Paul Pierce just said Portland Trail Blazers dark horse to land LeBron

My neighbor just said 'Bron is coming here...... let me go start a thread about it. Cause you know its just a random thought and its the offseason

 

Here's how I see it:

• If Lebron wants to be seen as a guy who bends over for his conqueror ala KD and Dwight: Celtics or Warriors
• If Lebron wants to mentor a young star or squad: Sixers or Pelicans
• If Lebron wants to be seen as GOAT - who can win by dragging a 'struggling team' to the Finals and win: Blazers or Thunder
• If Lebron wants to create a legendary All-Time team to own the Warriors: Rockets or Spurs

Lebron has too much self-respect to do the first - so no dice. Can't see Lebron wanting to play mentor at a pivotal point such as this - so he'll let the young guys develop rather than join them. He has already somewhat done the third option in Cleveland - so it really depends if he wants to be challenged again. Otherwise, Lebron respects both Popovich and D'Antoni (they're better coaches than he's ever had and more importantly, they represent the father figure that he desires) and is good friends with CP3 while also tremendously respecting household names like Harden and Kawhi - so chances are he'll like these options the best.

Honestly, Portland represents a comfortable middle ground between option 3 and 4. If Lebron wants that, Portland would need to pull off a stellar meeting this summer. Realistically, I do foresee Lebron listing Portland as in his final 3 destinations. That all said, you should know, by now, how the story goes in Portland.

 

@LeeRC ....I agree with that above except for mentoring the Pelicans. If the Pels need mentoring, what does a team that they just swept need?

AD is an MVP caliber player who will play his 7th season in the NBA next year.
Hollday is one of the better 2-way guards in the league and next season will be his 10th.
Rondo is a Title winning PG and when in 'Playoff Rondo' mode, is a beast. He will be 32.
Cousins...if he comes back is one of the most dominant big men in the NBA and is 27.
Mirotic is also 27 with NBA and International seasoning.

Add LeBron to that mix and that is a formidable squad that to me doesn't look anything like the Sixers in terms of experience.

 

The most clutch player in the league? after getting swept to New Orleans in the 1st round? Dame needs to get his head out of his ass and start teaming up better with CJ. All this worthless propoganda to feed his ego isn't working for us

 

See what @Chris Craig did there....

 

Is that the new recruiting billboard?

 

And I thought you were a Laker fan!

 

It's all speculation, but LeBron knows the kind of Basketball City Portland is, and that definitely is a plus. Portland is a good place to raise kids as well, and the Northwest is a hotbed for quality youth play. Portland is in the hunt.

 

More people need to be like Spencer:

 

In Brooklyn they are

 

If we actually are in the hunt I think we trade for Blake Griffin to try to entice him, or find a way to bring Kevin Love over.

 

I wonder if Kevin Love could come with a LeBron opt-in-and-trade if that would be enticing enough to LeBron.

First off, we'd have to find an agreement with other teams before July 1st on a hypothetical trade like this:

POR Gets: LeBron, Love, Plumlee (TPE)
CLE Gets: Harkless, Leonard, 2019, 2021, & 2023 POR 1sts
ATL Gets: Turner, Swanigan, #24 draftee?
TOR/LAC/DAL Gets: Aminu (TPE or cap space)

Assuming Cleveland wants to shed some salary, and they're likely to lose LeBron for nothing, this essentially works out to be Harkless, Leonard, and 3 future firsts for Love.
Atlanta takes on some salary, but adds Swanigan and whoever we take with #24. Since this trade happens after July 1st, we can trade whoever we picked (if they haven't been signed) and still trade our 2019 1st. Atlanta likely does it due to how much cap space they have, and Evan Turner is only making slightly more than Plumlee over the same span.
Finally, Aminu goes to a team that has a TPE or cap space that would want him. If that team has salary they don't want, we could take back up to $3.5M using the Vonleh TPE.

So we'd have this after we resign Nurkic and maybe Davis:

Lillard / Baldwin
McCollum / ?
LeBron / ?
Love / Collins
Nurkic / Davis

We could fill out the bench with our tax-payer MLE and a minimum contract player.

I think that'd have to be enticing to LeBron. That lineup is legit. Think about what he had in Cleveland and add Lillard, McCollum, and Nurkic to it. I think that team is just as good as a Houston team with CP3 and Harden (they'd have to get rid of Capela, Anderson, Gordon, and Tucker to make that work).

 

End of year trades can’t include players with ending contracts or options that would allow them to become free agents.

 

So how did the Houston Rockets acquire Chris Paul? Players can opt-in and get traded. Thats what CP3 did last year.

 

Sure, after July. In a sign and trade.

“When the trade deadline has passed. Teams are free to make trades again once their season has ended4, but cannot trade players whose contracts are ending or could end due to an option or ETO.”

http://www.cbafaq.com/salarycap.htm#Q101