The Clippers want to woo LeBron but do they outshine the Lakers?

LeBron James would be better off signing with the Los Angeles Lakers than the Los Angeles Clippers if he wants to change locations in the summer.

In the latest whirlwind of rumors, the Los Angeles Clippers are said to have their sights set on Cleveland Cavaliers small forward LeBron James, who can opt out of his contract at the end of the season.

From Marc Stein of the New York Times:

To be fair, the Clippers have talented players on their roster in Avery Bradley and Tobias Harris after trading Blake Griffin, whose skillset overlaps with James’.

However, could they beat the Golden State Warriors, even with James? That’s a tall order.

They have a few capable scorers in Bradley, Harris and Rivers who could help the Clippers keep up with the scoring barrage. The defensive-minded Bradley would make Stephen Curry work on offense. What’s more, they’re built for longevity with Harris only 24-years-old and Bradley on 26-years-old.

If they manage to trade DeAndre Jordan and Lou Williams for young players and draft assets, they’d have two parts of the magical formula needed to woo James:

Young talent and established talent.

However, they’d still lack the cap space to sign James without trading away both DeAndre Jordan and Harris, who is one of the draws of the Griffin deal, or the overpaid Danilo Gallinari. Even then, they wouldn’t have enough to pay James the maximum. If they somehow did the salary cap gymnastics to even make it work, quality veterans wouldn’t be affordable for more than bargain prices.

When James was in the midst of his prime, free agents were taking huge paycuts for a ride to the NBA Finals. Are they doing that with a soon-to-be 34-year-old James signing with a Western team that doesn’t have the Hall of Fame level second-in-command fans have become accustomed to seeing beside him?

I’m not sure.

For James to sign with the Clippers without them having the necessary cap space, he’d have to just want to sign there, period. That would require an overwhelming presentation from Jerry West and company about how James could win rings until he retired. Then, the Cavs and Clippers would have to agree to a sign-and-trade likely centered around Harris.

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The Clippers likely won’t be able to woo James away from the Los Angeles Lakers, in large part thanks to their cap space issues.

It doesn’t help that the Lakers, not the Clippers, were James’ favorite team growing up and are a marquee NBA franchise (unlike the Clippers) headed by a player many would say James reminds them of.

Nor does it help that the Lakers will have even more promising players on their roster.

Many people say James doesn’t want to play with young talent, thanks to him playing on veteran-laden rosters in Miami and Cleveland on his way to seven (and counting) NBA Finals runs. That’s their first reason when you bring up the young and promising cornerstones of the Lakers franchise: Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram and Kyle Kuzma.

Consider the young core of Kyrie Irving, Dion Waiters and Andrew Wiggins that James agreed to play with.

The idea that James doesn’t want to play with young players isn’t based in reality seeing as he made the decision to leave veterans and join a team led by a young star who was 22-years-old when James signed. Waiters, who was 23-years-old, was traded because he was unwilling to alter his game to James’ liking. Wiggins, then a 19-year-old rookie, was traded for the Cavs to add a player who was the best at his position and only 26-years-old in Kevin Love.

James joining a young core of Ball (20-years-old), Ingram (20-years-old) and Kuzma (22-years-old) isn’t far-fetched at all. Especially if a player like Paul George decides he wants to join the King in free agency and become Laker royalty.

Now comes the question of what you think of the talent the Lakers have.

Assume George, a four-time All-Star and three-time All-Defensive player (soon-to-be five-time All-Star and four-time All-Defensive player), hears that James is going to the Lakers and decides to sign. At that point, the Lakers have a player equal to Irving in talent, if not better due to his impact on both sides of the ball.

George, who would be the second-in-command in Los Angeles, is currently averaging 21.2 points, 5.4 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 2.2 steals per game while shooting 43.6 percent from the field and 42.1 percent from three-point range.

Aside from being a playmaker who can get his own and get anywhere on the court, George is a heady player who makes the right plays on offense and consistently finds the open man. Defensively, George is a player who can take pressure off of James when it comes to defending the best wings night-in and night-out and will create a lot of transition opportunities thanks to his ability to rack up steals.

Against a team like the Golden State Warriors, that’s a recipe of success, as George would likely guard Kevin Durant for significant minutes. Having the ability to throw George and James at Durant will give them a better chance at tiring him down while keeping their All-Star duo rested.

Ball, a throwback point guard who makes most of his plays by passing the ball, is going to take a lot of facilitating pressure off of James and find James for plenty of easy baskets himself, especially in transition.

Ball’s pace on offense will be a great balance for James’ methodical attack and should Ball improve his three-point shot, he’ll be just fine beside James on offense. After shooting 37.7 percent from three-point range in the month of December, that’s certainly possible. Defensively, Ball’s length, awareness and activity will allow him to disrupt opposing point guards’ playmaking ability, switch multiple positions and help the Lakers get out in transition.

Against the Warriors (3 games), a team he’s played some of his best basketball against, Ball is averaging 18.3 points, 7.0 assists, 4.3 rebounds, 1.0 block and 0.7 steals per game while shooting 50.0 percent from the field and 57.9 percent from three-point range.

If George or another All-Star caliber player doesn’t come to Los Angeles to join James, one of Ingram or Kuzma will have to pick up their scoring. However, with Ingram and Kuzma averaging 15.7 and 16.3 points per game respectively, that shouldn’t be an issue.

Both players have diverse offensive games and the ability to create their own shot but are shooting 45.0 percent or above from the field.

While Ingram has just started to get his three-point shot going in with consistency, making  36.4 percent of his three-point attempts in January (12 games), Kuzma is knocking down 37.2 percent of his three-point attempts. Their offensive contributions should be reminiscent of what the Boston Celtics have in second-year pro Jaylen Brown and rookie Jayson Tatum, although the Celtics’ young guns are better shooters from deep.

Defensively, Kuzma has to work on his energy but he’s been his harshest critic throughout the season, rare for players in the Land. Ingram looks like a Swiss Army knife capable of defending at least three positions on the court.

Against the Golden State Warriors, Ingram is averaging 21.0 points, 4.7 rebounds, 4.0 assists, 2.5 blocks and 2.0 steals per game while shooting 52.3 percent from the field and 66.7 percent from three-point range. In his lone game against the Warriors, Kuzma scored 25 points on 10-16 shooting from the field and 4-6 shooting from deep. He also added 6 rebounds, 3 assists and 1 block.

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To think, Larry Nance Jr. and Jordan Clarkson, two players who could make significant impacts off the bench, haven’t even been mentioned yet.

Honestly, James joining the Lakers would be a lot like Irving joining the Celtics this season. George joining him would be a lot like if Gordon Hayward actually played this season.

With the Celtics making a case as championship contenders sans Hayward, that might tell you all you need to know about the talent the Lakers have and the talent that could draw James to signing a max contract with their team.

*All stats gathered from www.basketball-reference.com