James drawn to Lakers’ ‘historic’ aura

opening round by a San Antonio Spurs team that lost to James and the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals.

Unlike when he returned to Cleveland, he made no promises to a franchise that has had such legends as Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Kobe Bryant and current president of basketball operations Magic Johnson. James said Johnson was one of the reasons he chose the Lakers.

James refers to the Lakers as a championship organization, but he will once again have to bear the burden of carrying his team, something he did throughout the NBA playoffs this year with the Cavs. The Lakers roster, as constituted now, includes a number of role players and lacks another superstar.

“We don’t have any right now, but we definitely want to be better than the previous year and we want to … you guys know me,” James said during a post-ceremony news conference. “When it comes to championship habits, that doesn’t mean you’re bringing a championship, that means you practice excellence every day, and I expect that not only from myself, but from my teammates.”

Saying that is what Lakers president Jeanie Buss, Johnson, general manager Rob Pelinka and what coach Luke Walton would want, “we shouldn’t sell ourselves short of that.”

Johnson has said he wants to keep the team’s salary-cap situation in position to sign another highly paid player to go along with James during next summer’s free agency period.

“There’s no (other) reason that you become a Laker, you become a Yankee, you become part of Man U,” James said. “You become part of some franchises and clubs and you don’t think about winning championships or winning at the highest level,” he said. “That’s what the history is all about.”