LeBron to Lakers done deal
Four-year pact worth $154M makes rich West even richer with aftershocks league-wide
In a move that will reverberate far beyond just Los Angeles and Cleveland, LeBron James has once again shaken up the entire NBA power structure.
As he did when he left Cleveland for Miami eight years ago and when he returned to northeastern Ohio four summers ago, James has tossed the league into a tizzy by moving to the Los Angeles Lakers as a free agent.
The 33-year-old, whose teams have represented the Eastern Conference in the NBA final for the past eight seasons, has agreed to a four-year, $154-million contract (all figure U.S.) with the storied Lakers franchise.
It was not an unexpected move and came in a business-like one-paragraph release Sunday evening from his representatives at Klutch Sports.
Only the Cavaliers, Lakers and Philadelphia 76ers had the salary-cap room to make a run at the four-time league most valuable player. It has been widely speculated for a year that James had his eye on Los Angeles, where he maintains an off-season residence and has myriad en- tertainment business ventures.
And when Sixers officials came away from a Sunday meeting with James’s representatives feeling they had little chance to land the prized future hall of famer, it became a lock that the Lakers would be his new home.
Now he joins an iconic franchise that produced the likes of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, Wilt Chamberlain, Jerry West, Elgin Baylor and Jerry West and won 16 NBA championships.
Can James add another? He joins a team that hasn’t made the playoffs in five years, is bereft of all-star calibre talent to surround James, and must compete in a Western Conference dominated by the Golden State Warriors for four seasons with the Houston Rockets nipping at their heels now.
He is, however, a talisman for winning, both in Miami and with the Cavaliers, and his presence alone as the most singularly dominant player in the game turns the Lakers into a factor. And they may not be done. The Lakers remain in the hunt to obtain disgruntled San Antonio all-star Kawhi Leonard in a trade and have the financial wherewithal to make a deal work.
James’s departure from Cleveland and the Eastern Conference is at least as significant as his move to the West.
The East is now more wide open than it’s been in almost a decade, if the NBA resists what are sure to be loud howls to alter its playoff setup of East vs. West in the championship series.