Sparhawk
SportsHoopla Ombudsman
I doubt it. He seems to like the drama/ring kissing that teams will do. He has dragged out his free agency as long as possible pretty much every season, no reason to think it'll be any different this time. At most he may eliminate a team or 2 before FA, but that's about it.
Teams that are in the running for Lebron will all get a chance to make a presentation and all of them are going to offer him the maximum amount of money allowed. So there really won't be any forcing anyone's hand. It'l likely come down to which team he feels offers him the best chance to win another title and allows him to carry a lighter load. He'll likely also consider the city itself and what it offers, but that will be secondary to the basketball aspect.
I need to rephrase my question, then.
When I said 'forcing their hand', I was referring to a Julius RFA offer occurring before LBJ decides.
Let's say LeBron takes the entire summer and makes his announcement late.
If Dallas makes an offer that Julius accepts at the beginning of FA, then doesn't that force the Lakers hand to make a decision? If they flat out know they aren't getting LeBron, do they consider matching? Or do they let him go regardless of what LBJ does?
I guess what I'm asking is if Julius is a back up contingency plan for not getting LBJ/PG.
Or would they not match regardless and then plan for 2019.
Is there any scenario where the Lakers would match? $12-15M per? What's the limit for 'maybe we should match' versus 'no way, let him go'???