QUESTIONS for LeBron as he enters Year 23🔮 What will determine his Lakers future? | NBA Today

QUESTIONS for LeBron as he enters Year 23🔮 What will determine his Lakers future? | NBA Today

A collection of 20 coaches, scouts, and executives completed an offseason survey answering some of the looming questions ahead of the upcoming season. Let’s run through some of the most interesting results. Nikolic received the most votes to win his fourth MVP award. Following him is the reigning MVP, Shay Giljis Alexander, who received two less votes than Joker. And to no one’s surprise, it’s SGA’s OKC Thunder team who got 18 of the 20 votes to win the 26 NBA title. The only team to receive votes outside of the Thunder were the Denver Nuggets. Wow. And this was an interesting one here. League Insiders voted Steph Curry as the best American player right now. Anthony Edwards received three less votes than Steph. So, LeBron, what are we doing here? One player who did not receive any votes, Ramona, for best American player was LeBron James. Okay. However, the scouts, coaches, and execs were asked where he would be in a year with the majority saying he would still be on the Lakers or retired from the league entirely. But before we even get to what the future has in store for LeBron, let’s take a look at the roster he’ll have for year 23. Bobby, take it away. Well, one thing we do know that LeBron will be on the Lakers roster the start of this season, of course, and I do think what they’ve done this off season when you’re looking at the addition of DeAndre Aon and certainly Marcus Smart and Jake La. They’re in the conversation when we’re talking about some of these top teams in the Western Conference. But here are some of the the questions we’re going into the into the season. Year 23 of LeBron, that is remarkable. The last time we saw him was that game five limping off the court with that knee injury against Minnesota. Here we talked about the newcomers integrating Marcus Smart, DeAndre Aon, and Jake Lauravia. The loss of Dorian Finny Smith. Is there enough perimeter defense? And here’s the big thing, balancing the two timelines. you are a win now team, but then you also have an eye out in 2026 and 27 when you have potential of $100 million of cap flexibility with Luca on that roster to build around him. Now that’s that’s going to be the most challenging thing this year is the two timeline approach. Win now verse the future. That’s always tough. I feel like every time somebody’s trying to go through these two timelines, it’s a very delicate dance to your point. Now Shams, let me ask you this. LeBron in the last year of a contract at the moment. what determines his future? I think just seeing how this year plays out. I I mean, it’s clear that he’s not sure whether does he have one year left, does he have another season after that? So, 2026, 2027. I did speak to his agent, Rich Paul, at Clutch Sports today, and he told me it’s important not to worry about the future when it comes to LeBron James. Just appreciate the present and also maximizing his present. And that obviously that onus potentially falling on the Lakers and what team they put around him. But it’s obvious, how does he feel about the Lakers going into the season as the year continues on? Can they be a contender moving forward? And I think the other thing that also sits here as well is Bryce James is going to start his freshman year at college. How does he look? How does he look as a prospect? How does he play into the 2026 NBA draft? So, these are all things I think LeBron James is going to be open-minded about. Roman, let me ask you this because the poll was basically LeBron’s a Laker or LeBron retires. What did you make of that particular distinction? Well, it’s just because it’s hard for him to go elsewhere. I mean, Bobby and I I call you seven times a week about how would if they did this that were it’s just hard for anyone to trade for a guy making $52 million. Just it’s a lot of money and even he would have to a ask for that. He would have to approve of that and and I think that we’re in a position now where he if he was going to do that, he’s had opportunities whether it be a couple years ago with the Warriors when they came calling, they expressed interest again this summer. The Cavs are on that list because we all know the heartstrings are there in Cleveland. But if they were going to do anything, it would probably have to be before the regular season even started because they’re in the second apron. And so I think it’s just hard to envision how he would go someplace else unless he asked for that. And Chs, to your point, it’s based on how the Lakers do. If they’re winning, if they’re rolling, I think he blends in. If they if they struggle out of the gates or if they hit a rough spot, if somebody has an injury, then I think we have a lot of content to talk about in LA. you think? Well, I think the big question is is where we are in January with this Lakers team and in a really deep Western Conference that what happens if you’re 500 team and you’re competing just to get into the playin. Does that change as far as LeBron’s mentality of competing for a championship? because that all signs would signal that you probably are not competing for a championship. And Ramona hit on a point there is listen, once we get into the regular season, those teams that he potentially maybe had an eye on this offseason, whether it be Cleveland or Dallas, those teams don’t become in play because of where they are financially. Look, I mean, the Joker is inevitable. He’s like Thanos to me. Okay. But were you surprised at how lopsided this Well, I was surprised because then there’s another question on there as far as who the MVP is and Shay got five votes and I think Joic got seven. So, I’m thinking like, wait a minute, how come he didn’t Shay didn’t make on to this year? I am surprised with that. Certainly the disparity, not that Jokic is number one, but that nobody else outside of outside of Luca was even was even on there. Look, I I covered that series with Denver and and the Oklahoma City Thunder and it was a clash of the two MVP favorites, right? and and Nichol asserted himself in that series to the point where you’re when you saw them side by side, you saw how important Joic was to his team, how much he was able to do, how he controlled the game, even on both sides of the ball. It’s hard to argue that he’s not the best player. And I think even the Thunder would tell you that was the toughest series that they had to get through. If not for Aaron Gordon having an injury in that last game, I don’t know what would have happened there. But I I am surprised Giannis Giannis should get some votes in that in that vote. Shay should get some votes, but Giannis is but Jic is inevitable. As you said, he’s he is that good. Thanos Shams, what do you think? I I mean, I think Shay Gills Alexander, how how do you not give him more love? The year that he just had MVP, Western Conference Finals, uh MVP, NBA Finals MVP, his own shoe, NBA 2. I mean, there’s a lot of things you can put in there to say why he might be the best player right now in the world. The disparity to me is what what catches me off guard. Now, let me ask you this. I I’m with you guys. Like, I can make a case for a lot of those guys that you that you put in there. I just think that the Joker is at the peak of his powers right now. And I think guys around the league, coaches, players who have to deal with him on a day in and dayout basis. It’s not that they’re throwing shade at these other guys. They just know how tough this dude is to beat in a given moment. I mean, think about it. In that series, I was there for two of those games and it could have gone either way in that series. And then Aaron Gordon gets hurt and we know what happened in game seven. But they were on the brink of upsetting the OKC Thunder. Well, and it’s amazing because you it shows you the thin margin where a Thunder team that was faced with a game seven at home. Imagine if you lose that game. We’re probably not talking about them right now. It changes the landscape here and but Oklahoma City wins and now we’re talking about Shay and and what the next step is for with that group. But I actually think that will help the Thunder now because they’ve gone through the 16 and they’ve won. So now that was the year to get them. If you couldn’t get them last year, now I think they’re going to be more dominant moving forward. Now, Shams, we have something here on the on the All-Star format. What do you got? So, USA versus World will be happening. It’s three teams. It’s a roundrobin tournament. Two US teams, one world team. And essentially how this is going to go, I’m told, here are the details. Four total games, 12 minutes per game. So, a total of 48 minutes of action. Mhm. So, it’s essentially one full game NBA game regulation. So, these three teams will face off against each other uh in in four total games, 48 total games here in the 2026 All-Star game from my understanding. All right. Hopefully, we get them to play hard. Okay. That’s all I want. Just go out there and look, we know the international team is going to play hard. So, that means the USA team is going to have to buckle in and get ready. [Music]

The NBA Today crew discusses what will determine LeBron James’ future as he enters the final year of his deal with the Los Angeles Lakers.

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