ESPN speculating that LeBron leaves if he loses this Finals (which is very likely now).
But seriously, where would he go?
Lakers
They have huge money to throw around
Lebron, PG13 and Paul join forces
Huh? There’s no way they can get all three. Without trading Deng they technically can’t even max out both Bron and George, let alone Paul who has let it be known that he isn’t taking anything less than the max.
I think Houston is still the most likely option, but LA is probably next in line. I can see both Bron and George going there, but that’s still probably just the third or fourth best team in the West. That LA team isn’t beating GS or Houston, let alone both.
Trading Deng is not difficult. Throw in a future 1st
Lakers could throw near max to all 3.
A) Except they have no attractive draft compensation if they sign some big name free agents;
B) None of them will take less than the max, as they shouldn’t, and this has been thoroughly reported on for all three players; and
C) Even letting all their cap holds and free agents go and only keeping Ball, Ingram, Kuzma, and Hart, they still won’t come close to be able to offer all three max contracts, as the three of them combined will take up the entire cap themselves (I believe - James > $35M; Paul > $35M; George > $30M with an estimated $101M salary cap).
It’s simply not happening.