Scalabrine: I Think LeBron Leaves Cleveland For L.A. After Next Year
BOSTON (CBS) -- In what is somewhat of a tradition, Brian Scalabrine joined Toucher & Rich just hours after the end of the NBA Finals.
Fortunately for Scal, Tuesday morning was not the toughest day of his life, like it was back in 2010 when his Celtics lost Game 7 to the Lakers. This time, Scalabrine was able to clarify that he's not Michael Rapaport before getting into some discussion about the future of LeBron James.
Scalabrine said he thinks the Cavaliers would be interested in trading Kevin Love for Paul George in order to try to compete with Golden State next year in what might be an all-or-nothing effort for Cleveland. But George and James might end up together in Los Angeles.
"I think the Cavs will sort of go for it for one year to try to win a championship for LeBron. My personal opinion, I think LeBron bolts after next year," Scalabrine said. "Once you add LeBron, the Lakers could add three or four guys on that team. Also, they have enough cap space to add LeBron and Paul George. They could do that at the end of 2018. So you're thinking the Lakers are terrible -- yeah, they're terrible now, but if you add LeBron James and Paul George and you trade some of those assets away, then all of a sudden they could look like a team that adds three or four pieces around LeBron James and now they're playing against the Warriors and they're challenging them. So LeBron's going to go to the best place to give him a chance to win."
This was, of course, just an idea from Scal. However, he did hint that he's heard from some people that it's a real possibility that LeBron does opt out after next season.
"I'm hearing that he's going to do this for one more year and then bolt to L.A.," Scalabrine said. "He has a house in L.A. His kids are enrolled in school in L.A., even though they don't attend the school. I'm hearing Cavs, one more shot to beat the Warriors, and then he's off to La La Land."
Scalabrine shared many other ideas about how the NBA will adjust to the dominance of the Warriors. Listen to the interview in the audio player above.