, like, it's the old Gordon Gekko line, like how many yachts do you need to jet ski behind?

Like I had this conversation.

A couple of weeks ago with Jalen Brunson when I flew to New York for the, the, the cover story that's out, uh, right now.

And I was talking to him about like his decision to take less money to sign an extension with the Knicks.

He told me two things.

He said, one, I didn't really take less money.

I took the maximum amount of money that was available at that time.

If he had waited a year, obviously there would have been 100 $100 million more on the table, but he's like, I took the most money because I wanted the security.

That's fine.

He also made the point, which I think is very relevant to everyone, including LeBron James, that You know, that extra money guaranteed does not materially change the way Jalen Brunson lives his life.

And that's especially too, I think for LeBron.

Like, what does $30 million in one NBA season do for his bottom line?

This guy has made billions of dollars on and off the court.

He clearly has done pretty well with his investments over the years.

I, I think, you know, I think it's smart to kind of recognize that.

So, you know what, it is kind of a kick in the proverbial.

Ego, let's call it.

If I'm making less than poor Zingis or I'm making like Al Horford money, but what do I care?

Like, what does it matter how much money I make right now?

I am set for life.

My kids are set for life.

My grandkids are set for life.

I'm probably gonna wind up as part of an ownership group for an NBA team someday that's gonna further set generations of my family for life.

I just, I think this is the right thing to do.

It's easy for me to say it's not my money, but I mean, If I had LeBron's cash flow and I had his bank account, I think I'd probably make the same call.

Yeah, and also too, where you're, I think it went from being where you're happy at to being where you're appreciated at as well.

And I think in this position in the past, whatever's occurred with the Lakers, I believe it's LeBron the wrong way a little bit.

And now I think he's going places where it's like, who's gonna appreciate the presence of a king.

As opposed to being like, hey, nobody took me out, you just moved me to the side for Luca and then you moved me to the side for AR.

Like, I'll, I'll do a lot, but I'm, I've been eating filet my whole career, you understand?

I think that's what has hit him the most it's just like, yo, the appreciation, the legacy, and how people are somewhat playing with his name.

Yeah, uh, I think that's true and I think if he goes to, wherever he goes to, uh, Golden State, Cleveland, Miami, there's a dark horse in there.

I don't know, but those are clearly the three most known names and I do think Golden State is the front runner here.

Like all these moves the Warriors have made, the Draymond opt-out, um, it, they're all happening for a reason.

This is not being done in a vacuum.

There's a broader plan at place and I, I think the Golden State is a big favorite to, uh, to sign him ultimately.