A smattering of league executives that spoke with Bleacher Report’s Ric Bucher echo the sentiment that LeBron James will leave the Cavaliers next summer, one Eastern Conference general manager even going so far as to call it a “foregone conclusion.”
Of course just two weeks ago we wrote about how there were conflicting reports about the King’s pending free agency decision. In Bucher’s latest, however, he writes that the Kyrie Irving trade hasn’t changed James’ Cavaliers outlook in the slightest.
Between lingering injury concerns surrounding Isaiah Thomas (hip) and James’ connection to Los Angeles, Bucher makes the case that the 32-year-old Cavalier icon could west to join the Lakers. “It’s all more about life after basketball than anything else,” a source tells him.
There’s more from the Central Division:
- Would Andre Drummond, Reggie Jackson, Stanley Johnson and a first-round pick have been enough for the Pistons to land Kyrie Irving? Ansar Khan of MLive doesn’t think so. The scribe says the Celtics‘ offer would have topped Detroit’s no matter what.
- The Pacers spared no expense outfitting their new practice facility with 130,000 square feet of enticing new features, an Associated Press report says. Indiana hopes that facility can be a selling point for players and coaches.
- Former Bulls guard Jimmy Butler doesn’t regret his mid-season comments criticizing teammates, saying that the organization doesn’t make it easy for players to express themselves. “I just think they make it tough to be yourself, to be who you are and express yourself the way you want to express yourself,” he told Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times.
I don’t see how another teams’ GM would know more about James’ plans than a poster on Hoopsrumors. And I’ve heard “foregone conclusion” before– it just a tossed-out cliche meaning ‘tired of wondering about it’.
“It’s about life after basketball”? Old never-wases talking; or maybe a financial services salesman. LA is full of phrases.
James aint done yet. He wants control and winning.
He has control in cleveland he goes to la he will have no control
He will have control wherever he goes
I could see it happening but its nothing beyond speculation at this point.
He will NEVER have as much control as he does in Cleveland. He will obviously have more control than any other player wherever he goes, but he is basically the boss in Cleveland…Magic and Walton will run the show in LA, much like Riley ultimately ran the show when LeBron went to Miami…
Re: Riley, that’s laughable. He was little more than a facilitator. And that’s LeBron’s point, ever and always: he runs the show. How many years LeBron’s team runs the EC? Seven? That’s better than MJ could manage. All these LA fans, that’s what they’re hoping for: that LeBron sees a greater opportunity to take a bigger share out West. Magic, Doc, Kobe’s agent, Logo, whoever… they know that and won’t make the same mistake Riley did. They’ll do what they need to in order to team with LeBron, same as Pat. It’s why Griff is out in CLE. Either Gilbert is an idiot and is making the same mistake Riley did or he realized Griff was going to cost him his cash cow.
Why would Detroit even offer that for one year of Irving? The last thing they should be doing is trading a first rounder. Silly hypothetical.
He signed up for two more years.
It is also about $43MM in salary while Irving makes 19, so Detroit would have to be taking a couple ‘bad’ contracts from the Cavs. But why bother swapping bad contracts.
BTW Irving has 2 years left and would not belong in that group.
I wish Boston had moved more for Butler now. That’s be a crazy 1-4 and they could’ve found the salary. They could’ve renegotiated and extended Smart, threw in Rozier, and moved some of their other picks. That would’ve been nice.
Having a great 1-4 doesn’t mean much if you ultimately have no depth. As things stand now, they have a solid 1-5 with Irving, Smart, Hayward, Morris, and Horford, yet they also have some quality depth with the likes of Brown, Tatum, Rozier, Green, Baynes, among a couple others…
The one problem I see with Boston’s team though is a lack of bigs that can defend the post well…Their lack of big man depth, I personally believe will be their undoing when it is all said and done..
Now, if they are able to land an early 2018 pick, and then select a young stud that can defend the low post and score…Watch Out!! With that addition, and then adding another veteran defender down low, plus the added continuity of their core and the development of Tatum and Brown…They very well could give the Warriors a run for their money…but that’s next year, in my opinion…Not so much this upcoming season…
As long as King James is still playing, the cavs will still be the team to beat in the east for years to come. Celtics will have to wait much longer than you expect. Plus since they gave up the Net’s pick, that gives them a chance to pick another star to go along with King James so it will make it harder for teams to beat the cavs. Cleveland will keep getting players for cheap that want to win a championship with King James. Irving will need to wait until he’s almost 30 to finally take his team to the finals and it all depends on injuries and who stays and who leaves. It King James leaves then yeah it will be a different story!
They would’ve kept most of their depth in my trade. They lose 2 guards and draft picks, lets assume the pick from trading down from 1 to 3, the Memphis first, and one of the 2nd rounders from the recent draft. Maybe they would’ve had to throw in another prospect like Yabusele, but that would be better than Dunn, Lavine, and Markkanen. Plus there’s still FA’s to sign for the minimum, and they’d come to Boston with that group. They could pick up Tony Allen, another off guard/wing who plays defense, Andrew Bogut, and they’d be in good shape.
So a California surfer dude writes a story saying James is gone after this season to go play for a … California surfing team is on the other side of the Moon at best.