LeBron as a Laker
Dave Hyde: Something for everyone in this move.
It affects the entire league, including Heat
So it’s the Lakers, huh? Where’s the fun in that? Everyone acted so civilly this time, from LeBron James with a simple statement to the greater sports world with its anger on mute, that this latest move seemed expected more than surprising, dramatic but equally anti-climactic.
Everyone got something, of course. LeBron got a career endpoint. Los Angeles got a Hollywood star. The NBA got more Western imbalance. Golden State got some needed motivation.
Boston got a greased trip out of the East to the NBA Finals, Kawhi Leonard got basketball spotlight on his situation, East Coast fans got a 10:30 p.m. start for most big games and, just for giggles, Lance Stephenson got a Lakers contract, too.
The news trickled all the way down to the Heat, too. They got something. They got an easier path to the playoffs, which shouldn’t be dismissed considering their situation. They got some remember-when-that-was-us wistfulness. Ah, the memories.
Of course, by this Decision 3.0, LeBron and everyone else had enough practice to carry it out with no public-relations snafus. No TV show. No arena celebration. No “not-one-not-two-not-three …” emotion. No team-shirt burnings.
There was just a simple statement from LeBron’s agency Sunday night that was direct, concise and so otherwise vanilla the only people squirming were English teach--
ers due to a grammatical faux pas.
You rarely get do-overs in life of this magnitude, but everyone had enough practice from LeBron’s first Cleveland departure that even Cavaliers owner Dan Snyder was civil in a goodbye letter.
The only question left is this: What’s the motivation here? LeBron isn’t joining a super-team, at least not with Leonard not yet in the fold. As Paul George’s resigning with Oklahoma City and Chris Paul’s deal with Houston show, nothing is certain until it is.
LeBron joins the West’s version of Cleveland’s roster as far as talent, too. That got him swept in June. Sure, the Lakers have younger talent. They have a salary-cap situation that isn’t munged up with LeBron-fueled decisions.
They also have a developing circus of odd personalities that grew odder in the hours after LeBron’s signing. Stephenson was added, perhaps so he won’t blow in LeBron’s ear. JaVale McGee was signed, a good player with a weird factor.
In the center ring remains Lavar Ball and his son, Lonzo. It’s hard to see LeBron putting up with Lavar’s regular musings on this suddenly enlarged stage: How Lonzo is better than LeBron. How the Lakers need to sign his other sons. How Michael Jordan is better than LeBron.
Maybe Lonzo is sent to San Antonio in a deal for Leonard. Someone will have to go unless General Manager LeBron and assistant GM Magic Johnson wait a year for Leonard to come as a free agent. Again, that has risks, as George and Paul show.
There’s more fallout to fall in this decision, including a renewed push for dropping East and West in playoff seedings. The West might have seven of the top eight teams in the league depending on where the free-agent music stops.
TV would be for it, which means money would be made. Would it be better if Houston and Golden State met in the Finals? If the West wasn’t an alley fight out of “The Untouchables?” If Boston didn’t have a stroll to the Finals?
That would affect the Heat, just to force in the local angle. They’re a lower-seed proposition in the East right now, just as they were this past season. If East-West seedings are dropped, the Heat’s playoff chances become more precarious.
It was just eight years ago LeBron looked all nervous in that silly TV show and said he was “taking my talents to South Beach.” It was just four years ago he took them back to Cleveland amid such emotion.
All that seems forever ago. The only surprise in his move to the Lakers was it was done at the start of free agency rather than the spotlight-hugging end. But he doesn’t need the spotlight anymore.
He could use some better teammates, though. Put your feet up on the desk and watch the rest of the show play out.