A recent column at bulls.com by Sam Smith is garnering a lot of talk around the web about LeBron James moving to the Lakers this summer. Could this dream scenario be true? How likely is it? According to Smith, he’s “fairly sure now where LeBron James is going to be playing next season.”
Of course the first question is can this be true. Well in a world of unlimited possibilities, nothing is ever impossible, so yes, it could happen (As Smith also remarks he could be running Berkshire Hathaway too). Smith even lays out some fairly convincing arguments:
- Plain and Simple, LeBron wants to win, best way to do that is as a sidekick to Kobe for a few years before he takes over and Kobe slides over to a supporting role
- LeBron doesn’t have a size-able ego, he can take the backseat for a while (more on this point later)
- Everyone wants to play for LA; the weather, and relative privacy in a city with many other stars
Now to make this happen, Smith says that the Lakers would have to do a sign and trade type deal sending something along the lines of Bynum and Artest/Odom to the Cavs. The Cavs would agree to this because they want to get something rather than nothing for LeBron. The Lakers would trout out a lineup of LeBron, Kobe, Gasol, Odom with my grandma starting at PG and still run over all the teams in the league.
Reality Check
Now before you start going wild with dreams of LeBron, Gasol and Kobe running the league lets look at how likely such a scenario is. A few points:
- The Cavs don’t have to agree to anything (See Eric Pincus below)
- LeBron does have a size-able ego. Case and point see the walk off in the playoffs last year, no handshaking and no talking to the media. For further evidence see tape confiscation at Nike camp.
- LeBron would want to be known as the best. To do that he needs to win the most championships. If he does that with Kobe, he is going to be 4 or 5 championships in the hole with Kobe getting a ring every time LeBron does going forward. As Smith mentioned, its the end number that is important, not how you got there, so Kobe would also have a step on LeBron in the conversation. Thus LeBron would be more likely to team up with someone like Bosh, who won’t step on his legacy rather than Kobe or even Wade, who has already won a ring.
Now, while it is not imposible to see LeBron on the Lakers, it is not likely. This has been best summed up by Eric Pincus from HoopWorld.com, when asked about his thoughts on the subject, he said:
To get more specific, the Lakers – like EVERY team in the league – would love to have LeBron James. They won’t have cap room so it would take a very, very strong push directly from James. If he tells the Cavaliers that they have the choice of either a sign and trade to LA – or Bron will walk to a team with cap room like the Nets, Knicks or HEAT (etc), then I suppose there’s a chance.
I would say it’s a small chance – but it would really be on LeBron to force such a move – and even then Cleveland might call his bluff.
If Laker fans want to fantasize about it until July – go ahead. Just don’t be disappointed if it doesn’t actually go through.
You can’t say it won’t happen – but I certainly think it’s an extreme long shot.
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
I vouch for my grandma… she is a baller.
May be unrealistic, but lakers fans can always dream…I once had a dream that the Lakers traded a bag of chips for Pau Gasol [when he was on the grizzlies]…
Now don’t get me wrong, the Pau trade was great. But we didn’t exactly give a bag of peanuts for the guy. Memphis got everything they wanted in the trade. Young talent (Crittenton and Marc Gasol, who may be even better than Pau one day), future assests (two first round picks) and of course the big expiring contract (Kwame). Compare that to the mix bag that the Spurs were able to send for Richard Jefferson (I mean none of the players traded are still on the Bucks roster), in which they did not even have to send any draft picks. Time will tell what the future of LeBron is going to be. You can dream, but I wouldn’t expect anything…
I dont expect anything, I think Lebron to the lakers is a pipe dream. However, faced with the option of Lebron walking and getting nothing out of him OR sign and trade, I think the Lakers offer a relatively solid package. Naturally you can never replace a player like LeBron but as smith says in the article, it is a good core that would be going to Cleveland. Anyway, it’s a moot point because I dont think it’s going to happen. But like I said, it’s nice to dream. Separately, how about all these close wins? A bit disconcerting. For now…chalk it up to getting the chemistry right with an out of practice Bynum, a new Artest, and missing Pau. 20 games from now though, if we’re pulling the same thing, i’m going to be more concerned. No?
In the end, if you win by 1 or win by 20 it counts the same. At the end of the season they don’t look at how you won games in November or December, they just remember that you won. For now, I would chalk it up to missing Pau and Artest getting acclimated, although we would have definately lost the last two games without Artest’s meaningful contributions.
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