3 years and 164 million US dollars, can last the Lakers for the rest of their lives! Say goodbye to championships, it's hard to be the boss of a team

Lao Liang commented

2024-05-11 23:15Posted in Shandong Sports Creators

This season's NBA playoffs are very interesting, reaching the semifinals stage of the division, after several supergiants bid farewell to this season one after another, even the basic talking points are gone, except for Adou, who Tatum can't support, the performance of many other new generation stars is remarkable, and there are not too many black spots. The changes in the East this season are due to the 76ers' connivance with Embiid and the Bucks' default to Docs Rivers Sr. leading the team astray, completing Mitchell and the Cavaliers, Brunson and the Knicks, including the Pacers. And the changes in the West this season, in fact, the final ranking of the regular season speaks for itself, the Thunder and Timberwolves are several super dark horses, and the offense and defense are perfect in the regular season, so why can't they go to the playoffs? After all, several supergiants are really old.

After the Suns were swept out of the game 4-0 by the Timberwolves, coach Vogel stepped down, and former Bucks coach Budenholzer, while receiving the salary from the Bucks, signed a five-year contract with the Suns of more than $50 million and became the new coach of the Suns. In the words of the Suns owner, the team will not let go of any of the stars, and their goal for next year's reinforcement is still to win the championship. And after the Lakers were eliminated 4-1 by the Nuggets, it was reasonable for Ham to leave class, because everyone from Lao Zhan to thick eyebrows, and even Wood and Russell, had a lot of dissatisfaction with him. The most interesting thing is that the Lakers once again thundered and rained, and the coach selection was aimed at famous coaches such as Budenholzer and Tyronn Lue at first, and then they targeted the Timberwolves assistant coach Norrie, Nuggets assistant coach Adelman, Mavericks assistant coach Sweeney and others, to follow Ham's old path?

Lakers owner Jeanie Buss definitely doesn't spend too much money on coaches, so it will give people the illusion that "my favorite goals have been snatched away, and I can't do anything about it". During Ham's tenure with the Lakers, various shortcomings were exposed, such as no on-the-spot decision-making ability, untimely timeouts, and slow substitution adjustments, including increasing the burden of the James-eyed combination, often putting three small men, and so on. And the future of the Lakers, the first thing to determine is where James will go and where he can go. After the Lakers were out, many American media suggested that if James really wanted to win the championship, he had to go back to the East, and there was not much pressure to compete, such as going to the 76ers, or considering the Cavaliers. To put it bluntly, James will definitely not move his family in order to compete for an ethereal championship again, which is simply unrealistic, not to mention that it needs to be clear: James is not the same as 5 or even 10 years ago.

According to salary expert Bobby Marks, if James chooses to exercise a player option worth $51.42 million this summer, he will be eligible for an early contract extension in August, and the Lakers can give James a two-year, $112.9 million contract with a salary of $54.3 million for the 25-26 season and $58.6 million for the 26-27 season. Counting the high probability of player options, James can get $164 million from the Lakers in the next 3 years! What does this contract mean? First of all, let's talk about why James is different from 5 years ago. In 20 years, the Lakers in Bubble Park won the championship, and James could still win the MVP of the Finals, and the high-level values were comparable to the thick eyebrows; In the summer of '18, James could still rely on eating oranges to carry the Cavaliers to the Finals, and he was deeply impressed by the scene where he took Morris Jr. to the basket. But Lao Zhan, who is close to 40 years old, really can't do it offensively and defensively.

This season, James averaged 25.7 points, 7.3 rebounds and 8.3 assists per game in the regular season, and in the playoffs, he averaged 27.8 points, 6.8 rebounds and 8.8 assists per game. James is approaching the age of 40 and can maintain a high level of output of about 35 minutes per game, which is very rare, but the Lakers are objectively in two shortcomings: owner Jeanie Buss does not have much money and cannot compete with teams like Clippers Ballmer, Warriors Rugbu, including the Bucks and Celtics; The Lakers also have to be wary of the team's rebuilding plan after James' retirement, and the only thing that the team can strengthen and improve is the sacrifice of Russell, Hachimura, and Vanderbilt, and Reaves may not be able to move. This is an endless loop, James' commercial value, and the Lakers achieve each other, and the Lakers also need James's golden signboard, but the Lakers have said goodbye to the championship competition.

In order to allow Lao Zhan to stay with the Lakers, Charania also reported and confirmed that the Lakers intend to use the second-round pick to select Bronny; In addition, the Lakers intend to use all three of their tradeable first-round picks to acquire a third star or upgrade their bench. Potential targets for the Lakers include Mitchell for the Cavaliers and Trae Young for the Hawks, but is it really that easy to get? Even if he gets a star, what is his status on the team? As long as James is there, James must be the center of the system, and the third star in exchange needs to be able to shoot like Russell, in addition to defending with all his might, and finally stepping up at critical moments, which is in order. Then the question is, who wants to deign the Lakers, help the aging old Zhan, and touch the unattainable championship?

In fact, the most ideal way for the Lakers should have taken thick eyebrows as the first core of the team, which is also what James is looking forward to after winning the championship in 20 years, but the physical condition of thick eyebrows cannot support him to play the No. 5 position for a long time, but as long as Lao Zhan is there, the thick eyebrows can only play the No. 5 position, which is also a dead cycle. The way the Lakers want to break the deadlock is to gradually weaken Lao Zhan's ball control and on-court tactical role, no matter who can be exchanged for the third star, the cooperation between him and thick eyebrows is the key. As for the bond between James and the Lakers, it is nothing more than to take the commercial value they need, but to tell the truth, James is stuck with $50 million in salary space, which has also become an obstacle for the Lakers to win the championship. So, the Lakers really don't have many chances.

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