LeBron James does not waste words. Everything has a purpose.
After the Los Angeles Lakers fell to the Milwaukee Bucks earlier in the month, James was asked if his team could reach the level at which the defending champions played.
What followed was an eye opener to say the least.
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Sat 28 May
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“It tells us we are not at their level. I could have told you that before the game started,” James said, before sending a clear message to Lakers power brokers.
“Do I think we can get to the level where Milwaukee is now? No.”
In other words, James said there would be no championship unless the Lakers moved ahead of the trade deadline.
No such move came as the Lakers settled for what they have — including the $44 million ($A61 million) albatross that is the Russell Westbrook contract.
The Lakers didn’t listen that time—and they had their reasons for not rushing into action, mostly because they didn’t have much value in return.
It was impossible to find real, groundbreaking pieces for Westbrook at the time.
But now they can’t afford to ignore what James said on All-Star Weekend.
When asked if a return to the Cleveland Cavaliers was on the cards, James shared: the athletic: “The door is not closed for that”.
“I’m not saying I’m coming back to play,” he added.
“I don’t know. I don’t know what my future holds.”
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And that should have the Lakers deeply concerned, as is his admission that wherever son Bronny James lands, “that’s where I’ll be”.
Add to that, James went out of his way to praise Oklahoma City Thunder general manager Sam Presti as “the MVP” before making his admiration for LA Rams GM’s all-in Super Bowl approach very public. .
Too public to ignore.
Granted, Bronny’s confession is not new information, as it was always expected that in an ideal world, James would end his career playing with his son.
However, what is new information and could accelerate James’ potential exit from the Lakers – is a Bleacher report article that fell Monday morning.
In it, Eric Pincus revealed that the marriage between the Lakers and James is in a “precarious” position and that’s not all.
He added that the relationship between Klutch Sports, headed by James’ agent Rich Paul, and the Lakers is “at its lowest point”.
This is incredibly important.
As Ryen Russillo put it in the latest episode of his podcast, the backing of a powerful sports agency like Klutch can be the deciding factor in whether or not a transaction goes through.
So will the Westbrook, which could bring the Lakers and their hopes of keeping James back on track.
“Let’s not underestimate the power of powerful agencies,” Russillo said.
“A big part of the way business is done in the NBA is because agents with a lot of influence like Klutch can do things that other agencies can’t.”
But it looks like Klutch won’t be helping the Lakers anytime soon.
Why exactly?
Well, according to the report, decisions made in July, August and ahead of the trade deadline have created a “dysfunctional situation” and clouded James’ future with the organization.
James will be eligible for a two-year extension on August 4, which could reach $97.1 million ($A135.4 million).
Otherwise, he could reach Free Agency and Pincus projects that the Cavaliers could free up $36.4 million ($A50.8 million) in cap space for James, just $10 million ($A14 million) less than what the Lakers could. offer.
With son Bronny drafting for the 2024-25 season, it means James’ next contract call could very well determine his final legacy in the league.
Joining Bronny isn’t about winning or championships, as James himself said over the weekend, meaning he only has seasons ahead to add to his vast ring collection.
At the moment, however, the Lakers seem nowhere near the championship contenders, with their playoff hopes even jeopardized at this point.
Pincus wrote that James’ praise for Presti “could be seen as a passive-aggressive swipe” at Lakers head of basketball Rob Pelinka, who is at odds with Klutch Sports.
Tensions between the two sides are simmering, but “went to a boil” after Pelinka refused to trade Westbrook and a future first round pick for Houston Rockets guard and Klutch client John Wall.
The Westbrook trade has been at the heart of the Lakers’ problems this season, affecting both their on-field performance and their ability to get off it.
Members of the Lakers organization are said to leak the story that James “ruined” it and must take the majority of the blame for the Westbrook trade.
While James certainly played a part in bringing Westbrook to LA instead of Buddy Hield, the Lakers simply can’t afford to rip him off given what he’s producing on the pitch.
Even at 37, James continues to get better, but the dysfunction surrounding the Lakers at the moment is hardly appealing as he weighs his future with the organization.
And that doesn’t take into account the fact that Anthony Davis can’t stay on the field, currently side with a sprained midfoot.
“The AD thing is a huge problem,” Russillo said on his podcast.
“The Westbrook part of this is in disaster. LeBron has been pretty good at orchestrating and recruiting the right people… me’… it just doesn’t make sense.
“Now with the uncertainty of the AD, the reality is that this is a team that may not survive the play-in-game. LeBron will be $44 million next year, how funny is that – LeBron is going to make less than Westbrook next season.”
Going back to James being careful with his choice of words, he’s just as careful with his legacy and Russillo wondered what it might mean for the Lakers.
“I wonder how intense this could get for LeBron, who has been chasing for the last couple of years and eventually chasing a ring,” said Russillo.
‘He won’t go quietly.
“As much as I love LeBron the player, he’s very protective and takes advantage of his legacy – sometimes it’s even weird. If you watch him in his post-game presser, watch him immediately somehow sort himself out.” compliments.
“I could see LeBron when it gets really complicated from a basketball standpoint, which it is now, I could see him say, ‘I’m going to play with my son’. Everyone knows this is something he wants to do.
“I could see him, if the basketball part isn’t going to work for him with a contender and it seems impossible that they aren’t going to do something weird and try some aggressive stuff, he’s going to say, ‘Hey, I get to play with my son and that’s bigger than titles’. I guarantee that’s going to happen.”
The relationship between James and the Lakers is only further complicated by reports that neither he nor Davis have been consulted about the decision not to take action before the trade deadline.
That’s at odds with what Pelinka stated publicly, telling reporters that he’d met the pair before and agreed on the trade deadline.
With the trade deadline over and there’s some hope of a season-defining move, the Lakers seem destined for another disappointing playoff exit.
How that affects James’ decision in August this year makes it “as important as any low season” the Lakers have had since he made the move to LA
That’s the opinion of ESPN insider Jorge Sedano, who said the Lakers should have seen the warning signs after James’ Bucks’ comments.
“The Bucks part was said bluntly and that was a red flag,” Sedano said on the Anthony Irwin Show.
“If I’m the Lakers organization, I hear that. He does that to get them to react in some way and they chose not to, which I thought was a bold strategy. You brought LeBron here to win championships – plural.
“There is an inherent risk when doing business with LeBron. It’s that he will push the chips to the center of the table every hand and sometimes you bust, sometimes you win a big pot.
“Sometimes when you bust you have to reload the chips or take a risk and figure out how to get your chip stack back up to par. I think they have taken the approach of folding every hand this trading deadline. With LeBron because of who he is, you have to commit to everything.”
But the Lakers didn’t before the deadline and given James and Klutch’s position in the league, Sedano refuses to rule anything out.
“He’s different from all the other players we’ve had in this league because of the power he exerts,” said Sedano.
“That strength has shown that he is willing to pack up and leave. If you ask me to make a bet today [on] whether LeBron will be a Laker for the rest of his career, outside of an outlier situation where Bronny will be on a different team in three or four years.
‘I’m not closing the door on that. Nor am I slamming the door to Anthony Davis’ future, that he will be a Laker for life. I think, without raising the alarm, there might be a slim chance now that those two guys won’t always be in Lakers uniforms.”
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