The Athletic’s Sam Amick Talks LeBron, Giannis, Thunder & More with Rich

The Athletic's Sam Amick joined Rich from the NBA Combine for the full conversation. LeBron's future. The Giannis trade market. Why Steve Kerr re-signed with the Warriors. And the lost wallet that opened the segment.

"The early story is that this senior national writer lost his wallet on the first night," Amick said. "So we're off to a great start."

The combine itself, in his framing, is mostly a backdrop.

"As much as the draft guys are front and center, my interest without question is just trying to get a sense of the offseason activity," Amick said.

The LeBron piece came first. Amick said the Lakers' season had gone in two phases.

"If you would have asked me in December how it was going and what his future might hold with the Lakers, it felt like they had unofficially divorced already," Amick said.

The March 15-2 stretch changed that.

"LeBron shows a willingness to be the third option," Amick said. "And then he's back in that alpha-male role out of necessity when Luka and Austin go down."

The Lakers' door is open. The math is the constraint.

"The door is open for a Lakers return, but it's just a major question about the finances and making the numbers work," Amick said.

The Lakers had made Luka a promise.

"They told Luka when he came to town that we will build a contending balanced two-way roster around you, somewhat similar to the one that you took to the finals in Dallas a couple years back," Amick said.

The fork in the road that promise creates runs through LeBron and Austin Reaves. Amick reported a new wrinkle from his story that day.

"Luka has made it clear to the Lakers that he wants to play with Austin and that he would prefer that they don't swap him for another star player," Amick said.

The math problem stacks.

"The only realistic pathway, the idea of having Austin Reaves and LeBron and another star player, unless you have LeBron signing a minimum contract, which nobody expects him to do, then that math just doesn't math," Amick said.

The Austin Reaves market is the variable.

"He's coming off a very good year," Amick said. "But other executives during the course of the season had kind of projected that this could be a guy that is in the mid-$30 million range, maybe all the way up to $40 million. That's just not the kind of money the Lakers can give him and have a balanced roster."

The Giannis piece followed. Amick said the Bucks ownership group has gone public, and the timing matters.

"This is happening," Amick said. "The Bucks are just shouting it in the streets."

The Haslam comment from the Taylor Jenkins press conference set the table.

"He flat out says two very important things," Amick said. "One, we'll see if Giannis is on the team. And then two, that he expects clarity before the draft, which is June 23rd."

The market for Giannis is robust, in his framing.

"These playoffs have been very advantageous for the Bucks," Amick said. "If you look at all the different teams that had disappointing ends to their seasons, the vast majority of them who fell short of expectations are teams that could use a guy like Giannis."

The destination shortlist looks similar to the trade deadline list. Minnesota. Golden State. Knicks. Miami.

"In terms of teams that Giannis has actually showed substantive interest in joining, that list so far has only been one team long, and that was the Knicks," Amick said. "If the Knicks fall short, that could get louder."

He added the conference-preference caveat.

"There is an idea that he would rather play in the East because we see what OKC and San Antonio are doing right now, and that's pretty challenging," Amick said.

The Steve Kerr re-signing close came down to money.

"Roughly $20 is a whole lot more than the seven or eight that your network, I believe, was putting in front of him," Amick said. "I think because Steph Curry is a wonderful partner to enjoy this basketball game with, and Steve wasn't ready to walk away from that."

The delay in the contract came from alignment.

"Steve needed to hear confidence and regarding alignment of vision," Amick said. "When you see Bob Myers leave the GM post a couple years ago for reasons that were partly related to the interpersonal dynamics, you kind of understand that there was a chance that Steve was going to do the same thing. But obviously he felt good enough about where they're at as a group."

Rich asked whether the Warriors are working with spidey-sense that LeBron is coming.

Amick allowed for it.

"They're going to be pulling out all the stops to do something," Amick said. "Desperation meter, it's Lakers and Warriors are in the same neighborhood right now. They know that Steph, as mild-mannered as he is and as chill as he is, he's not happy not being in contention. Whether it's LeBron, whether it's Giannis, whether it's Kawhi, they're going to be making all of the phone calls."