{"id":77773,"date":"2024-05-17T09:45:36","date_gmt":"2024-05-17T13:45:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=77773"},"modified":"2024-05-17T09:45:36","modified_gmt":"2024-05-17T13:45:36","slug":"2024-nba-draft-lakers-interview-polarizing-prospect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/05\/17\/2024-nba-draft-lakers-interview-polarizing-prospect\/","title":{"rendered":"2024 NBA Draft: Lakers Interview Polarizing Prospect"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Los Angeles Lakers\u2019 desire to bring back <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/j\/jamesle01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">LeBron James<\/a> will be put to the test this offseason. For right now, the Lakers are saying all the right things.<\/p>\n<p>They appear willing to sign the 21-year veteran to any contract he wants.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"ESPN\u2019s Dave McMenamin Talks NBA Playoffs, Lakers\u2019 Coach Search &amp; More w\/ Rich Eisen | Full Interview\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/CwLUe1fJy9E?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>They\u2019re rumored to <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/05\/14\/top-3-los-angeles-lakers-head-coach-candidates-revealed-jj-redick-james-borrego-sam-cassell\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">have strong interest in hiring<\/a> his buddy, JJ Redick, as their new head coach. They\u2019ve even <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/05\/11\/western-conference-team-interested-in-drafting-bronny-james-per-nba-insider\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">shown interest in<\/a> drafting his eldest son, Bronny.<\/p>\n<h2>Lakers Interview Bronny James<\/h2>\n<p>\u201cIn terms of the draft, the Lakers seem like they\u2019ll be the draft floor for Bronny James <a href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/sports\/lakers\/story\/2024-05-16\/where-do-the-lakers-stand\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">at pick (No.) 55,<\/a> a player the team conducted an interview with in Chicago,\u201d reports Dan Woike of the Los Angeles Times.<\/p>\n<p>Adding that the 19-year-old \u201cundeniably boosted his stock in Chicago with strong interviews, impressive athletic testing and strong play in a scrimmage on Wednesday,\u201d it appears that Bronny is gaining legitimate traction ahead of the 2024 NBA Draft.<\/p>\n<p>As he expresses a desire to <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/05\/14\/bronny-james-sets-record-straight-about-dads-draft-dreams\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">step out of his father\u2019s shadow<\/a>, L.A.\u2019s interest in him might be one-sided. However, given his situation, he\u2019d likely be happy to just get drafted anywhere. In addition, if LeBron re-signs with the Lakers, he can continue to get plenty of hands-on training from arguably the greatest player of all-time.<\/p>\n<h3>There Will Be Other Suitors<\/h3>\n<p>Of course, with the No. 17 and No. 55 picks, L.A. isn\u2019t in an ideal position to draft James. A polarizing prospect, he\u2019s probably a late first-round pick at best right now. Furthermore, multiple teams could target him with the same intent as the Lakers.<\/p>\n<p>One such team appears to be the Utah Jazz, who have the No. 10, No. 29, No. 32 picks in the draft. This gives them a much better shot at actually getting James. If they can free up at least $50 million in cap space this offseason, they\u2019re <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/05\/16\/2024-nba-draft-dark-horse-emerges-bronny-james-contender\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">a dark horse destination<\/a> for the King.<\/p>\n<h4>Several Contenders Are Looming<\/h4>\n<p>The New York Knicks (No. 24, No. 25, No. 38), Milwaukee Bucks (No. 23, No. 33), Minnesota Timberwolves (No. 27, No. 37), Cleveland Cavaliers (No. 20), and Philadelphia 76ers (No. 41) also have picks that would allow them to draft James.<\/p>\n<p>All contenders, the idea that LeBron would want to sign with them isn\u2019t far-fetched.<\/p>\n<p>Indeed, James\u2019 interest <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/02\/04\/king-new-york-lebron-james-adds-fuel-future-knicks\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">in signing with<\/a> the Knicks back in 2010 is well-known. This season, the 39-year-old proclaimed that Madison Square Garden is his favorite arena to play in. Given the New York market, it\u2019s more or less the East Coast version of Los Angeles.<\/p>\n<p>Weather aside.<\/p>\n<p>The Knicks, like the Bucks or Wolves would have to clear a considerable amount of cap space to sign James. If that\u2019s not feasible, they may be able to acquire him in a sign-and-trade. However, that requires cooperation from a team that wants to keep him. As the most recent CBA is more restrictive for teams with high payrolls, it would also limit their roster-building moves from there on out.<\/p>\n<p>To that point, the Sixers are the only one of the aforementioned teams currently projected to have the cap space necessary to sign James to a max contract this offseason. They also have an All-Star guard in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/m\/maxeyty01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tyrese Maxey<\/a> and MVP winner in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/e\/embiijo01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Joel Embiid<\/a>. James seems particularly fond of Maxey, whom he\u2019s praised on social media and in podcasts.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">JJ Redick and LeBron James had a lot of great things to say about Tyrese Maxey in this clip.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat moth******er does not get tired.\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/vhwmJqhyPv\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/vhwmJqhyPv<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Cats Coverage (@Cats_Coverage) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Cats_Coverage\/status\/1791173966620488012?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">May 16, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Though that could merely be coincidental, few things are with LeBron.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Los Angeles Lakers\u2019 desire to bring back LeBron James will be put to the test this offseason. For right now, the Lakers are saying all the right things. They appear willing to sign the 21-year veteran to any contract he wants. They\u2019re rumored to have strong interest in hiring his buddy, JJ Redick, as [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":77783,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[26,1608,15,21,62,556,12,13],"tags":[4572,38,98,297],"class_list":["post-77773","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lakers","category-basketball","category-bucks","category-timberwolves","category-nba","category-nba-draft","category-knicks","category-76ers","tag-bronny-james","tag-lebron-james","tag-nba-draft","tag-nba-free-agency"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77773","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5008"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77773"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77773\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77783"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77773"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77773"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77773"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}