How does Lebron’s signing with the Lakers affect Dubs?
Now with Lakers, LeBron will reignite rivalry with Warriors
The Warriors’ top rival just moved to the Golden State and, in turn, has reignited a rivalry that is best known for being one-sided over the years.
Yes, LeBron James is now a member of the Los Angeles Lakers, and, as such, we’re likely to get some competitive, meaningful basketball between the Warriors and Lakers for the first time since . ... when? 1991?
This is going to be fun, in no small part because this has been a long time coming.
No matter what the record
books and some people down south might say, the Warriors were Lakers were absolutely, positively rivals before Sunday’s news broke. The teams haven’t given us many fierce battles on the hardwood, but over the last decade, there have been plenty of battles for over superiority in Bay Area and Southern California living rooms.
These are two teams are bonded by proximity and familiarity. Between them, we have two fanbases divided by regional distaste that’s deeper than basketball.
This is NorCal vs. SoCal, after all. Technology vs. showbiz. Redwoods vs. beaches. Fog vs. smog.
And now that LeBron is part of the mix, lifting the Lakers from an uncharacteristically destitute run of play, we can officially elevate the Warriors-Lakers rivalry to the forefront of that conversation.
Aftewr all, if LeBron can turn Cleveland into the Bay Area’s rival, imagine what he can do with Los Angeles behind him.
Lakers and Warriors fans no longer need to have a rivalry of words over Kobe or Curry — we now have the best player in the world going up against the best team in the world.
LeBron has always been the Warriors’ worthiest adversary and now he’s going to the team that Warriors fans have always held in the deepest contempt.
And deep down, every Warriors fan has to be excited about this — instead of pretending like the Clippers and Kings matter, or that the Spurs aren’t respectable, or that the Rockets are long-standing enemies, or that the Thunder are real title contenders, Golden State gets a real, bonafide, undeniable enemy.
Start making your light-years vs. the bright lights t-shirts now.
Though for the time being, it looks like the Bay will claim another victory over L.A., because even with LeBron, the Lakers aren’t quite ready to reprise Showtime.
In addition to agreeing to terms with LeBron Sunday, the Lakers acquired Lance Stephenson and former Warrior JaVale McGee and re-signed Kentavious Caldwell Pope.
Look out.
All jokes aside, though, it’s clear that LeBron’s time in Cleveland had run its course. I mean, you saw the NBA Finals, right?
When the Warriors signed Kevin Durant in 2016 — with the help of LeBron and the anti-capsmoothing contingent of the players’ union — Golden State opened an insurmountable gap with the Cavaliers, one that only grew when Kyrie Irving was traded to the Celtics for tiddlywinks last summer. If LeBron returned to Cleveland this summer, there was no way he was going to overtake the Warriors ever again. Hell, he probably wasn’t going to face the Warriors in the NBA Finals again — it took nearly a decade, but the East was finally closing in on the King.
Heading to L.A. provides LeBron a new challenge and a better quality of life. It does not provide him a better team though — at least not for now.
LeBron’s new squad is almost equally incomplete as the Cavs
team that was swept in June. If the Lakers roster remains moreor-less intact in the coming weeks and months, LeBron and company should win between 45 and 50 games, just like the Cavs did last year. But unlike the Cavaliers, the Lakers stand a chance of getting better — either immediately via free agency and trades, or in the long term, via further development of young talents.
Acquire Kawhi Leonard this summer, and I might be more open to the concept that the Lakers are real threat to the Warriors and not just a team that would get beaten in five games in the Western Conference semifinals. For now, Houston is the top challenger in the even-more-loaded Western Conference, though they took a step back on the first day of free agency by losing wing Trevor Ariza to the Phoenix Suns.
That said, while the Lakers don’t stack up with the Warriors right now, when you have LeBron on your team, an NBA title is always plausible — the man has been to eight straight championship rounds, after all.
LeBron is set to sign a fouryear deal worth $154 million in the coming days — so whether the Lakers become a fully fledged title-contending team this summer, next winter, next summer, or down the line, it’s evident The King is in this for the long haul.
And while I wouldn’t bet on him beating the Warriors in the playoffs next year, it’s hard to imagine him and the Lakers not being in the playoffs — possibly facing the Warriors — come the spring of 2019.
That’s what makes this energized Warriors-Lakers rivalry so exciting. The last time both teams were in the playoffs was 2013, and let’s be honest, neither team had a chance of winning the title that year. And even though the teams played in the 1991 and 1987 playoffs, one could argue that the last time these two teams were on truly equal footing was 1977.
This is the good stuff — for the Warriors, for the Lakers, and for the NBA.
It’s been a long time coming. And the way things are looking, the best might be yet to come.