FIRST TAKE | Stephen A.: Who Wants Team Independence More — Giannis or LeBron?

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05/07/2025

Giannis independence NBA, LeBron control Lakers, Stephen A NBA debate, Giannis vs LeBron leadership, NBA superstar power, First Take team control, Giannis Antetokounmpo frustration, LeBron James future plans, NBA 2025 offseason, Stephen A on player movement

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00:00C'est pas un bon signage pour les Lakers de ce qu'ils doivent faire de ce qu'ils doivent faire de long terme.

00:05Je pense que DeAndre Ayton va aider à l'aide.

00:07Il est probablement le deuxième bestseller sur le marché cette année,

00:10derrière Myles Turner.

00:12Obviously, as David a pointé earlier this week,

00:14il y a plein de questions de DeAndre Ayton en termes de son long-term ability

00:17à faire de l'impact, mais il est un talentueur qui peut aider à l'aide,

00:21et c'est certainement un upgradeé à Jackson Hayes,

00:23qui ils sont maintenant assignés à l'aide à l'aide, comme vous l'avez mentionné.

00:26Mais ce team still a beaucoup de holes sur le perimetre defensively.

00:29They have very little perimeter defensive talent.

00:31They're still lacking in shooting.

00:32They're a team that, when you just stack them up player for player,

00:35yes, they finished third in the Western Conference last year.

00:38I'd say overall, they're either the same or a little worse.

00:40We've seen Houston get better.

00:42We've seen Denver get deeper.

00:43We've seen the Clippers get better.

00:45The Warriors are probably going to get better,

00:47depending on what happens the rest of their offseason.

00:48There are a lot of teams making moves forward.

00:51The Lakers are at best staying flat, and that's with LeBron James' future

00:54and his motivation in Los Angeles still being very uncertain.

00:57Plus 8.50 for the Lakers.

01:00That is their odds right now after the Aiton acquisition.

01:03That's the fourth best currently in the Western Conference.

01:06All right.

01:06At the beginning of the offseason,

01:08Arshams Charani reported that Giannis was open to the idea of playing

01:12somewhere other than Milwaukee for the first time in his career.

01:15And since then, the Bucs have made several big moves,

01:18including signing Miles Turner and waiving Damian Lillard

01:22in hopes of keeping their star player around.

01:23But it's still unclear whether it's going to be enough.

01:28All right, David, it's the 4th of July.

01:30We're leaning into who should want independence from the team.

01:33We love a good theme here on first take.

01:36Who wants independence more?

01:37Is it Giannis from the Bucs or LeBron from the Lakers?

01:41I think it's LeBron from the Lakers.

01:42If Giannis wanted to leave, right, he would have done that.

01:46He would have told them at the beginning of the offseason,

01:48I don't want to be here.

01:49I want to go somewhere else.

01:50Like, let's manufacture this trade and figure this thing out.

01:53I am still in the belief that he has some hand in this Miles Turner thing.

01:56I like Luke, like, Giannis and the Bucs are just looking for reasons

02:00to stay together, right?

02:02Giannis wants to be in Milwaukee.

02:04He does not want to go anywhere.

02:05He, you know, thinks it's a good part of his legacy to be with one team.

02:09That's one thing that, you know, a lot of his peers do not have.

02:12He wants to do this, right?

02:14And so they are grasping at straws to find a situation where he feels like

02:17it is worth it to stay in Milwaukee.

02:18LeBron James, on the other hand, wants some sort of independence from this team.

02:23And it's clear from what he said.

02:25But the problem is LeBron also wants $52.5 million.

02:28So you have to thread that needle where he wants that money,

02:31but he also wants to have some sort of control over these last two years of his career.

02:36And I think that's really what it's about,

02:37the control that he can have over these next two years.

02:40What makes it difficult, though, is because, you know,

02:43he's just in this one year and it's not his team anymore.

02:45The leverage is not there.

02:46But if it was between the two, I would say LeBron is the person who wants to dictate

02:49his future wherever he wants to go more than Giannis.

02:52And it still is Giannis' team, right?

02:54Like, they're making all these moves to sweeten the pot so he'll want to stay.

02:57Just like you said, we'd like to hear from LeBron.

02:59I would like Giannis to come back from his European vacation so we can hear from him

03:02about everything that's happened, the Miles Turner move,

03:05the Damian Lillard being waived.

03:07We go through this every offseason, though.

03:09There's a GQ article probably waiting to be dropped right now

03:12where Giannis ponders his future in Milwaukee and the thought of winning a championship

03:16and being on the other side of 30.

03:18Can you tell me that this roster right now, Miles Turner, Gary Harris,

03:22they, you know, they move on from Pat Continson, they send him in a trade,

03:25no more Brooke Lopez.

03:26Like, is this roster no better in the backcourt than they were

03:30before Damian Lillard got injured?

03:32How could this roster possibly be better now to contend for a championship in the East

03:37when teams like Atlanta, teams like Orlando have continually escalated

03:42and the Bucs kind of feel like they're stuck in no man's land 8th or 9th?

03:45Well, it's kind of two different things, though, right?

03:47Because, like, one thing is how close are the Bucs to a championship

03:50than they were last year?

03:51Not any closer.

03:52They're a worse team than they were last year,

03:53and I think it's hard to argue against that, right?

03:55But the other thing that's on the other side of this is how close are they

03:59to keeping Giannis, which I think is their main goal.

04:01Their main goal is convincing Giannis to stay whether that puts them closer

04:05to a championship or not.

04:06They are all in on the Giannis thing.

04:07I have been of the belief that it's been best for both of them to move on,

04:11for the Bucs to maximize what they can get for Giannis,

04:13and Giannis to maximize what he can at a championship contender.

04:16Because I want to see Giannis in a championship contender.

04:19I always want to see a top three player in the league competing for a championship.

04:22But if he wants to stay with Milwaukee, and they feel like they've done enough

04:26to keep him, and they want him to stay there, that, to me, is more important

04:29than what it is to actually get them closer to a championship.

04:33I still think he's going somewhere else.

04:34We have heard, rumored for a while, it's going to be somewhere in the Eastern Conference.

04:38Tell me that him in Miami isn't intriguing.

04:40Giannis wanting independence from Milwaukee, staying in the Eastern Conference,

04:44the Knicks don't feel like an option anymore.

04:45That feels like that shit passed.

04:47I think Giannis in Miami would probably be the best spot for someone

04:50who probably wants to win a championship.

04:52He's on the other side of 30.

04:53He knows that his time is still limited to do this.

04:56Where are you at?

04:57Are you siding with me on here, on this Giannis one,

05:00or do you think it's LeBron who wants independence?

05:01Because what you said is that Luka is the one who has the most to prove

05:05for the Lakers this year.

05:07Having said that, is LeBron's best chance if he really wants a championship

05:10somewhere else?

05:12Well, a couple things.

05:13One, I don't think Miami would be the option I would choose.

05:16If I was Giannis that a coupon, I was looking at my options,

05:19given they just finished, I believe, 10th in the Eastern Conference last year

05:22and then lost by about a trillion points to the Cavs.

05:24No state income tax.

05:25The team would be built around him, but I digress.

05:28Well, that's fine.

05:28They still aren't very close to winning.

05:30And to me, this question is very simple.

05:32One of these two players has not said he is considering actually leaving his team

05:37publicly, right?

05:38I'm not disputing Shams' reporting, but Giannis hasn't said anything.

05:42The other guy has an agent in Rich Paul who said five days ago

05:46when he opted into his contract, we're evaluating our options.

05:49So to me, if it's, does one guy want to leave or does the other guy want to leave?

05:54One guy has said, I'm thinking about leaving, and the other guy hasn't.

05:57So to me, this is a very simple choice.

05:58I would like to agree with you, but I have to agree with David.

06:01LeBron James, as publicly said through his agent,

06:04I am evaluating my options to have the best chance to win a championship going forward.

06:08That is very clearly deciding what it is you want to do.

06:11Now, we can debate the merits of how insane that is to opt into your contract

06:15when you could be a free agent and have the ability to choose any of the 30 teams

06:18and then say, well, I want to take my money and then see if I can potentially go somewhere else.

06:22But he has said that, and while, yes, it would be nice if Giannis came out

06:26and said that the Miles Turner signing is the greatest signing in the history of signings

06:30and that he wants to stay in Milwaukee, he also doesn't have to do that.

06:33He's under contract.

06:34There's no reason for him to come out and say that.

06:36And to David's point, we don't know if he has been discussing that with the Bucs

06:39and has teamed up with them in terms of saying, hey, I'd love to have Miles Turner there.

06:43But we also didn't have that with LeBron James.

06:46If LeBron James on Sunday didn't have his agent say or his agent didn't just say,

06:50hey, we're evaluating our options, deciding what we would be doing,

06:53we wouldn't be having this discussion.

06:54We're only having it because LeBron and his agent have created this discussion over the past week.

06:59So, again, if you ask which one wants independence more,

07:02one of them has openly said I'm thinking about it.

07:04So I'm going with that guy.

07:05All right.

07:05So we're yet to hear from Giannis.

07:08Kind of yet to hear from LeBron.

07:09It would be easy if he would come out, too, and say what's going on.

07:12I'd also love to hear, again, I'd love to hear from the Lakers.

07:14How about the Lakers say, hey, you know what?

07:16LeBron James is out.

07:17Can we get an Instagram graphic?

07:18Can we say a welcome back, Bronny?

07:19You know, we had the famous fax from David Falk when Michael Jordan came back, right?

07:26He said just two words from the agency, I'm back.

07:28I would love for Rob Palenka or Jeannie Buss or Mark Walter to put out a statement that said,

07:33LeBron, we're thrilled you opted in.

07:35One of the greatest players of all time.

07:37We're thrilled to have you back.

07:39Can't wait to see you on the court with Luka Doncic and J.J. Redick.

07:42And Austin Reeves and DeAndre Ayton and Bronny James in September.

07:47Let's go back to the start of training camp.

07:49Let's have everybody get back.

07:50We finished top four in the West last year.

07:52Can't wait to do it again.

07:53Feels like the silence is indicative of something.

07:55I mean, just this entire thing all week has been indicative of something.

07:58It's indicative of somebody, at least considering their future somewhere else.

08:01All right, we leave it there.

08:02The Knicks are expected to hire two-time NBA coach of the year.

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