...I'm a Laker & Lebron Fan So I Tried To Say It Nicely... But In All Actuality THE LAKERS ARE NOT WINNING A CHAMPIONSHIP NEXT YEAR! OKC Just Won And Their Players Avg. Age Is 24, They're Just Scratching The Surface Of Championsips To Come. HOUSTON JUST GOT KD FOR VIRTUALLY NOTHING! The Warriors Are One Decent Big Man Away From Contention. Denver has Jokic, 'nuff said. We all witnessed What Minnesota did to The Lakers 🫣. Clippers, Spurs, Need I Say More, Or Do You Get The Point B....?
Why The Lakers Do It?
Lebron Is 40!! Luckily🤞Lebron Has Been Mostly Durable And Has Escaped Major Injury Throughout His Career. BUT, His Injury Status Has Steadily Increased Over The Last Few Years (MCL Knee Sprain The Last Game Of The Season 🤔). Paying Lebron A Max Contract At His Age With Everything Riding On It Is Like A 60 Year Old Putting Their Life-Savings Into A Crypto Coin Holding It There Year-After-Year Without Cashing Out Because "It Would Never Crash" And You EXPECT Any Year Now-Of Your Last Working Years Before Retiring- That It's Going To Raise To a 1,000% Profit. You'll Cash Out Right In Time At The End. You'll Ride off Into The Sunset To Where The Weather Is Nice Year-Round, To A Place Where Everybody Knows Your Name And They're Always Glad You Came
...That's Not A Risk That Anyone With Sense Would Take...I Mean We See How Kobe Unfortunately Ran Himself Hard To The Ground With The Achilees Injury, We Seen How The Lakers Paid Him Top Dollar But Got Nothing For Him As His Career Ended...And We Seen How Awful The Lakers Were Years After He Retired.
Why The Lakers Do It:
Darius Garland is a very good player. In fact a 2x All-Star! It's not that the Lakers should specifically want Garland but he's likely the primary player Cleveland would want to give to matvh Lebron's salary at $40 million. Trading him will allow them to not deplete their depth. Plus he's young enough to be flipped for assets if he proves to not be a good fit with Luka in the short-term...Also in the trade the Lakers would receive a starter, 3-pt shooter, with 6'9" size, and defense (via length) within Dean Wade. In addition, the Lakers would receive Jaylon Tyson a 6'6" guard with upside that was selected by Cleveland in the 1st round of the 2024 draft. LAST BUT NOT LEAST, THE LAKERS WOULD RECEIVE A 2031 UNPROTECTED FIRST ROUND PICK!
Why the Cavs do it:
The Cavs just completed a season which they were the #1 seed in the east by a mile. They had the second overall record in the entire NBA. They had three players selected to all-star. Yet they were home on the couch watching the league's #1 seed Oklahoma Thunder win there first championship. Surely saying, that should've been me! But Darius Garland was "not himself" once again in the 25' playoffs, the same as he was in the 24' playoffs.
With this trade the Cavs are trading away a young all-star asset with promise yet recent reports show the Cavs are already shopping him around. The Cavs are right at the cusp of a championship at the perfect time, as there stiffest competition in the East are damaged. Jason Tatum is likely out all of next year and Tyresese Haliburton is also likely out for the year. THE TIME IS NOW to throw in your smaller chips for a chance at a big chip, a Championship! With this trade the Cavs would keep all of there core players including D.Mitchell, Mobley, Allen, Strus, and Hunter. There's no better person currently in the league to guide Cleveland AGAIN to a championship than King James.
Secondary to this is the story-book ending of Lebron returning to his hometown team the Cavaliers for a third time. Ending off the last years of his career right where it all started woth a chance to add to his legacy!
(For this trade to be possible Lebron would have to inform L.A that he will not re-sign in the 26-27 season. This may be an opportunity for the Lakers to recoup assets for him. Inform L.A and/or the media that he only wants to go to Cleveland. He must opt-Into his contract. Also, Cleveland must trade away Okoro to i.e Brooklyn to get under the second apron)
A real L.A/Lebron fan would appreciate what Lebron has contributed to the Lakers over the years. Suppport that he would like to retire playing in his home state.
A real NBA fan would understand that this is a players league and superstars often will get traded to where they want to go...Would know that at age 40 (41 in December) it's possible that the Lakers may not be offered a treasure chest of the shiniest assets for Lebron...Would be aware that Lebron is a $50+ million tradable asset that can leave for nothing and this could equate to just $15 million in salary cap space to sign a replacement player...Would know that trading Lebron at thee current state of the Lakers, thee current state of the west, and at this point of Lebron's career is in best interest of the team!
(For this trade to be possible Lebron would have to want to leave L.A (So obviously there's no need to comment-Lebron doesn't want to leave L.A) and Cleveland must trade Okoro to i.e Brooklyn to get under the second apron. Likely trading their 2025 second round picks along with him.)
I know that the fake-fanspo viewers may like this trade post but not tap the like button. Most comments will be negative. Also if you disagree but you can't explain why you disagree you might as well keep your substance lacking comment to yourself. The Real fanspo viewers- Let me know what you think!