Event Around the 2025 NBA Draft & Offseason Madness! (1 Viewer)

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Chris Craig said:
Isn't that blatant tanking? Shouldn't that be punished?
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No.... Jazz might be trading him away so they don't have to tank a minute. With their roster now they can put 100% effort to win every night and still get a top pick.

Wish the Blazers had done that some of the last 4 years instead of these AytonGrantAnt stretches followed by scrub G leaguers. Yes we did less of it last season. We still benched Deni/Sharpe in a very winnable game they were playing great.
 


$822 million for a big3 by the big spending OKC team.... It's crazy how much NBA salaries keep booming nearly exponentially. Bennett spent $350 million to buy the Sonics franchise.

I remember thinking it was insane during the SPAM era when the Blazers had the first $100 million payroll while the salary cap was 34 million.
 
SharpesTriumph said:
If LeBron wanted to compete for a championship on a superteam of his choosing he should've opted out and gone and done that.

He decided to take the supermax and return to the Lakers... They now have no salary flexibility because of HIS overpaid salary.

So delusional
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i think he wants the lakers to buy him out
 
SharpesTriumph said:
If LeBron wanted to compete for a championship on a superteam of his choosing he should've opted out and gone and done that.

He decided to take the supermax and return to the Lakers... They now have no salary flexibility because of HIS overpaid salary.

So delusional
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Is LeBron overpaid? It’s gotten boring but he’s still a Top 10 player in the league and he sells jerseys and tickets.
 
KingSpeed said:
Is LeBron overpaid? It’s gotten boring but he’s still a Top 10 player in the league and he sells jerseys and tickets.
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Jerseys and tickets have nothing to do with winning or contending.

LeBrons not a top value NBA player any longer while on a supermax like he was in his prime. He's not the best player on his team going into a season - for the first time ever.

The Lakers don't have great value elsewhere on the roster because they gave up a bunch of assets to get LeBron Davis, Westbrook, and others in prior years as LeBron stupidly demanded. Getting Davis was good - but not at the cost of what LeBron pressured the Lakers to give up when they could have added him for free months later.

The Lakers should continue do whatever they can to build around Luka - not LeBron.

LeBron has spent his whole career pressuring his teams to make shortsighted win now moves. Today we're at the culmination of that strategy and now he's bitching about a situation he created. If LeBron had been a partner with his teams like Steph/Duncan/Dirk he wouldn't be in this situation. Instead he tried to fight his own team management.

LeBron's now at a point where the Lakers don't need to concern themselves with his demands. It would be great if he and his reps would shut up so we don't have to hear it either.
 
Thunder have three 50+ mil per year players

1. How can they pay The Other Guys?

2. How is this gunna "affect" their team chemistry?

Just a year prior Boston was so good, talks of dynasty given JT and JB's age, then everybody got paid, the story is very different now. I don't think they repeat even if JT weren't injured
 
inconceivable said:
Thunder have three 50+ mil per year players

1. How can they pay The Other Guys?

2. How is this gunna "affect" their team chemistry?

Just a year prior Boston was so good, talks of dynasty given JT and JB's age, then everybody got paid, the story is very different now. I don't think they repeat even if JT weren't injured
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Yes the NBA outlook for teams can change wildly over 1-2 years. Thats one reason I'm glad we have the Magic and Celtics unprotected picks - never know when injuries or such totally change a distant outlook. For the Thunder I think first we'll see how the next two seasons play out as SGA raise wont kick in until after that.

Do the Thunder have a letdown being the defending champs? We haven't had any repeat champions in recent times except the Durant Warriors and Heatles - both only two titles. The Kobe/Gasol Lakers had one pair as well. Otherwise you have to go back to the 2000 era 25 years ago for a 3 peat. So it seems like title winners often have a letdown. The Spurs won 5 titles but never repeated as champ.

The scary thing with the Thunder is they have picks and youth that a title winner never has had. So they have more flexibility then ever if they need to make changes. With those big3 extensions they have now lost the advantage they had of a very low payroll that allowed them to add assets in trades or to sign free agents.
 
inconceivable said:
Thunder have three 50+ mil per year players

1. How can they pay The Other Guys?

2. How is this gunna "affect" their team chemistry?

Just a year prior Boston was so good, talks of dynasty given JT and JB's age, then everybody got paid, the story is very different now. I don't think they repeat even if JT weren't injured
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SGA's extension doesn't start till the 2027-28 season. The Williams and Holmgren extensions don't start till the 2026-27 season. So they do have next season and they will still be well below the tax line.

the pain starts in 2026 when Williams and Holmgren jump from a combined 20M to 100M. Their F.O. has anticipated the pain, a bit, because they have team options on Hartenstein, Dort, and Kinrich Williams. OKC can decline those options and save 53M. Of course, there goes their depth

I think the reality of the aprons has narrowed windows for contending, and they were already pretty narrow. It's been 8 years since the Warriors were repeat champions and their situation with Durant was pretty unique.

SGA + Williams + Holmgren is a fairly dynamic big-3 and they haven't even entered their primes yet. They will be making 170-185M/year, but the tax lines when they will be combining for that much money will be in the 225M-250M-275M range. Meaning the 2nd aprons will be in the 240M-265M-290M range. It will be tight for OKC but there will be some margin between paying their big 3 and filling the roster vs the 2nd apron

and it's not like it's any different for OKC's contending peers. Indiana just lost Myles Turner because they couldn't pay him. They have Haliburton and Siakam combining for 100M/year; and Haliburton may never be the same. They could lose Nesmith to free agency after next season and that's wen they have to pay Mathurin. We know about Boston being caught between a rock and a hard place. For the Knicks, Bridges and Robinson will be UFA after next season at the same time they are paying 6 other players 165M. Houston kind of went all in on Durant and that's a dubious move with lots of backfire potential; and he'll be 37 next season. Minny is already flirting with the 2nd apron

Denver is in a decent position, but they are already at the tax line next season. They don't know about Valanciunas. And they have to pay Christian Braun and Peyton Watson next summer; and Cam Johnson the summer after

so yeah, windows are narrow. Stars get paid; superstars get super paid. The trick is paying your middle class players budget salaries. Can't be paying 35M/year for Aytons or 25M/year for Ants
 
inconceivable said:
Thunder have three 50+ mil per year players

1. How can they pay The Other Guys?

2. How is this gunna "affect" their team chemistry?

Just a year prior Boston was so good, talks of dynasty given JT and JB's age, then everybody got paid, the story is very different now. I don't think they repeat even if JT weren't injured
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Will this be the Blazers in a couple years?
 
BoBoBREWSKI said:
Is that a legit source? It's been rumored that Lebron wants to bolt.
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Gambo is pretty reliable but you need to know when to listen to him. He likes to use weasel words, ie. Some people have said... and It seems like... whereas when he has solid info, he will usually indicate so directly - I have heard from credible sources that...
 
SharpesTriumph said:
Jerseys and tickets have nothing to do with winning or contending.

LeBrons not a top value NBA player any longer while on a supermax like he was in his prime. He's not the best player on his team going into a season - for the first time ever.

The Lakers don't have great value elsewhere on the roster because they gave up a bunch of assets to get LeBron Davis, Westbrook, and others in prior years as LeBron stupidly demanded. Getting Davis was good - but not at the cost of what LeBron pressured the Lakers to give up when they could have added him for free months later.

The Lakers should continue do whatever they can to build around Luka - not LeBron.

LeBron has spent his whole career pressuring his teams to make shortsighted win now moves. Today we're at the culmination of that strategy and now he's bitching about a situation he created. If LeBron had been a partner with his teams like Steph/Duncan/Dirk he wouldn't be in this situation. Instead he tried to fight his own team management.

LeBron's now at a point where the Lakers don't need to concern themselves with his demands. It would be great if he and his reps would shut up so we don't have to hear it either.
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They gave up a lot to get Russ in terms of players but the pick they gave up was their 2022 FRP. They gave AD, Max Christie, Jalen Hood-Schifino, a future second round pick they'd acquired of the Clippers and their 2029 FRP. They gave up nothing but cap space when they signed LeBron.

I honestly think they could contend this year. They should see if we're willing to take Vanderbilt, Vincent and Kleber for Grant which would give them a three forward rotation of LeBron, Rui, Jerami. They should see if they can get CP3 or Russ on a one year vet min ring chasing deal to be the third guard in a three guard rotation of Luka, Reaves and let's say Russ. They have a two center depth of DA and Hayes. They have guys in Shake Milton and Jordan Goodwin that can give them quality spot minutes at guard, they have Knecht and LaRavia who can give them minutes when needed at forward and they have another slot open for another ring chaser too.
 
Pinwheel1 said:
LBJ would have been a nice, cheap addition for Cleveland...if he had not opted in to his last year with the Lakers.
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Agreed - yeah there is no effective way to have him traded to Cleveland now. They are over the 2nd apron and can't aggregate salaries. They'd have to send out 3 starters or such and then at that point LBJ makes them much worse.
 
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