ESPN: Can Lebron's Super Friends Join Together in 2018 (Lebron, CP3, Wade, Melo)

[CelticsElite]

http://www.espn.com/espn/feature/story/_/id/20161740/how-lebron-cp3-wade-melo-ride-together

Basically the idea is lebron/cp3/Melo/ wade all join the Lakers (or knicks or rockets) next off season as free agents to create team banana boat for their last superteam of their Careers


This reminds me of the 2004 Lakers. Desperation haha. They are going to be really old

[manl_lui]

sure they can, but all but LeBron are starting to show their age, it'll be a fun team to watch but I doubt that team wins anything. Wade and CP3 are 2 I wouldn't trust being healthy

[saltlover]

I'd love to see the Banana Boat vs. Ball family civil war in LA.  That team falls to Golden State in a heap of flames.

From a cap perspective, it depends how much playing together is worth to them, but LA could probably let three of them split $60 million next year with the 4th (likely Wade) taking the room exception.

[Roy H.]

I mean, if Houston trades for Carmelo, and then Lebron / Wade sign for basically free, it's a fascinating team.

Lebron would be giving up something like $30 million though.  Assume Anderson and Ariza get traded:

Capela / Nene
Carmelo / Mbah a Moute
Lebron / Tucker
Harden / Gordon
CP3 / Wade

That would be one of the most interesting collections of talent ever.

[Bucketgetter]

CP3                              Curry
Wade                            Klay
Harden            >           Iggy
Lebron                          KD
Melo                             Draymond

As far as death lineups go. And Capela is better than whatever trash the Warriors throw out there as their traditional center (Zaza, West, McGee)

[tarheelsxxiii]

Old knees and lots of money left on the table, but whatever makes the sunset more tolerable.

[Somebody]

CP3                              Curry
Wade                            Klay
Harden            >           Iggy
Lebron                          KD
Melo                             Draymond

As far as death lineups go. And Capela is better than whatever trash the Warriors throw out there as their traditional center (Zaza, West, McGee)

This. If the Rockets manage this and we beat GSW next year that "dynasty" will only have one ring.

[JSD]

The Knicks should have set themselves up to have nothing other than Melo and Porzingis on the books for next summer. How did teams not see the writing on the wall for this?

[Big333223]

Wade would be 37. Carmelo and Lebron would be 34. Chris Paul would be 33.

They'd be awfully creaky.

[Moranis]

I can't see a scenario where James isn't a max level player next summer, so for this to happen it would have to be a team that can give James a max and still acquire the other 3.  I just don't see that as all that likely, though all but Paul might end up in Cleveland this year (Wade on a buy out and Anthony on a trade).  I doubt Paul ends ups as a MLE type player next summer, but that theoretically could happen in Cleveland (again very remote possibility).  Of all the teams out there, LA seems like the most likely team by signing James to max, signing Paul to near max, bringing Wade over on the MLE, and trading for Anthony who opts in to that final year to make it happen (Deng and Clarkson or something like that). 

[Rakulp]

I mean, if Houston trades for Carmelo, and then Lebron / Wade sign for basically free, it's a fascinating team.

Lebron would be giving up something like $30 million though.  Assume Anderson and Ariza get traded:

Capela / Nene
Carmelo / Mbah a Moute
Lebron / Tucker
Harden / Gordon
CP3 / Wade

That would be one of the most interesting collections of talent ever.

These guys are "interesting" also...but I don't see either group hoisting a banner.

...I'll leave it to everybody's creative opinion of who is who 



Rak

[timpiker]

I'd love to see LeBUM's super team with all of his buddies.  And when they lose, and they certainly will, I'd love it.

[boscel33]

CP3                              Curry
Wade                            Klay
Harden            >           Iggy
Lebron                          KD
Melo                             Draymond

As far as death lineups go. And Capela is better than whatever trash the Warriors throw out there as their traditional center (Zaza, West, McGee)

Where did Harden come from, he's not in the original question.

I'll take Drammond, Steph, KD, and Klay over Lebron, CP3, Wade, and Melo any day!

[makaveli]

CP3                              Curry
Wade                            Klay
Harden            >           Iggy
Lebron                          KD
Melo                             Draymond

As far as death lineups go. And Capela is better than whatever trash the Warriors throw out there as their traditional center (Zaza, West, McGee)

sorry but there is no way that 4 superstar MVP / Hall of famers in their prime lose to 4 declining superstar with who often get injured, and some of them have serious character, defending issues. My money would be on GSW all day long.

[celticsclay]

As usual discussing these guys people really seem to underestimate how old they are and how fast they are declining.

Wade will be 36 at the start of next season! If he has an injury prone season I wouldn't be surprised to see him retire. Last year was the 4th year in a row his minutes declined down to under 30mpg and he shot a career low from the field at 43% (and obviously still not a 3 point threat at 31%). His assists were the lowest of his career and his ppg were the lowest aside from his rookie year. This year he will probably be at 26-27mpg and maybe average 14 or 15. In 2018-2019? Probably 25mpg and 12 points per game off the bench.

Lebron will be 34 in the 2018-2019 season. I think he will still be an all-star but I personally don't think he will be one of the top 10 players next year (3rd team all-NBA is my guest)

Carmelo will also be 34 and will continue to decline. He will no longer be an all-star player.

Paul is the hardest to predict as he has already started to struggle with injuries and the history of small point guards is not good.

It wouldn't shock me if the Banana Boat team used all their cap on those 4 guys and ended up as a 7 seed. Kind of like when the Rockets had all these superstars at the end of their career in 98-99 and got knocked out in the first round..

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1998%E2%80%9399_Houston_Rockets_season