Everything exploded in the All Star. LeBron, in his native Cleveland, decided that it was time to use the microphone to be the protagonist, monopolize the spotlight and turn the NBA upside down. “Last year I will play it with my son. I’ll be where Bronny is, wherever he is. I will do my best to play together with my son for a year. This has nothing to do with money anymore“, he declared, a few words that he has collected Jason Lloyd in The Athletic. The journalist, who covers the news of the Cavaliers, emphasizes another statement by James in, and it is not by chance, Cleveland. He was questioned about a third stint with the Cavaliers now how well they are playing and The King see that “the door is not closed“: “I’m not saying I’m going to go back and play, I don’t know what the future holds“.
His words caused a stir and were accompanied. The compliments to the Cavaliers or to Sam Presti, General Manager of the Thunder, they were interpreted as a good stick to the management of the Lakers and, more specifically, to Rob Pelinka and its management in the winter market. Apparently, the star was not happy with the transfer market and missed some movement on the part of his team, which did not transfer to anyone, nor to a Russell Westbrook who has been singled out as one of the team’s evils and that, by the way, arrived last summer at the express wish of LeBron himself, who now, to use a basketball simile, throw balls out.
James’s words have been highly commented within the NBA and leaks have followed one another. ESPN’s Brian Windhorst has taken it upon himself to explain LeBron’s statements: “It’s not that he wants to leave the Lakers. he doesn’t want that. He wants the Lakers to be much more aggressive this summer when it comes to building the roster. He expected them to make significant moves at the deadline. One could say that they couldn’t do much, but he felt that way. What LeBron has really been doing these last few days is more than anything putting the Lakers on notice for this summer, where he expects significant roster changes“.
Windhorst is a journalist very close to LeBron James and his entourage, born and raised in Akron and a student at the same institute as The king. The information, therefore, could come from LeBron himself or from his closest people., which would be one more way to put pressure on the Lakers to react for next summer. The last one with a LeBron contract, who in the next one, in 2023, will be a free agent. One year before his son Bronny arrives, if all goes well, in the best League in the world, something that will happen in 2024. And a date that already has the entire best League in the world in mind, which will see where will choose the star of, still the Lakers, to enjoy his last great adventure. And if he will be able to be next to his son or not, an added morbidity that has never been seen in the NBA and that joins the possibility of a return to Cleveland, Ohio. Your home.
Key months in LA
Everything will be decided in the coming months, in which there will be more talk about the future than about a present with gray tints. The Lakers are in bad shape, in ninth position in the Western Conference, below 50% wins (27-31)almost no chance of reaching the playoffs without first contesting the play-in (they are six games away from sixth place), more than one option to stay out in the play-in, Anthony Davis temporarily injured (he will be re-evaluated in three weeks after a severe sprain against the Jazz) and a manifest sports dysfunction. Therefore, everything will focus on the future, the promises that the franchise makes to a LeBron who, in his 19th season, continues at a historic level (29.1 points, 7.9 rebounds and 6.5 assists) with commendable durability. That’s where the key will be.
Windhorst has not been the only journalist who has spoken on the subject. Jake Fischer, from Bleacher Report and close to the Lakers today, has said in statements collected by Laker Daily that the summer is key and that, if LeBron does not sign his extension then, his future will be outside the Lakers in 2023. Marc Stein has spoken in other terms of what happened and has recalled a different case, but very important in recent history angelina: “Let’s remember that the Lakers are an organization that has completely cut ties with Jerry West. If they did that to him, they can do it to LeBron.“, Said the famous journalist in reference to West’s departure from the franchise in 2000 after much anger (with Jerry Buss, Phil Jackson…). A goodbye for which there has never been a return that Kobe Bryant even requested in 2007. Another case in reference to the one that matters most right now. The one on whom the future of the Lakers depends: LeBron James.
