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On Wednesday, Jimmy Butler reportedly said that he wants to be traded from the Timberwolves in Minnesota. This is another tricky commercial demand emanating from an impending free agent to the extent that no one wants to give up much for a guy who can launch himself next summer. So, Butler reportedly listed three teams with which he would consider signing an extension: the Knicks, Nets and Clippers, with subsequent reports showing that Butler is more determined to find his way to the Clippers.
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If you take Butler's request literally, he's clearly looking for two things in his next destination: a big market and a team with extra leeway to add more power to the list, which is why focused on joining the Clippers, which have room for up to two players next summer, thanks in large part to the Pistons who so kindly accepted Blake Griffin's outrageously heavy contract.
But anyway, returning to Butler and his favorite designation, it seems that there is at least one team that meets all the above criteria, absent from Butler's list: the Los Angeles Lakers. They are obviously in the same market as the Clippers and have set themselves up to have enough space for another free agent next summer. Oh, and they already have LeBron James.
It's where it gets interesting.
When it was reported by Jason Lloyd of The Athletic that Kyrie Irving, before being traded to the Celtics last summer, had told Cavs' owner, Dan Gilbert, that he "did not want to play another minute" with LeBron James, a one-off. Irving is and has always been an alpha-dog player. So, he wanted his own team. Not much
But then this summer, Paul George re-signed with the Thunder. During the past year, George seemed to end up with the Lakers. Before leaving Indiana, he told the Pacers he wanted to leave. Then the Lakers had LeBron, which, one might think, would have reinforced George's desire to wear purple and gold. Instead, he never even gave a meeting to the Lakers.
Again, this could be rejected. George said that he had unfinished business in Oklahoma City, who had left to trade for him, knowing that he could leave after a season. George appreciated this kind of commitment from an organization. He wanted to return the favor. This did not help that the Lakers were not willing to trade against George when they had the chance. George remembered it. It is reasonable to conclude that his decision to stay in OKC has nothing to do with not wanting to join LeBron.
But again, this time with Kawhi Leonard – who, like George in Indiana, made it clear he was not happy in San Antonio and eventually wanted to end up with the Lakers. Once again, we have all assumed that this would be one way or the other. It just made too much sense. Leonard would give the Lakers two superstars with enough margin to add a third. Leonard, like George, is from Los Angeles. Everything matched perfectly … until several journalists began to suggest that Kawhi had, in fact, weakened the Lakers after LeBron signed. The following came from Shams Charania, then from Yahoo Sports and now from The Athletic, appearing on The Herd with Colin Cowherd in July:
… I do not think so [Kawhi’s] jump for joy as LeBron James is in LA with the Lakers.
OK, so Kyrie does not want to play with LeBron, it's unique. George has so little interest in playing with LeBron that he does not even give an appointment to the Lakers, it's circumstantial. But then Leonard arrives and hints that he might also not like the idea of playing with LeBron, and now we have a model. Then, on Wednesday, after the news that Butler had asked for his business in Minnesota, it was reported that Butler had not cited the Lakers as one of his favorite destinations because, you guessed it, he did not like the idea to play with. James. From Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN:
Butler had already imagined playing for the Lakers, but the arrival of LeBron James as a cornerstone of the franchise has made it less attractive to Butler early in his career, according to sources in the league.
What is this old saying about smoke, there is fire? Well, I think it's safe to say that we have at least a small fire burning here. Playing alongside LeBron does not seem to have the same appeal these days. It is important to note that this does not suggest that LeBron is not a good teammate. It probably does not have anything to do with it.
But you can understand the shadow that it projects. When a LeBron James team wins, he gets the credit. When a LeBron James team loses, you are responsible. That's how it works. Even if you were a star in your previous NBA existence, when you connect with LeBron, you are an extra. Ask Kevin Love. People talked about LeBron's teammates in Cleveland last season, as they had been arrested during an open test at the YMCA.
Many people like to assume that the opportunity to win a title outweighs all the challenges of playing with the best player in the world, but they are proud men. LeBron may have started the super-team move when he went to Miami in 2010 to play with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, and Kevin Durant could have doubled when he joined forces with Stephen Curry and the Warriors. I mean that's for everyone. In fact, we are beginning to think that this trend could turn around. The guys seem to be going back to the old way of wanting to earn their championship stripes on their terms. If so, it's good for them.
Because let's be honest about it: From a purely competitive point of view, it's low to wait to know where LeBron signs so you can then follow him and join him. Super teams, unless they are built largely organically, are weak. This is not only true in the NBA. This is true on all basketball courts in the world. The best kids on the playground who come together to dominate, let's say, kids who are less sports-savvy, are weak. The best kids are supposed to play against each other. The saying, after all, is not "to be the best, you have to join the best". The saying is: "To be the best, you have to beat the best. "It has always been like that, and it always will be.
That's why you still hear Durant defying his decision to join the Warriors two years later, because he knows that from the competition point of view, he was weak. Everybody knows it. Now, there are other reasons to change employer. Personal reasons. Professional reasons.
Remember when you were 20 years old and imagine if you had gotten a job offer from the best company in your industry and that the prospect of this great exciting change had suddenly become a reality. Almost every person reading this article, and certainly the guy who wrote it, would have put his opinion of two weeks before the ink drying of the new offer. Everyone deserves the right to make the best decision for himself and his family based on his own criteria. These guys are human beings. It is important to remember it. More than basketball goes into these decisions.
But again, we are only talking about competition here. All these other things are a different conversation. A very valid conversation, but different. Competitively, joining LeBron will always have a stigma a bit crazy, just like joining the Warriors in recent years. It's an implied admission that you did not think you could beat them, so you joined them.
To be clear, after Butler's news broke, I wrote a column that was essentially a call to the gods of basketball let Butler end up with a team where he could play with another star – if not a few other stars – in the interest of the competitive balance of the league. So it's not as if I hit the accumulation of high-end talent in general. In the NBA today, you must accumulate the best talents. This is a prerequisite for having a chance to win a title. But joining LeBron is different. This is not a hit on him. It's a testament to his greatness.
So, good for Butler, if this deduction is indeed accurate, he really wants to go against the best and carve his own way. Good for Kyrie and Kawhi and Paul George. There is still pride in the pursuit. There is still hope for honest competition. They are some of the most talented people in the world, whatever their job. They are not the kind of people who join the king. These are the people who overthrow him, or at least die trying. Everyone rooted for this guy for a reason. And these actors, if not to appease the public simply to satisfy their most primitive desires, seem to realize it.
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