There is a relatively easy framework for LeBron James to make his way to the Boston Celtics, where he could captain the greatest basketball franchise of all time.
I can’t for the life of me figure out why everyone keeps counting out the Boston Celtics during the upcoming LeBron James sweepstakes.
People say nonsensical things like, Boston has such a bright future, why would they ruin that with LeBron? Or, LeBron and Boston hate each other! It would never work!
I get it. They’ve hated him forever, and he probably hates them. Kyrie Irving just scorned him too.
But let’s be honest for a second: LeBron wants to win more titles. And — from Boston’s perspective — no matter how good Jayson Tatum looks, or how good Kyrie Irving is, you don’t want to march into a series with the Golden State Warriors where they have the two best players on the court.
The Celtics and LeBron find themselves in the awkward position of needing each other. There are still a lot of reasons for LeBron to go as far away from Boston as possible, but they are all off-the-court reasons.
This is the part where I remind you that fans of the Cleveland Cavaliers once burned his jersey. Or that the owner, Dan Gilbert, publicly burned him at the stake in Comic Sans.
A lot was made of LeBron’s return to Cleveland as some sort of sappy story about a boy returning home as a man. Or the move being for the happiness of LeBron’s family. While that’s all part of it, the reality is that basketball reasons were the driving force.
The Cavaliers — despite the San Antonio Spurs looking as unbeatable as ever in 2014 — were preseason favorites in Las Vegas to win the title in both 2015 and 2016. He went to the place where he would have the best chance to win.
The Celtics have a ton of talent. Kyrie Irving, Gordon Hayward and Jayson Tatum are a far more appealing trio than any other potential situation, (I left Al Horford and Jaylen Brown off the list for a reason, bear with me). More importantly, they are easily best-equipped to add LeBron without giving up too many supporting pieces.
Hardwood Houdini
As an on-court fit, it is a match made in heaven. Kyrie and LeBron already have three years of built-in chemistry (as long as they can learn to love each other again). Tatum and Hayward are terrific outside shooters as well, which is a must for any LeBron-led team, but we’ll talk more about this in a minute.
Let’s start with how the move would go down. The Celtics have about $107 million on the books for next season, so a sign-and-trade is the first step.
This is where Al Horford comes into the mix. I know all of you Celtics fans adore Al Horford, but he’s the odd man out in a LeBron-led Celtics team. Why? He’s getting old — 32 years old to be exact — and the Celtics have a top-heavy payroll.
What does that mean? Well, every contract on the books for next season is either below $7 million or above $20 million. Translation: Unless you want to give up the farm (multiple young pieces), you have to give up one of your stars in the sign-and-trade for LeBron.
Hayward and Irving are far more likely to be worth their contracts moving forward, so the responsible move is to get out of Horford’s contract. And trust me, you may not want to pay $59 million (Horford’s remaining balance owed) for a player who would be 34 in the 2020 NBA Finals.
So the next question is, why in the world would Dan Gilbert take back the Horford contract to help his conference rival, especially when he has the ability to let LeBron walk and get back out of the luxury tax?
The Celtics would have to sweeten the deal with draft picks. Fortunately for them, Danny Ainge has somehow managed to stash seven first round picks in the next four drafts. Also fortunately for Celtics fans, Gilbert is a prideful man, as he showed rather flamboyantly after LeBron left in 2010.
If LeBron leaves, Gilbert is likely to be portrayed in the media as the man most responsible for his departure. He is viewed as the mastermind behind the Kyrie Irving trade and the departure of David Griffin. Let’s face it, the Cleveland faithful will side with LeBron in the divorce.
Besides, if there was any leftover doubt, LeBron passive-aggressively made his feelings for Gilbert clear during his interview with Rachel Nichols a few weeks ago.
I’m willing to bet the negative media attention would be just enough to get Gilbert to attempt an accelerated rebuild of the Cavaliers, even if it meant staying in the luxury tax for one more season. If Ainge puts two first-rounders on the table, Gilbert would do the deal. Then you have Al Horford as the ideal veteran mentor for the young players you bring in.
If it all plays out perfectly, Horford’s contract comes off the books at the same time as the rest of Cleveland’s bad contracts in the summer of 2020.
(Not to get too far ahead of myself here, but if you play your cards right, Cavaliers fans, you could get LeBron back in 2020 for a title-contending “farewell tour” surrounded by young studs and another max player.)
So that is step one. Sign-and-trade for LeBron using one or two of your first round picks and Al Horford. But this is where I’m going to go way off the deep end, so stay with me.
The Golden State Warriors are really good. You aren’t beating them with a traditional super-team. You need an all-time great collection of talent. Even though LeBron, Irving, Hayward, Tatum and Brown look a heck of a lot like the “Death Lineup” 2.0, they may not be enough to give you a leg up on version 1.0.
Here’s a (maybe not so completely insane) way the Celtics can end up with both LeBron James and Anthony Davis:
- The Celtics go over the cap to re-sign Marcus Smart for three years at about $15 million per year. Worst-case scenario, he remains Boston’s overpaid, poor man’s Draymond Green.
- The New Orleans Pelicans (predictably) start the season a disappointing 15-15, while the Houston Rockets and Warriors continue to look like world-beaters.
- LeBron and Kyrie force-feed Jaylen Brown on the offensive end for 30 games, inflating his trade value.
- Both LeBron and Kyrie start secretly contacting Anthony Davis, persuading him to approach the front office with his unhappiness.
- A week later, Ainge calls up Dell Demps and offers him Marcus Smart, Jaylen Brown (who at this point is still somehow averaging 15 points per game) and whatever is left of his draft stash.
The only chance the Pelicans turn down that package is if they are delusional enough to think they are close to competing with the Warriors (and they very well may be). Delusional, that is.
Now you’re marching out a lineup that consists of Irving at the point, Tatum and Hayward on the wing, LeBron at power forward and Anthony Davis at center.
Round that out with Terry Rozier to run the bench — and maybe a few veterans on minimum contracts — and you have perhaps the most talented team in the history of the NBA.
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The Celtics could play a series with the Golden State Warriors with the two best players on the court, instead of the other way around. Anthony Davis could be better than Kevin Durant as a two-way player. Honestly who knows at this point?
But let’s finish up by talking about LeBron. Why does this move make sense for him?
Well, to answer that question we have to start by talking about Durant. His move to Golden State has essentially given LeBron carte blanche to go wherever he wants — except Golden State, of course — without criticism.
So let’s see what LeBron’s potential legacy could look like when it’s all said and done:
LeBron spends his first seven years trying to win a title for his hometown franchise only to be held back by organizational incompetence. He goes to Miami to surround himself with success, where he wins his first two titles. He comes home to win a title as the NBA’s beloved underdog. He toils two more years as the NBA’s martyr under the shadow of Golden State. He finishes his career in Boston as the best player on the best basketball team ever assembled, winning a few more rings and going down unanimously as the best basketball player who ever lived.
That’s one heck of a narrative. Plus, LeBron himself could go down as the impossible winner of the Kyrie trade.
I know that the acquisition of Anthony Davis is a long shot, to say the least. But even without the help of the Brow, the Celtics represent a far better option than what else is out there.
Next: Ranking the 5 favorites to win the 2019 NBA Finals
Let’s just say that LeBron James is, like, I don’t know, the chosen one . . . who can, well, I guess, restore balance to the NBA. He just has to go to the Boston Celtics to do it.