Should the Lakers prioritize landing Klay Thompson if LeBron takes a pay cut? | NBA Today

Should the Lakers prioritize landing Klay Thompson if LeBron takes a pay cut? | NBA Today

we reported that LeBron James has opted out of his contract and became a free agent for the first time essentially since 2018 what exactly does this mean well it means number one that LeBron James plans to return to the Lakers but the question is what kind of a contract does he do moving forward and what LeBron James has told uh the Lakers according to our Dave MC midman uh who talked to Rich Paul about this is essentially if the Lakers have a chance to get at uh maybe a couple of the impact players that are available in free agency with their mid-level exception that LeBron James uh is willing to take less money on this deal and it would be significantly less money um maybe upwards of 20 million dollar so that the Lakers could have their full mid-level exception and that’s why the Lakers are preparing Pursuits now of uh Klay Thompson Jonas valent chunis uh the center from New Orleans who’s another player in this free agency class who’s you know a veteran who is accomplished there’s not a lot of them and so for the Lakers you know that is going to move fast in free agency that those are players that I think ultimately are going to move off the board maybe as soon as the first night so I think the Lakers the rest of the league will have some clarity uh on what that looks like and if the Lakers can’t Land one of those players using that $13 million uh uh mid-level exception you know then ultimately LeBron James takes his full Max which on a three-year deal would be three years 160 million plus and as W just said we expect this to begin to move rather quickly here W please do not go too far but I know you’re a busy busy man we’ll let you get back to it perk if LeBron does take a pay cut which he has offered to do according to our reporting who should be the priority that they are targeting here we’re hearing Klay Thompson we’re hearing yonas Valen chunes who do you have your eye on I like clay I I love clay for for late cuz I mean you think about it right you when you think about ad and Brun you need to surround them with Shooters right Klay Thompson is at the stage of his career we it’s not even about the two-way Klay Thompson that we seen when he was in his prime with golden state it’s about catching shoot Klay Thompson getting the uh getting the ball on time on Target and what he would bring to the table for the Los Angeles Lakers and especially under their new coach and JJ reic who I heard on Plenty of occasions when he was you know calling games telling talking about you know the Laker roster and that they need more shooting so I’m looking at Klay Thompson and the Los Angeles Lakers to me it sound like to me it’s a perfect match so if LeBron takes a pay cut but someone I need you guys to help me out here uh clay would most likely be taking a pay cut right to take the full middle level exception y Jonas Valen Tunis would be most likely taking a pay cut small small much smaller than clay so that’s the thing I think both of those players who look the Lakers would be winning if they got either of those players especially at that price but I think both of those would have to want to play for the Lakers at less than their market value right so I get what LeBron’s doing but it’s also about what what are these players going to want especially for a clay this is most likely your last contract are you really going to just sign a a mid-level exception and then go to the Lakers when there’s probably more money to be had other places so here’s the interesting thing W just reported the Lakers have agreed to a 4year $32 million deal with Max Chrissy that’s 8 more million or more million whatever it is below the hard cap first apron before LeBron decides how much he’s going to make so they’re running out of wiggle room to open up that big mid-level exception that we’re talking about for guys like clay and yonis valent chunis so what does that mean for D’Angelo Russell who just stopped it in his contract can you have DLo Reeves and Klay Thompson all in a theoretical starting lineup What’s Happening Here what I think is most interesting is between this thing we’re talking about between drafting Dalton connect and having it be a big win for them it seems like like the Lakers are moving on from the idea of getting a third star using their picks and all that to get a third star and building around depth long-term sustainability around LeBron and AD which is kind of not what we had heard they were going to try to do two three months ago and I think that’s probably smart and the last thing is perk you mentioned clay and shooting just as a resource allocation thing I’m not using my biggest chip on a center I love yonas valent Tunis but ad’s got to play center when the chips are down so I’m going to make this very simple the Lakers cannot afford Klay Thompson right now the only way it’s going to work is if they make another trade to offload salary LeBron James is not taking a $35 million pay cut that you know he will take a pay cut he’s not coming down to a massive amount of money so they need to make another trade in the interim before Klay Thompson mixes up his mind probably with D’Angelo Russell other options probably and if you look at the teams that are trying to get clay before the Lakers do one of them is the Dallas Mavericks the Dallas Mavericks have already made their trade to reduce their salary they have made Tim Hardway trade with Detroit they are ahead of the Lakers the Lakers right now have to do something else before they can honestly make an offer for clay the other team I would watch for is the LA Clippers this is this is klay’s Hometown here in La if the Clippers lose Paul George they would have some flexibility to make an offer for Klay Thompson but don’t don’t sit there and assume that klay’s going to sign with the Lakers here at 601 Eastern the Lakers got to do another deal first LeBron James is not taking a pay cut or considering a take a pay cut for the Lakers future it’s for the now LeBron James wants to win right now LeBron James know the pressure that he has right and and I don’t want to like take it out of contents but to the fact of we can all speculate but JJ reic was a LeBron James H we know this right and so he wants JJ to be successful how can JJ be successful by LeBron James being the best version of himself but also making sure that the pie is match up that’s why he want to take a pay cut it’s not for the Lakers future it’s because LeBron won another shot at it and to be honest with you they wasn’t that far off from last year when you think about it it’s only one team that the Lakers wasn’t beating in the playoffs that was the Denver Nuggets any other team I feel like they could have beat Minnesota they could have beat Oklahoma City they could have beat the Dallas Mavericks in the seven game series I mean so they wasn’t far but like I feel like he’s T he’s considered taking a play a pay cut to get a third star kind of player well it depends what you define as a star right I don’t think Klay Thompson is a quote unquote star at this point in his career but look per first of all I don’t want any of your toes don’t bet any of your toes I don’t want any of them second of all there’s no question LeBron is doing this to win today to win now he does not care that much about the Lakers future and as a perk the Lakers aren’t far off could have would have should have you just could have would have should it they won one playoff game you got to win 12 just to get out of the West man there there’s a different between being competitive against Denver and not being afraid of Dallas Minnesota Oklahoma City who’s by the way loading up and as cap space to spend and beating three of those teams but match up four times they were far just say it they were far they were far that’s his statement that’s his statement I’m saying match up they weren’t far they lost they won one game bro Zack was you watching the game they were up in hold on talk about in three of those games they were up by double fig okay so so my thing is my thing is we know that Denver was not the matchup for the Lakers outside of the Nuggets they could beat anybody else but the fact of the matter is when you look at their roster right now it looks almost identical to the roster that they had at the end of last season and we’re keep talking about okay LeBron James taking a pay cut what actual pay cut are we talking about that would make it so that they upgrade to the point of not being a seven seat in the west that has to claw through a conference that by the way probably has 13 teams that are seriously playoff contenders here it just depends on who it is like when when when Dave story came out yesterday and said that he was take a pay cut for Jonas Valen chunis as accurate as it might have been I almost passed out I just with all due respect Jonas valunas I don’t see LeBron James leaving a lot of money on the table for you know a middle of the pack Center but for Klay Thompson that’s a different story but to get there I’m telling you there’s another deal they got to do the Lakers to to pull off what LeBron is offering here Lakers need to make a series of moves and they need to hit them all on on time and on target and I just think that’s got to be recognized that we’re talking about the Lakers here with Klay Thompson we should be talking about the Mavericks we should be talking about other options when we’re talking about on time on Target and moves that need to be made it seems like we need to bring in Mr Money moves himself Bobby marks our front office Insider to map all of these things out so Bobby what can the Lakers actually do here in free agency well the magic number right now is $178 million that’s the first apron came down $700,000 all the money matters here Lakers are at $140 million that includes that Max Christie new number here here’s the pay cut you guys are looking at he’s set to make 50 $25 million he would have to take a $25 million haircut in order to get Klay Thompson this is not this is not with a trade or anything this is just straight out Thompson’s numers right around 12 and a half and you get there that’s that 177 it’s about a million dollars that hard caps him that leaves him little flexibility so when Brian was talking about trades you’re certainly looking at D’Angelo Russell you’re certainly looking at Gabe Vincent if you’re Rob pinka you’re calling Detroit you’re calling Charlotte teams that have cap space to try to offset that Russell money here certainly sign and trade with golden state would help also with Clay but the Lakers have work to do here and if they want LeBron James to take a $25 million pay cut they’re going to have to offset some salary okay Bobby thank you so very much I want to bring in two people who certainly have a unique perspective on all of this are Ramona shelburn and Dave McManaman who both cover the Los Angeles Lake for us Ramona starting with you what is the Lakers strategy here well look Klay Thompson is is Bor was born to be a Laker literally his father Michael Thompson was playing for the Lakers and is on the Laker broadcast team but but I think with the Lakers and and Brian was was mentioning this earlier they’re behind because Dallas has already done the work they’ve done that Tim Hardaway trade and if you’re Golden State right now you want to try to get something back for Klay Thompson and this incentivizes clay to do a sign and trade because he can get more than that mid-level exception Dallas has a $16 million trade exception already because of the trade that they did for Tim Hardway that’s more than 13 that’s easy math right per you can do that 16 more than 13 wow sh I got you Millions but right now Dallas is ahead and so if you’re the Lakers you you have to try to do some work here it’s it it can be you have to do something to get some get something back for Golden State or to get something to get more money for clay so it’s not just about and and you know you mentioned a haircut $50 million to 25 that’s not a haircut that’s just going bold that’s shaving everything off that’s there’s nothing wrong with that right rich [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause]

Should the Lakers prioritize landing Klay Thompson if LeBron takes a pay cut? | NBA Today

The NBA Today crew discusses what LeBron James opting out of his contract means for the Los Angeles Lakers, along with the possibility of taking a pay cut heading into NBA free agency.

0:00 Woj’s details on LeBron
1:45 Klay Thompson to the Lakers?
5:25 LeBron could take pay cut
8:33 L.A. in free agency

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