Per Woj: Lebron's people just informed me of a major deal that he would have been part of. The Cavs asked Lebron to waive his NTC to go the Lakers, largely depleting the Lakers of their assets.
Lebron's people report that Lebron feels betrayed by this, and even if he was possibly going to the Lakers this summer, he wouldn't want them to trade all their assets to get him there now.
Boy, I'd LOVE to see what the Cavaliers would get back from the Lakers, who have already traded away Clarkson, Randle, Nance, and don't own any 2018 first rounders at the moment lol.
Yo, obviously it was too much to make Lebron say no, duh.
(The package was fair and benefited both teams immensely, but the "logic" being utilized pretty much makes any Lebron trade hopeless. It'd have to be a complete rip-off to justify waiving the NTC apparently, so why we even tried allowing NTC players to be traded is beyond me.)
Wait I'm confused has a trade actually been made? And what was the rule with NTC players in this mock trade deadline again?
(LOL I'm lost)
A trade between two teams was agreed to, but that trade included a player with a NTC. In this case, the team receiving the player with the NTC makes an appeal to me as if I was the player, and I make the call.
In this case, Lebron refuses to wave his NTC because he could just sign at the new team anyway without that team needing to give up any assets. Also, Lebron doesn't want to be traded to a team that would have Demarcus Cousins out for this year and next, Isaiah Thomas struggling to get back to form (and possibly commanding way too much money), an old Dwyane Wade, KCP, and Kuzma. He doesn't want to waste two more years of his prime not competing for championships.
If he did want to go to the Lakers, he'd sign there in the summer and have Kuzma, Ingram, and Ball on board. Then he'd recruit Wade and anyone else he wanted to join him.
He doesn't want to leave mid-season, and he certainly doesn't want to go to the new team in a way that would be worse for the new team than if he just signed there in the summer.