During the All-Star period, in addition to the All-Star itself, one of the biggest hot spots was some of James's intriguing remarks.
The first is james' praise for the Thunder's general manager. Saturday is All-Star Training Day with normal media interviews. The reporter asked James how to see Jidi, James politely exaggerated a few words, the young man has a future, and then he did not stop talking, and continued to praise the general manager of Thunder: the general manager is the MVP, look at the thief accurately, chose Durant Wei Shao Ibaka, etc., I don't know if it is intentional, he did not say Harden. Those who are familiar with James know that many of his words are not casually said, there are extraneous sounds, James praises the general manager of the Thunder, which is understood by some people as a satire on the general manager of the Lakers.
If you think this is a bit far-fetched, then James directly said the Cavaliers paragraph, it is very direct.
After the interview, Jason, who now plays for The Athletic, talked to James about Cleveland. Before joining The Athletic, Jason worked for the Akron Beacon Newspaper, the newspaper in James' hometown of Akron. There are many reporters based in Los Angeles to cover the Lakers, in addition to local media such as the Los Angeles Times, including national media such as ESPN, such as Dave. James's choice to talk to Jason about this topic is also meaningful. In addition to praising the Cavaliers for their performance this season, and general manager Ultraman's extraordinary shot, then James dropped a bomb:
"The door (back to Cleveland) isn't closed, I don't know what my future holds, I don't even know when I'm going to be a free agent."
You don't need to know much about James, and you know what James means by that.
So the question is, will James really leave the Lakers and go back to Cleveland?
Before answering this question, let's take a look at why James said this.
To put it simply, the reason why James said this is that he is dissatisfied with the current situation of the Lakers, and the purpose of saying this is to put pressure on the Lakers.
Some time ago, when the Lakers were in a bad situation, James said that everyone had difficulties in carrying together, all in the same trench, and it took time to run in. After losing the game at home to the Bucks, James changed his tune and said, "We're not at their level." At that point in time, before the trade deadline, James's intention was obvious, which was to tell the Lakers management: We need to change, otherwise there is no drama.
The deal deadline passed and the Lakers did nothing. There was soon an episode in which Pelinka said he had communicated with James Brow, and everyone agreed not to make changes, while Dave said on TV that James and Brow had never said that.
Who is lying?
I did a live broadcast with Dave during the All-Star period, and I also talked about this topic privately, and he said that he was telling the truth, and I would not question him. To know where nothing is wrong, you should understand James's character.
James treats the team well, the management is good, his overall policy is: I do my thing well, I do my best, then you should do your part of the responsibility. If I want something, I won't say it explicitly, but I'll signal to you that everyone is smart and you should see what I mean. For example, when he was in the Heat, James never asked the Heat to fire Spoo, but he talked to Riley and hoped that Riley could coach. In the 2018 Cavaliers, James went to Miami in the middle of the season to "recuperate", Griffin understood what it meant, and then had a mid-season big deal.
This situation, we often encounter in life, ask the girlfriend where to eat, she said "casually", and then you proposed hot pot, and then she replied, "hot pot eats all over the body is taste", proposed Sichuan cuisine, "these days sore throat", and then proposed Shanghai cuisine, the girlfriend said, there is really no other choice, only this.
If you propose hot pot, the other party vetoes, you conclude, then we will not eat this meal, your thinking ability, Zhen Huan can not live the first episode, "Meteor Garden" at most to the appearance of Shancai, there is no way to continue to act.
Pelinka and James' view of the trade deadline is the way I give the signal, the way you accept the signal.
Pelinka may not even have reached the step of eating hot pot, just say, I am not very hungry at noon, or we will not eat, right?
If it is a friend who has just been there, the other party can only say so, most people can only say, then do not eat it.
James and all the general managers maintain a professional distance, and he and Pelinka are only professional relationships. Dave said on the live broadcast that day that James trusts very few people, unless it is the few around him, the rest of the people he does not trust, or you have to work hard to win his trust for a short period of time. He doesn't trust Pelinka and won't openly discuss some of the team's topics with Pelinka
It's the end of James' prime, and he's sure to do his best to win the championship. The words after the home loss to the Bucks gave Pelinka a strong signal that James wanted the team to make adjustments.
Unexpectedly, Pelinka pretended not to receive, "What?! What the?! What did you say? I'm not good at signaling! ”
Pelinka is reluctant to adjust and has her own grievances. Because the space that can be adjusted now is very small, if the future is pressed again, the Spacers may have less space to move. Besides, Wall may not be better if he changes less, not to mention that Wall is still a customer of Klutch, which can only make Pelinka more passive in the future. Also, when Westbrook came to the Lakers, James also had a share, although Pelinka pulled the trigger. Pelinka is responsible for Jenny, who has a think tank behind her, as well as a few siblings who own shares, and it's Jenny, not James, who pays him.
Unlike James's previous contract with the Cavaliers, James and the Lakers are long-term contracts, with no player options in the fourth year. By the time James' contract expired, he was 38 years old. Unlike the Cavaliers, the Lakers are giants, and the way the giants think about problems is different from a small local team like Cleveland. There are more big people in the history of the Lakers, West Kobe, no matter how brilliant that year, the Lakers will not completely follow the wishes of the players. This is Los Angeles, and we don't worry about the big names.
If, we mean, if, James' contract has player options, and James is 31 instead of 37, will Pelinka and Jenny change their minds? We don't know, but it's possible. Pelinka's signal acceptance ability is certainly leveraged.
In short, Pelinka said that James agreed not to trade, james certainly did not agree: I have already given you this signal, you said that you have no signal, all 5G era, what do you wear. After the trade deadline, James retweeted a photo of the Los Angeles Rams general manager march with a sentence that read, F*ck the picks (go to TM's draft picks), and commented, "That's my type." ”
Isn't that obvious, Pelinka is still writhing, considering whether to use the 2027 draft pick, that's not my type, my type is to win in the moment.
From liking the olive general manager photo, to praising the thunder general manager, to hinting back to Cleveland, James is expressing a meaning: he is dissatisfied with the lakers' status quo, and the Lakers must make adjustments.
I said why James said this, and why he said it. My answer to the opening question is: James is likely to leave the Lakers, but not much.
The reason why James chose to sign a long contract with Los Angeles at that time and did not have a player option was because at that time he said that he did not need to prove himself, and his focus was on family. After signing the contract, James has already won a championship in Los Angeles, not to mention the need to prove anything, and the historical status is also properly sitting on the second side.
There is no need to prove himself again, family is important, these have not changed after three years, what is the motivation for him to leave?
James' contract with the Lakers ends in 2023. If you want to leave the Lakers a year early, you can only use the way of forcing the palace, such as pretending to be injured and passively slacking off. With James's current status, historical status, it is extremely unlikely that he will do so. You're second in history, so why bother? This can only be a demerit points operation. Leaving the Lakers, and can not go to the Nets, Bucks and other championship favorites, even if you go to the Cavaliers, everything is unknown. At his current age, his mentality is different from 2014, when he had the patience to grow up with Irving, and now he is back to the Cavaliers, growing up with Garant and Mobley, without any value.
James stressed some time ago that his last year will be spent with Brownie. Brownie graduated from high school in 2023 and is going into the draft in 2024, James' contract expires in 2023, and the real question is, how will James choose in the summer of 2023?
James reached the Finals, got used to the team being able to maintain a high level, was a favorite to win the championship every year, and the team would do everything possible to build a championship winning team. Now seeing the Lakers pretending to be deaf and dumb, they are indignant.
The problem is that now that the trade deadline has passed, the Lakers can't do anything now, no matter how much pressure James puts, the Lakers can only adjust the lineup until this summer at the earliest.
The NBA is a business field, as strong as James, the chips held in the hands of the Lakers at the end of his career, and the chips in the hands of the Cavaliers when he was young, are not the same.
