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What he's up, fellow thermonuclear A
Eppers. I am Dampa Valley coming at

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you with a break from our off
season Grades podcast series. We have the

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final two divisions out later this week. Grant and I needed a break.

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I needed more time to put my
transaction list together, so I figured we'd

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take a beat on this Monday if
you're watching it, and then we'll finish

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those up. We'll have them out
for Tuesday and Wednesday, I believe of

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this week. Check out our division
by division offseason report card grades. We

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have Southeast, Southwest, Northwest,
and Central division outs. We have the

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Atlantic and the Pacific ones that will
be coming out shortly. As always,

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we're here to talk, well not
as always. We're gonna talk about Lebron

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James and the way that his extension
was framed and what it means if the

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Lakers want to get another star sort
of one question podcast very quickly though.

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If you've not done so, please
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smashing that like button commenting if you
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me, let's have an actual discussion. But we started to get which I

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guess maybe is good because it means
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our channel. The comments will start
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It does a lot to help the
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All that stuff helps other people find
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if you're using if you don't even
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multiple mediums, please consider doing that. Join our discord. We have a

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bunch of great discussions there yet.
Mail Bag question priority, it's a lot

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of fun. The link to that. It's in the podcast and YouTube description

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as well. Follow us on all
the socials in the YouTube and podcast descriptions

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as well. And that's about it
for me. If you have done all

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those things, please consider word of
recommending us to people who you know like

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basketball, whether it's via social media
or you work with them in person,

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or it's a family member or just
a random person that you see on the

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street. Need to air drop our
podcast feed too. With that out of

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the way, we can safely I
think cannonball into this Lebron James extension.

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We didn't hit it again. We
were going through the I did a reaction

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video on YouTube for shorts, but
we didn't hit it initially because we were

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doing the We really want to do
the off season grades, even though those

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could become dated pretty quickly given out
the trade market is structured right now.

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But so Lebron James signed a two
year ninety seven point one million dollars extension

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with the Lakers, the second years
of player option, so he's essentially under

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contract guaranteed for the next two seasons, has a player option in twenty four

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twenty five, which not coincidentally,
that's when Bronnie could enter enter the league,

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and he said he wanted to play
with his son. There are two

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things takeaways here that I found interesting. One was pointed out by Nate Duncan

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that the date that Lebron James signed
it makes it so he's untradeable this season,

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which is important if the Lakers wanted
to blow it up. There.

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There's been the school of thought that, oh, just trade Lebron, who

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cares what he wants the yadi yadiyada. So the timing was interesting. Maybe

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you're just surprised he didn't wait longer
to leverage a Russell Westbrook trade. I

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do think though, and sort of. The other interesting takeaway here is that

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this doesn't force the Lakers to trade
Russell Westbrook, but maybe it incentivizes them

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to at least be more open at
trading the twenty twenty seven pick, because

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you know, you get two more
years of Lebron at least rather than one

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potentially. And I guess the third
thing here is, like Lebron is said

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he wants to play with Bronnie before
he retires. If Lebron is still one

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of the five best players alive in
twenty four twenty five as of me,

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has to go where Bronnie was drafted
the first season. I'm sure team might

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consider taking Brownie just so that they
could have access to Lebron if he is

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playing that well. But like the
timeline here isn't his contract is set up

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this way, but Anthony Davis has
a player option that year. The Lakers

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have basically blank books if they want
to depending on other contracts they might sign.

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So I think this was just sort
of a win for the Lakers to

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know that you have the Lebron and
adcore for another two years and you can

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at least project forward to that rather
than just the one season. With all

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of that said, this was framed
by Woj as the Lakers will now have

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room to add another MAX player in
twenty twenty four free agency, and so

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the big question is can the Lakers
add a third star to this Lebron and

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adcorps. The answer is sort of, but not through the methods that you

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think, And so looking at free
agency, there might be players that are

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available, and it's certainly better to
sign a star free agent if they're they're

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hitting free agency, rather than trading
for them, because that's costing you,

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in the Lakers case, a twenty
seven and twenty nine first round pick at

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at minimum in addition to other stuff, and they don't really have much other

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stuff. Signing them outright it doesn't
cost you those assets unless you need to

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dump money. So the Lakers,
as of right now, I think the

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best way to look at this is
leading into the summer of two thousand and

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twenty three, excuse me, That's
what I was talking about the summer of

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two and twenty three. Just pencil
and Lebron and a D salaries. Everything

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else is fungible on this team.
Austin Reeves's cap hold so low they could

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get rid of Max Christie if they
want talent, Horton Tucker and Damian Jones.

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Having a player option is kind of
a big deal. You can jenison

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those contracts and maybe Taylent Horton Tucker, represented by Clutch, I believe is

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willing to opt out and do the
Lakers of solid since frankly they did him

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a stile by giving him such a
two plus one deal. If you just

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tear this roster down to the studs
where it's Lebron and a D, and

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then you just pencil in all the
minimum cap holds, you're not even They're

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getting rid of their first round pick. New Orleans has swapped rights on it.

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The most cap space they can get
is thirty four point seven million dollars.

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That may change if the salary cap
increases by more than expected, but

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Lebron's salary will increase in that that
scenario, so they will have thirty four

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point seven million dollars in cap space
at most, if they tore the roster

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down to this dudes where it's Lebron, a d and then a bunch of

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empty slots, that is enough to
foot the bill of a twenty five percent

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max contract. A player who's been
in the league up to six years fewer

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than seven years, however you want
to frame it. Those max contracts,

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they never switch teams. It is
very rare that a player who's been in

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the league, like we're talking,
most of them aren't even free agents at

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that point because they signed these extensions
previously, never even getting to restrictive fregency,

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so they could put in a twenty
five percent max bid. But the

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sweet spot is having the ability to
offer a thirty percent or thirty five percent

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max. The Lakers, it's about
forty million dollars for a thirty percent max

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in twenty the summer of twenty three
is about forty six point six for the

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thirty five percent max, and there's
no wiggle room on these salaries, like

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what ad and Lebron make is what
they're gonna make, so they do not

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actually have room for a max player
in free agency of twenty and twenty three.

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I also saw it framed as they
will be able to add a third

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max player in two and twenty four. Well, duh, because Lebron and

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a D both have player options.
If let's just assume they both exercise those

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player options and you're again willing to
tear the roster down to the studs,

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you can get up to thirty six
point four million dollars in cap space because

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you're gonna have ninety point six million
dollars committed to Lebron and a D.

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Plus I'm penciling in some roster charges
at about one point two million per not

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to convolute to discussion with the numbers, but basically, in the summer of

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twenty twenty four, if Lebron and
a D both do you a solid and

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they might not, they might decide
to opt out and try to get more

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money. But if they were willing
to opt in, you're looking at thirty

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six point four million in cap space
at most roughly that is again enough to

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get a twenty five percent max.
It doesn't get you a thirty percent max

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or thirty five percent max, and
so you would need them the reason you

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would be able to add a third
all like max player, so to speak,

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is because Lebron and a d took
pay cuts in twenty twenty four and

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twenty five, or at least one
of them did, and I would guess

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people would expect it to be Lebron. I don't know if either of them

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are willing to do that. I
certainly the way Lebron is operated since his

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days in Miami, it hasn't suggested
that he wants to operate that way.

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Maybe if the Lakers do sort of
make a trade and impact trade that extends

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his title window, he'd be more
willing to take a pay cut. But

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that also adds long term money,
which is the other there's the fragility here

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in that is the Lakers can't add
any long term money to their book just

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because they don't have the equity to
get off these contracts like they're probably trading.

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If they're making any big trade,
maybe they could trade Russ for someone

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with longer salary and not give up
picks. But if you want them to

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be able to sign a third star
and have a reasonable chance at it,

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it's not going to be in the
summer of two and twenty three at this

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point unless that star is taking a
pay cut. And I think it's unrealistic

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and also unfair to expect these players, these max players, if they're no

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brainer maxes, to take that pay
cut. And just like with Lebron,

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like if the market for him is
a max contract, he might just decide

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that, you know, I'm I'm
not going to take a discount. Someone's

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gonna pay me a max. The
Lakers would pay him max when he opts

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out, probably if he's still playing
up to snuff. And there's also just

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the matter of, Okay, we'll
look at the free agency class next year,

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and you wouldn't even look at next
year, you look at the summer

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of like, because if you're looking
at two and twenty three, are you

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bowling over yourself to like try and
get Chris Middleton really good or Andrew Wiggins

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certainly not D'Angelo Russell, Like those
are players where they're actually you might be

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able to get a third star.
Like if Chris Middleton opts out and you

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do have thirty million dollars to offer, is that enough to get him?

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Is he a submax player at that
point, even though he's eligible to sign

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a deal that starts at forty six
point six million. Is he viewed that

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way around the league. I would
imagine his number be higher than Lakers could

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offer. So I do not think
the Lakers are going to be able to

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add a third star to Lebron an
ad through free agency. With that said,

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their best path to getting a third
star is still making him the Kyrie

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Irving trade. Like that's really the
answer to all this is you trade the

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twenty seven and twenty nine picks and
Russ's salary, and there's you could put

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in another money to make it work, and you acquire Kyrie Irving, who

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is your third max player, and
then you re signed him. When he

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hits free agency next summer, you
still have And like that, I think

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some people might be turned off by
the idea because it's costing you two first

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round picks and Kyrie's been mercurial,
is probably the kindest way to put it.

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And what's the rest of his prime? Look like he's d during his

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age thirty season, He's not.
He's not like ancient. And so if

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the Nets are willing to do that
deal, and you pull it off because

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now you know that since Lebron and
you are both going to be there,

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maybe Kyrie is less of a risk
to leave in free agency then you're golden.

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Like there's your third star right there. You try and flesh out the

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roster around them with your you know, mid level exception and then hope you

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hit on some of your minimums in
that scenario. Like you definitely would stillft

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Hewn Horton Tucker's contract to trade if
you get Kyrie for one pick, of

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course, like if the Nets are
willing to do that at this point,

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I would be shocked if they were. But yeah, you go that route.

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The Lakers being able to get a
third Max player, a third All

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Star player, their only chance to
me, realistically is making a trade,

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and I don't know who else would
be. You know, Lakers fans have

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been pretty adamant that Miles turn doesn't
qualifies that third star, and that's fine

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if you don't want to frame it
that way. I don't know, Russ

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plus two picks if that's getting you
anything else, and you're also not going

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to be make I think you could
argue a trade beyond this season because you

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have none of this long term money
on the books to match with. Yeah,

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if you're using cap space as you're
prerogative and you're just like absorbing a

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Max guy who comes on to the
trade market. So you could offer,

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in theory next summer talent Horton Tucker
expiring, and two first round picks and

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then just take take a star back
into your cap space. You could do

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that. What star is becoming available
where that's going to be possible. So

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now almost feels like the time because
as much of a I don't want to

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call it a detriment, as much
as an albatross is the forty seven point

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one million dollars Russ Is making this
year has turned out to be. It's

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a salary anchor for a star trade
that the Lakers are not going to have

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after this season to make something midstream
until at least the twenty twenty four deadline.

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At that point, because if you
go through use your cap space,

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you need to wait for those players
to become trade eligible. And so the

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only way to acquire a star would
be while are they making under thirty four

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million dollars, let's say, and
just taking them into that cap space while

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giving up two first round picks again
just feels unrealistic. We don't see those

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stars never just traded for two first
round picks and nothing else. Sure,

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you could do a sign and trade
but now we're again getting into the realm

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00:12:09,039 --> 00:12:13,799
of the numbers are squeezing the max
money just doesn't compute. Still, it

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00:12:13,879 --> 00:12:20,440
remains very hard to add a third
star when both of you, when you're

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two, if you already have two
incumbent stars, it's a lot harder to

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do so outside of a trade,
just because of the way, even with

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the cap going up these three max
deals, if you already have you know,

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00:12:30,519 --> 00:12:33,480
two guys who are on a thirty
percent max, then a thirty five

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percent max, it just gets incredibly
difficult to work that way. Like the

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math just doesn't add up. That
is like, I'm not even gonna do

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that math. But it's just it's
too hard to sign one out right.

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And so the framing that the Lakers
will have enough cap space to add a

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third All Star in twenty twenty three
is inaccurate, and in twenty twenty four

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it's just a matter of Okay,
Well, that's because Anthony Davis and Lebron

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have player options, and right now
Lebron and Anthony Davis are even the only

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players on the Lakers roster that have
options for twenty twenty four, two twenty

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five. You know, maybe technically
the deal that Max Christie signed. He's

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a two year deal, so he
could be a restricted free agent in two

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thousand and twenty four. But the
only there's no guaranteed money on the Lakers

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books in twenty twenty four right now, and the only like actual options they

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have on the roster is Lebron n
ad And so if you're thinking they're going

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to add a free agent, I
would look to that summer and you would

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have to bank on, Okay,
well, someone's gonna take a pay cut

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to come here, or Lebron and
a d are going to take a pay

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cut. Is that going to be
to get who Klay Thompson, Pascal Siakam

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is right now is slated for free
agency? Then is it Paul George or

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Kawhi Leonard? Like why would they
leave each other? Drew Holiday could be

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available. I believe that year to
see him McCollum even qualify. At this

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point, a lot of people think
he's gonna extend. Jalen Brown is slated

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from restricted free agency. That would
be mega interesting then, as is Draymond

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Green. He's a player option for
next year though, And to that point,

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that's the level of star you be
looking at. If you think you

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can sign one with Lebron and a
d is if Draymond is not going to

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take his max salary and he's taking
thirty four million dollars a year or whatever,

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and it's technically a submax deal for
him, but you get what you

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consider a star. Is Draymond going
to be worth that when he's at that

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point going to be heading into his
age thirty three season. I believe debate.

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I would. I would probably argue
no, he might be worth it,

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specifically the Warriors, but for a
Lakers team where they wouldn't have a

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ton of depth or youth on it. So it has to I won't say

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it has to, but it's going
to probably need to happen where you're I'm

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not saying overpaying, but you're going
to have to sign someone in twenty and

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twenty three who's a star but taking
submax money and substantially below probably their submax

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or you're I don't even say it's
gonna be Draymond Green. There was a

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report from I think it was heavy
dot Com the other day said that John

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Green is expected to opt out of
his contract next summer, and so like

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uh that came from Heavy aggregated Brian
Windhorst on the Hoop Collective. So,

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but that's the point is the Lakers
want to start in free agency. You're

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probably looking at either someone's taking a
pay cut to come to the Lakers,

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which again not just we don't see
these drastic pay cuts, like to say,

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like someone's gonna take ten million dollars
less to come to the Lakers.

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We just don't. You can't bank
on that. I would say, it's

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not impossible, but you can't bank
on it. Or you're expecting Lebron in

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a d to take pay cuts in
their next deal, or at least one

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of them. I would say that's
probably more possible than expecting a newcomer to

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take a pay cut. Or you're
doing it via trade, and your best

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chance to do it right now,
just given the circumstances is the rusts and

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picks for Kyrie and however else you
want to structure that. And so that's

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where I'm at. I don't think
it was a mistake to give Lebron the

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extension. I think it was smart
for both parties. Lebron keeps his flexibility,

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the Lakers can at least build out
two years into the future rather than

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just one, and if all doesn't
go according to plan for the Lakers,

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there are worse spots to be than
having a ship ton of cap space moving

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forward and being the Lakers. And
also like Anthony Davis is still there,

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Like this isn't someone who you know
career just over he's painted his injury prone,

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which I guet he always seems to
be dealing with something, but he's

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going into his age twenty nine season, then he'll he'll play out his age

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thirty season, and then he's a
free agent heading into his age thirty one

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season. So just like there were
worst spots to be in. Yeah,

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you'd want to have some draft picks
to like restock the well at that point,

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but there are things the Lakers could
do here. I would say that

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now is their best chance to get
that third star because of what's happening with

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Kyrie. Just maybe that doesn't work
out. Maybe I'm misreading the market or

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the willingness of Lebron ray D to
rework their next deals. But I would

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also argue it's the best chance because
people think Lebron is a flight risk.

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As soon as Browny enters the league, I would be I don't want to

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say, floored, but it just
wouldn't. I'd be fairly to moderately to

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very surprised if Lebron James decides that
he's going to play with Bronnie in year

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one, because it almost like suggests
is he going I guess it depends on

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the team, but is he going
there for the longer haul? If he

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can still play? Like just you
know, selfishly, I want to see

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it'll be his age thirty nine season
that he's entering when he can be a

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free agent. I want to see
Lebron continue playing into his forties if he's

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playing anywhere near this level. I'm
not ready for this ride to end,

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just as a pure basketball fan,
and so if he goes anywhere else,

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I just want to see keep playing. But that's where I'm at with the

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Lakers. I don't think this Lebron
James extension changes anything about how their their

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ability to add another star. There
was always this Kyrie scenario sitting on the

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table if it worked out in their
favor, or you're looking at sort of

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a submax level player that they could
go after, and look, this is

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the final I'll wrap this up here. It doesn't have to be a third

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star. Or bust here like they're
if they're slated to have cap space with

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Lebron and Ad, like you could
if you really just tore down to the

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00:17:37,200 --> 00:17:41,880
studs and had your your cap space
and your room exception like and then kept

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00:17:41,880 --> 00:17:45,640
your twenty three twenty twenty three draft
pick, maybe the Pelican swap depending on

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how you finished the season, like, you can just build out depth around

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these two, which is still a
like quality way to cobble together a contender

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in the Western Conference. And so
I would argue that this extension to me

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makes the lakers immediate future bit brighter. Maybe not so much next season,

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but perhaps next season, because if
you believe this makes it more likely that

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they'll trade pick since they have Lebron
for two years. But I just think,

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knowing that you have Lebron in AD
plus cap space in twenty twenty three,

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I wouldn't expect you to get a
third star. That would not be

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my prediction. Unless this is Kyrie
Irving right now, or Draymond Green really

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wants to play in LA and the
Warriors disrespect him and extension talks and only

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want to pay him like twenty five
million. Unless it's a situation like that,

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you could just instead assemble a bunch
of depth. I hope you enjoyed

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this one question. We'll be back
to the offseason Gray Grind very soon.

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00:18:32,519 --> 00:18:34,960
Please please, pretty please remember to
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307
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the description, and like always,
I lad the shout out through one the

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00:18:47,839 --> 00:18:52,880
only the legendary will be available for
Max contract, maybe if the Lakers have

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00:18:52,000 --> 00:18:55,079
enough room. Frank Neil A,
Keena