(07-14-2025, 11:21 PM)SleepingHero Wrote: More twitter "insiders" are believing Lebron is a Mav and the deal is agreed upon.
Memphis, Cleveland, Dallas, and the Lakers.
Interesting discussion. Funnily, nothing about this "insider" news on Lakers forum
I don't believe LeBron will be traded, but for the purpose of entertainment. Out of the four teams, Memphis is the only one considerably below the first apron and can send out less salary than taking in. I don't think they have any trade exceptions and I think they spent large part of their MLE on Ty Jerome. Cleveland can't aggregate players in such a deal and can't take back more salaries. Mavs can't take back more salaries. Lakers can't take back (much) more salaries as they are very close to the first apron. Based on all this. Mavs and Lakers could do a LeBron trade on their own, Cleveland and Memphis would only be in because they have some better fitting players for either Mavs or Lakers.
I think it is safe to assume LeBron would be the only major salary going to Mavs in such a case. Mavs have plenty of flexibility for the outgoing salary. Cleanest way would be Klay, PJ, Gafford and another smaller salary out of Hardy, Martin or Naji. Other combinations with even more players from Dallas are possible. LeBron would take the starting SF spot, so PJ becomes even more squeezed for minutes and I think he is the obvious guy out. Flagg would be "forced" to take the SG spot and Mavs would look something like:
PG: Irving, DLo
SG: Flagg, Christie
SF: LeBron, Naji and/or Martin
PF: AD (LeBron, Flagg)
C: Lively, (AD), Powell
Mavs biggest need after this kind of trade (if Klay is going out) would be at SG, which they could patch-up with some vet min FA.
Not sure why Cleveland would be in this mix. I think their team is set on all positions unless they would be looking for salary dumps or unless they would be looking to trade Garland. But, neither Memphis or Lakers have no need for Garland as he is not a good fit in their rosters. Mavs would be already receiving LeBron, so I think it is unrealistic they would include another 40 mil of salary in this deal. So, I only see Cleveland in some very minor capacity in this deal. Strus might be most redundant guy on their roster, especially if they can take less salary back.
Memphis has sort of a crunch on SG spot with KCP, Jerome, Konchar, Coward, Wells and Spencer. I could see their interest in moving Konchar and taking more money back. They could use a good back-up center as Gafford. Here I have the biggest problem how to make salaries work, unless they include Clark instead of Konchar. However, I can't make the deal make sense with Clark. So I will stick with Konchar and Memphis adds additional minor salaries to make it work
Lakers main principle would imho be to not harm short term flexibility unless the player is a clear cut building block for the future. No matter what we think about Ayton, I think it is obvious his move to Lakers was generated by Duffy with a sign of signature from Luka. Ayton came because of the starting job. So I doubt Lakers would be interested to screw Duffy. Based on this Gafford could be a nice bench piece for Lakers, but doesn't really hold a lot of value in a role of a back-up center. From this point of view, his long term deal could be seen as problematic for Lakers. PJ is expiring and fits Lakers plan, he would also replace LeBron in the starting line-up. Klay, Hardy or Naji only have one more year on their deals so I could see them as ok for Lakers, I doubt they would have interest in Martin.
Based on all this thoughts, I think the deal could be something like as below. Mavs and Memphis are a little bit light on outgoing salaries so add minor pieces for salary matching and cap rules details where needed (Lakers have space to take more salaries):
Dal: LeBron (out PJ, Klay, Gafford, Hardy)
Cle: Konchar, Hardy (out Strus)
Mem: Gafford (out Konchar)
LAL: PJ, Strus, Klay (out LeBron)