Will LeBron James STAY with the Los Angeles Lakers? 👀 ‘HE SHOULD!’ – Brian Windhorst | NBA Today

Will LeBron James STAY with the Los Angeles Lakers? 👀 ‘HE SHOULD!’ – Brian Windhorst | NBA Today

But we need to start with the teams that everyone has their eye on ahead of the trade deadline it’s just under 24 hours away so with that let’s welcome in our senior NBA Insider Adrien wowski W the deadline less than 24 hours from right now we just saw Xavier Tilman get traded

To the Boston Celtics as you first reported for two second round picks GMS though they’re still on the phone some of the best offers maybe we still haven’t even seen them yet what is the latest you’re hearing on the trade front around the league you’re right Malika things are

Starting to loosen up conversations are getting more serious ious you know teams are starting you know to really decide you know where they want to be aggressive try to get deals done and try to figure out who they’re competing with uh what other teams have and this is

Sort of the natural progression of trade deadline week uh you know we’re into Wednesday now we’re just under TW or just over you know 24 hours away uh from the trade deadline and now you teams like Philadelphia remain really active you know whether it’s players like Alec

B s buan bogdanovic you know in Detroit those are certainly players that they’re discussing in potential trade talks and uh but largely there are still way more buyers than there are sellers right uh which means that the prices are high and I think what teams are measuring teams

Like Golden State like the Lakers uh you any number of teams you know who would like to improve um at what cost how can we really get a differen maker in here um at the prices which teams generally think are pretty high right now Charlotte’s another team that’s very

Active whether it’s miles Bridges you know potentially a PJ Washington Gordon Hayward you know they are very much in uh asset acquisition mode okay so a lot of teams right now just sort of feeling out exactly what’s going to happen between now and tomorrow’s trade deadline you mentioned the Lakers so

Let’s zero in on them just a little bit more what can we expect from them ahead of the deadline well I think for La their calculus has changed here uh in recent weeks with the reemergence of uh the Angelo Russell as their point guard he’s playing not just some of his best

Basketball as a Lakers some of his best basketball as a pro and uh maybe three weeks to a month ago he was very available and I think the Lakers thought there might be some opportunities to upgrade on him that isn’t the case right now and players who the Lakers have had

Interest in De jante Murray Bruce Brown you know specifically with brown it’s really hard for them to get make the money work on a trade without putting D’Angelo Russell in and that doesn’t really make sense for them I think here’s what the Lakers are hoping that they can get Cam reddish back here

Relatively soon Gabe Vincent and the hope that Jared Vanderbilt may not need surgery uh on his injured foot that they can get him back in a few weeks I think that’s what the Lakers are weighing I think they’re going to continue to be active but I think there’s a level of

Restraint there yeah with LA that that maybe for what they want to do the off season when they have three first round picks available in trades versus the one right now that might that would get them involved uh in some more um significant trade scenarios right precious few

Assets that they absolutely need to weigh W thank you I know you’re incred incredibly busy your time is precious we’re going to need you back though but thank you for stopping by I want to bring it back to our panel here with everything we heard Kendrick Perkins the

Lakers it doesn’t seem like there is a drastic move move out there that they can make it’s not so how do they get back in playoff contention and really title contention here well it’s all about title contentions and I don’t believe that they can to be honest with

You I I feel like they’re going to make a playoff push but if they’re going to get back in the title contentions it’s only one person come to mind and that’s Anthony Davis right like can he go out in this postseason and have a yage type postseason meaning 30 13 and I’m not

Going to even say nine assist because yish is just on a different level when it comes to passing the ball but when you think about Anthony Davis as of right now 25 12 I think I believe fifth in the league in Block shots his defensive impact and what he’s been

Doing for as for the Lakers in the interior scoring wise he just had what his third triple double a couple nights ago so I mean this team is going to go as far as Anthony Davis take them we could we know what LeBron is going to

Bring but it’s unfair to put that type of pressure on them but we saw last year what happened when they got swept by the Denver Nuggets I mean yic kicked his ass Anthony Davis kicked his ass and so at the end of the day he going to go as far

As ad takes him yeah as W kind of described there the Lakers trade situation inverted because they were having difficulty moving to Angel Russell because people didn’t like his player option they were almost being forced into two moves to trade for expiring salary for Anthony uh for for

Russell and then moving him to a place like Atlanta for de jonay Murray now it doesn’t make any sense to do that deal and not only that even if they were able to find a deal for D’Angelo Russell the replacement isn’t as valuable and if D’Angelo Russell picks up that option he

Then becomes a trade asset in the summer when they have more draft picks to trade and this is not going to make LeBron happy LeBron probably is not going to want to hear that the best hand the Lakers have is to stay put but the Lakers are probably not going to want to

Hear that LeBron is still weighing what to do with his contract option so I think what we probably are headed for tomorrow at 3:00 is the Lakers not being exactly thrilled and LeBron not being exactly thrilled and they and they make the best of the situation move past it

And try to do what they can because I think that they can make noise if they get the right matchup in the playoffs like yeah one thing we know and that we’ve seen about the Los Angeles Lakers is that they get up for big games and the one name that W mentioned was

D’Angelo Russell and you talked a little bit about it but Austin I love that yesterday Trey dowlo has been the biggest problem not only for the Lakers but for the league in the best kind of ways based off how he’s playing and you know the construction of the Lakers his

Value actually remaining with the Lakers to me seems the highest because if you lose him you’re losing the guy who’s made the most threes for your team your team is 15th and three-point shooting they are a middle of the pack team and on every LeBron James Squad you need a

Guy that you have to be able to kick it out to to space the floor knock down the three every Championship has that type of guy because LeBron James in year 21 is able to just Barrel to the rim and then we know what perk said about ad

He’s going to get what he needs at The Rim but who is going to knock down the shots when the defense has collapsed that’s their best option might just be DLo and so they’re almost like they’re hamstrung you’re right it is DLo it is DLo especially for how he’s played I

Mean let’s talk about on the basketball side of this as a player the best thing you want is your team to double down with you and Believe In You D’s best basketball came after a team accepted him in Brooklyn and really gave him the keys I’m not suggesting the Lakers do

That they have LeBron James and Anthony Davis there I think their lineups need to be tailor made more so around Reeves and Russell success I I don’t have issues with LeBron and ad getting their own that’s that’s what they do they’re the best players in the NBA two of them

Those other two when they play consistently well they’re both X factors for the Lakers when they play well they play much better I don’t think there’s any moves right now if we’re screaming Game Changer in terms of what’s on the trade market where you have to make a

Move right now we were just talking about months prior that the Lakers had all the assets and that pinka had one of the best Summers available or he had one of the best Summers and he got all these players reigned and added new pieces they haven’t been full fully healthy all

Year let’s let this run out a little bit and see kind of where Russell takes it he is there’s no point guard in the market that even take I don’t disagree with you I think that the Jared Vanderbilt injury could be I don’t want to catastrophic it could be that’s how

Important he is for this team Gabe Vincent we haven’t seen him healthy but you’ve been in these rooms perk where you’re sitting you know LeBron James is over here and Rob Pinko or the general manager’s over here and it’s just like okay I’m not happy and they say I’m not

Happy I I don’t want to be sitting in the middle of that so what does this mean for LeBron and the Lakers going forward well he doesn’t say it he tweets something you know that’s the thing it’s that feels worse that feels worse so look LeBron the Lakers have three

Options going forward one LeBron can pick up his his player option for next year for $51 million it’s a gigantic number and he’s earned every cent of it probably twice that b he can opt out of that contract and go somewhere else which I don’t really see happening but

It is an option and I have to put out or three and you know this is something that can’t happen until this summer you can see right there August 18th uh he could sign a new contract for multiple years like so this is not something and LeBron here’s the thing LeBron’s option

Deadline isn’t until June 29th and when is that that just happens to be it is three days after the draft and who’s who’s eligible potentially to be drafted his son okay he has no incentive at all to do anything with that option right now and limit his choices so I think

What we’re going to see here is a couple of deep exhales like we just heard from perk right there and who’s who’s next on our calendar the nuggets on Thursday night but but at the end of look Rob palinka has a job to do and I understand

You know BR getting in his feelings and wanting his way in certain situations but as a GM you have to do what’s best for the team and anybody that’s been watching the Lakers know that Ro pinka can’t just make a move because Brun is you know has his attitude which he we go

Through every single trade deadline right every single season at this point we get LeBron James attitude Rob palinka has a job to do and he has to make sure that he has the right pieces in place and right now he got to stand Pat in my

Opinion but just a year ago we were praising him for the job he did last year and I think giving 365 days to see it out after a Western Conference Finals run like you sort of have to see that through I don’t think you just combust it all just because another season’s

Here the rest of the West has gotten better you guys haven’t figured things out you know the way that we normally see it you did have some highlight moments like I don’t think you just get rid of what you built that took you to the Western Conference Finals so soon I

I I get that but a key piece in that was Dennis shuder and you need athleticism at that guard position and Wing position on defense see we we praising D’Angelo Russell on what he’s doing offensively it’s two sides of the damn basketball and you got to remember last postseason

He was on the bench a lot yeah in the last in the last series in the last series Memphis yeahh Yeah because he couldn’t I mean damn he couldn’t do nothing but uh uh Jamal Murray right you would still take the Lakers if they can get through if they can somehow do it

And be healthy you would still take the Lakers right against Oklahoma City I I would give them a fighting chance you would still give them a Fighting Chance The tind Wolves for and I also say there might be some people saying well if d’angel Russell is playing so well and

His value is getting better the Lakers would keep him then why can’t they just trade him for somebody better and the answer is is because the teams want D’Angelo Russell and stuff right and the Lakers are like that price just doesn’t make sense for it well and there’s also

What as W was saying there’s there’s more buyers right than they thought than folks thought there would be and so that that makes everyone look at the assets that everybody has weigh them and maybe now at this point there are more teams that think that maybe with what they

Have they can sneak in but the Lakers are now one of those teams as Well

Adrian Wojnarowski, Chiney Ogwumike, Brian Windhorst, Austin Rivers and Kendrick Perkins join Malika Andrews on NBA Today to discuss news around the league heading into the final 24 hours ahead of the NBA Trade Deadline:

0:00 Woj joins the show
1:54 Los Angeles Lakers & D’Angelo Russell trade rumors
3:27 How can the Lakers get back in playoff contention?
7:53 What is LeBron James & the Lakers’ relationship?

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