Lebron and Jokic could have teamed up in Cleveland

[theFireBlanket]

Jokic, Embiid & Giannis on the same team (Milwaukee). One of the first two gets traded. Hindsight is hindsight. Or Giannis doesn't become a 4. Makes more sense to keep Khris & choose between Joker/Biid for the 5 though.

Lasry bought Embiid's medical report from Cleveland, & they take Parker, who had worse health it turned out.

[NZB2323]

The fact of the matter is, 29 teams passed on Jokic, which means that literally any team could've had him for free.

30 teams passed on Jokic. The Nuggets took Nurkic and Gary Harris ahead of Jokic.

[jkvonny]

The 2014 draft where Jokic went in the 2nd round. Yes this is all hindsight = 20/20.

Lakers drafted Andrew Wiggins and traded him for Kevin Love. It worked out they got a championship but they could have had Lebron + Kyrie + Joker.

Then the Bucks drafted next, they had drafted Giannis a year early and could have teamed up Giannis with Joker, but instead they went with Jabari Parker. They even had a second round pick where he was still available but didn't draft him.

Sixers drafted Embiid next, hard to really blame them although if they could re-do that pick it would be Jokic. But they had 2 second round picks before Denver took Jokic, although Jokic and Embiid together would be weird (but maybe great?)

Could go down the list of teams they all missed out. A lot of players aren't in the NBA anymore.

Or even better.

LeBron could have been a Denver Nugget!

2018, when he was a free agent. Could have resigned with Cleveland. Or joined the LA Lakers, Houston Rockets, GS Warriors, LA Clippers, Philly Sixers, etc. All big markets. They recruited hard and LeBron was very intrigue, visited them during the free agency.
....or the Denver Nuggets, mid/small market franchise in the middle of the Rocky Mountains that has never won anything. Just a few years prior, Melo whined his way out of there to go to NY Knicks. Klutch Sports/Lebron showed very little interest in Denver . "didn’t give much thought" was what LeBron would day. LeBron paid a pity visit to Denver near the end of free agency. Most ppl laughed and knew LeBron/Klutch Sports would pick Denver. But , the Nuggets tried.

[Reeko]

For those who say “Jokic doesn’t become Jokic playing alongside LeBron” I call bs. We’re talking about one of the smartest players to ever play the game, so outside of him being traded, he absolutely does become what he is currently. Maybe we get a higher scoring version if Jokic if he’s playing next to a playmaker like LeBron in the early stages of his career.

[wegotthabeet]

Would have gotten traded by Bron at some point

Sent from my SM-S901W using RealGM mobile app

hahaha exactly. would've been traded for JR Smith or some other worthless rotation player before even landing state side.

[meekrab]

LeBron was already in LA before Jokic made his first all star team. You think he sticks around Cleveland to play with a foreign guy who's better than him?

[wegotthabeet]

The fact of the matter is, 29 teams passed on Jokic, which means that literally any team could've had him for free.

Yeah, we could play this game with so many players and so many teams if we wanted. LeBron and Giannis could have been teammates if Cleveland used their first overall pick on him instead… Cleveland could have had both Irving and Kawhi, or Irving and Butler, draft prospects are hard to predict sometimes. Not everything is always going to be clear cut.

Here's the list.

Kyrie - Dame
Kawhi
Lebron
Giannis - Jokic
Embiid - Gobert

All these guys could've been drafted by the Cavs between 2011-2014. And no they wouldn't have been too good that couldn't have drafted all of them.

[Lala870]

A: LeBron hasn't tended to let young players develop alongside him. Wiggins got shipped out right away, right? Name a player that became an All-Star playing with LeBron that hasn't already been an All-Star? Mo Williams is the only one I can think of and he was already putting up pretty much the same exact stats in Milwaukee. Kyrie was already an All-Star. So the last place I'd want a sleeper like Jokic or Giannis to develop would be with LeBron, because I'd be worried they'd be shipped off for an established star, you know like Wiggins for Love or Ingram for AD (both those players became All-Stars later on).

Slightly off topic but its ironic Lebron has this reputation after how people hated ricky davis over the years for his view on Lebron coming in

[KembaWalker]

LeBrons the kind of guy that would take Kevin Durant over Jokic. Like, right now even

[zimpy27]

Would have required Michael Jordan or Kevin Durant level of luck.

[mowcrowbar]

Lebron wouldve destroyed his development

[KrAzY3]

so outside of him being traded

Which, I think we all know is an extremely high possibility.