04/20/24
July 01, 2018
LeBron Joins Los Angeles Lakers: LeBron James will never get beaten again in the NBA Finals by the Golden State Warriors. He's agreed to a four-year, $154 million deal with the Los Angeles Lakers. The lowercase-D decision was announced by a short tweet from his agency Klutch Sports. His move follows four years in Cleveland where he made four NBA Finals and won one championship and four years in Miami where he made four more and won two championships. The Lakers haven't made the playoffs at all for five years.
posted by rcade to basketball at 09:42 PM - 8 comments
LeBron has got both Papa Ball and Papa Walton to contend with.
Of course it could always be worse. Alexi Lalas could have a kid on the team.
posted by beaverboard at 11:53 PM on July 01, 2018
Well, I thought LeBron might have tried ducking the clusterfuck that is the Western conference and stayed in the east (for a better path to the Finals), but kudos to him for jumping right into the fray.
I assume other pieces are going to come into play in Los Angeles, so we'll see if he gets a supporting cast that can take on the Warriors.
posted by grum@work at 12:45 AM on July 02, 2018
My hot sports opinion is that LeBron just ended his streak of Finals appearances.
posted by rcade at 08:50 AM on July 02, 2018
I saw this stat being passed around:
There are only two players currently on an Eastern Conference roster that have finished in the Top-5 in MVP voting this entire decade:
Dwight Howard and Joakim Noah
posted by grum@work at 11:39 AM on July 02, 2018
Some think that this move is more for LeBron's career beyond basketball than it is for more championships. This coming season will see the Lakers in the playoffs, but making a first or second round exit. The important time comes next year, when the Lakers will put on a major push for free agents. If they succeed, it will be one more title for LeBron. My humble opinion is that it will be the last one. LeBron is not all that old, but there's a lot of NBA wear and tear on that body. After the next 2 seasons you will see LeBron and Magic Johnson teaming up in the entertainment industry in one manner or the other.
posted by Howard_T at 12:46 PM on July 02, 2018
I think LeBron would LOVE to hang on until his oldest son (Jr.) gets drafted/signed. He's fourteen, so it's not unusual to imagine that happening in 5-6 years.
LeBron would be 39/40 at the time, and he'd be in control of his own destiny at that point.
posted by grum@work at 02:18 PM on July 02, 2018
Might get the Lakers to the playoffs and probably sells more tickets (don't know if the Lakers currently have an attendance problem). More media coverage and I guess a better situation post basketball for LeBron.
Troubles me as to what the upside for the Lakers is ......
posted by cixelsyd at 08:24 PM on July 02, 2018
But the most important question of all is: WHAT DOES LAVAR BALL THINK OF THIS?
(ugh...so many hot takes are on the way)