Houston not a realistic option for lebron according to reports

[duncan2k5]

San Antonio confirmed? Lol... I sure hope so: https://rocketswire.usatoday.com/201...erious-option/

[ECOV]

I honestly think we have a good chance ,but of course I won't get my hopes up .

[look_at_g_shred]

The Raptors really? LOL

[rjv]

toronto? and if he goes to golden state he loses any chance of ever being up there with jordan.

[duncan2k5]

Absolutely no way he goes to the raptors... Lebron will go to a team with a great coach that can manage his minutes while maximizing his game... If Houston is out, that leaves SA and Philly... He won't go to Boston... LA is trash... Knicks are worse

[look_at_g_shred]

Absolutely no way he goes to the raptors... Lebron will go to a team with a great coach that can manage his minutes while maximizing his game... If Houston is out, that leaves SA and Philly... He won't go to Boston... LA is trash... Knicks are worse

Why wouldn't he go to boston? Bron & Kyrie swap

[Ditty]

As long as he doesn’t go to Houston or GS then I don’t care where he goes. I think the Spurs screwed up their chances last offseason with the re-signing of Pau. If we are able to trade Pau & a future first to clear space then I think we have a shot.

[baseline bum]

The Spurs would need Green & Gay to opt out and then find someone to absorb the money for either Mills or Gasol. That's a lot to ask with only Pick #18 to offer as a sweetener.

[ducks]

could they just cut Gasol and spread it out 3-4 years?

[DAF86]

At this point it seems like the most likely scenarios are LA, Sixers or Spurs.

LA doesn't make sense if he plans to win, so that leaves Sixers or Spurs. Out of those two he would be a much better fit in San Antonio.

[marinoman]

Is he even planning on meeting with the spurs?

[DAF86]

The Spurs would need Green & Gay to opt out and then find someone to absorb the money for either Mills or Gasol. That's a lot to ask with only Pick #18 to offer as a sweetener.

If Lebron says he wants to come here, I'm sure the Spurs would manage a way to talk Green and Gay into opting out so that they can get longer contracts for less money per year.

Also, with Tony's 15 millions expiring and buying out Gasol, wouldn't they make enough room?

[Ditty]

Is he even planning on meeting with the spurs?

I think Lebron is waiting for two things to happen in order to meet with the Spurs. If these two don't happen there is not much of a point to meet with the Spurs.

1. Kawhi commits long term to the Spurs with the super max extension. Bron may have his doubts also that Kawhi wants to be here also.

2. Pop signs another extension. My father just passed away recently, so I know how tough it is for the widow or widower. He may not have much of a desire to coach anymore & want to spend more time with his family. Bron of course loves Pop, and would only play for him.

[vy65]

The Spurs would need Green & Gay to opt out and then find someone to absorb the money for either Mills or Gasol. That's a lot to ask with only Pick #18 to offer as a sweetener.

Pau's contract - while an abortion - is essentially expiring with only 6.7MM cap hit should he be released for '19-'20. It's bad, but not as bad as 16MM.

[vy65]

The Spurs would need Green & Gay to opt out and then find someone to absorb the money for either Mills or Gasol. That's a lot to ask with only Pick #18 to offer as a sweetener.

And also, I think Lebron has a no trade clause. That also limits the Cavs leverage, i.e., Bron could nix a trade that offers CLE a better package if he doesn't want to play for them. The NTC could strong arm CLE into accepting a less-optimal package.

[Ice009]

I think Lebron is waiting for two things to happen in order to meet with the Spurs. If these two don't happen there is not much of a point to meet with the Spurs.

1. Kawhi commits long term to the Spurs with the super max extension. Bron may have his doubts also that Kawhi wants to be here also.

2. Pop signs another extension. My father just passed away recently, so I know how tough it is for the widow or widower. He may not have much of a desire to coach anymore & want to spend more time with his family. Bron of course loves Pop, and would only play for him.

I'm actually wondering if the Spurs can present Kawhi with two options. Could they say, hey, we're going for Lebron and if we can get him, will you take the regular max? If we don't get him, we'll give you the Supermax. You think Kawhi would be interested in that? If Lebron did come, I really don't think he should be getting paid less than Kawhi. I don't know if that would sit well with him.

[TDomination]

If Lebron says he wants to come here, I'm sure the Spurs would manage a way to talk Green and Gay into opting out so that they can get longer contracts for less money per year.

Also, with Tony's 15 millions expiring and buying out Gasol, wouldn't they make enough room?

Doesn't green and gay need to opt in or out by the 24th of June? That's tough to persuade them to do when I doubt LeBron will have made his decision by then.

[SpursDynasty85]

toronto? and if he goes to golden state he loses any chance of ever being up there with jordan.

What's wrong with Toronto? I haven't look at their salary cap. The only problem the Raptors had was they never had that One Superstar. Valucianas, Lowry, Derozan, Van Fleet, plus Lebron could do some major damage in the East and would likely be favored again over everyone even the Celtics. They match up relatively well against the Warriors too in that they have more physical defenders to wear down the Warriors. Lowry/Van Fleet on Steph, Derozan/Lebron on Thompson/KD, Valucianas on Draymond. Raptors arena and fan base is amazing and plus they do have Drake whom seems to fit the kind of celebrity personality Lebron would market with. Lebron's group might like it since it checks a lot of boxes: staying in the east, getting a better supporting cast, bigger market. Coach is still undecided and we all know Lebron loves picking his puppet coaches.

[rjv]

What's wrong with Toronto? I haven't look at their salary cap. The only problem the Raptors had was they never had that One Superstar. Valucianas, Lowry, Derozan, Van Fleet, plus Lebron could do some major damage in the East and would likely be favored again over everyone even the Celtics. They match up relatively well against the Warriors too in that they have more physical defenders to wear down the Warriors. Lowry/Van Fleet on Steph, Derozan/Lebron on Thompson/KD, Valucianas on Draymond. Raptors arena and fan base is amazing and plus they do have Drake whom seems to fit the kind of celebrity personality Lebron would market with. Lebron's group might like it since it checks a lot of boxes: staying in the east, getting a better supporting cast, bigger market. Coach is still undecided and we all know Lebron loves picking his puppet coaches.

i didn't say anything was wrong with toronto. it's just that this is the first time i ever head them come up as a possible lebron location so it stood out to me.

[baseline bum]

If Lebron says he wants to come here, I'm sure the Spurs would manage a way to talk Green and Gay into opting out so that they can get longer contracts for less money per year.

Also, with Tony's 15 millions expiring and buying out Gasol, wouldn't they make enough room?

No, Green and Gay would have to opt out and be renounced and then one of Gasol/Mills salary dumped to make room for James' asking price. This is also assuming they renounce Parker.

[baseline bum]

And also, I think Lebron has a no trade clause. That also limits the Cavs leverage, i.e., Bron could nix a trade that offers CLE a better package if he doesn't want to play for them. The NTC could strong arm CLE into accepting a less-optimal package.

The no trade clause would be moot since he'd be a free agent after opting out this summer. The Cavs aren't trading him if he doesn't opt out and the only reason for anyone to do a sign and trade is if the Cavs find someone they'd like that LeBron's new team would prefer to salary dump. For instance, if LeBron goes to LA and the Lakers need to salary dump Lonzo Ball to create a max cap slot for Chris Paul, then Cleveland would probably do a sign and trade of James to LA to land Ball.

[DAF86]

No, Green and Gay would have to opt out and be renounced and then one of Gasol/Mills salary dumped to make room for James' asking price. This is also assuming they renounce Parker.

Let's say Green and Gay opt out and resign for something like 5 mil per year for the next 3 or 4 years. Parker signs for the vet min and one of Mills or Gasol gets salary dumped. Does that make enough room, or do Gay and Green need to be completely gone?

[DPG21920]

I could see Kyrie/Bron in NY as dark horse. I’m sure Fiz hiring is something Bron was happy with.

[DPG21920]

Let's say Green and Gay opt out and resign for something like 5 mil per year for the next 3 or 4 years. Parker signs for the vet min and one of Mills or Gasol gets salary dumped. Does that make enough room, or do Gay and Green need to be completely gone?

So I did the math (using the capulator):

If Danny & Rudy opt out and are renounced
If all free agents are renounced (Tony Parker, Kyle Anderson, Bryn Forbes, Davis Bertans, Hilliard, Costello)
If BP3 is waived (non-guaranteed deal)
If SA defers Milutinov to the following year
If SA trades Pau + 2019 first to a team like ATL for nothing back salary wise

SA will have Kawhi, LMA, Mills, Manu, Joff, White & Murray under contract and will be at 69M in salaries including the charge for the 18th pick this year and cap holds for roster spots.

The salary cap is 101M, so 101M - 69M = 32M in cap space.

Lebron’s max is like 35.5M so SA would be about 3.5M short.

So what ESPN said was not meant to be fully accurate; it was just a high level example of the type of moves SA would have to make.

So Lebron could take less so SA doesn’t have to move other assets.
SA could trade the 2018 pick in the Pau deal vs 2019 and get another 2M in cap space and get close to max.


But if Lebron wants every penny, then SA would have to either trade the 2018 pick in the Pau deal instead of 2019 and then move either Mills, Murray, White or Joff (or if Joff unexpectedly declines his player option, just doing everything above but trading 2018 first instead of 2019 would get SA to full max).

The biggest “hinge” is Danny & Rudy. If they opt out, the path becomes far easier. If they dont then it’s much tougher.

[Leetonidas]

If lebron comes to SA it will be because he opted in and was traded ala CP3. Zero chance he signs as a FA imo