LeBron Returns to LA Its Luster
Originally written July 4, 2018
It is no secret that the Los Angeles Lakers have a long history of being a premier destination for premier players.
To define ‘premier’, please regard the following non-comprehensive list of names: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (5 championships with LA), Derek Fisher (5), Shaquille O’Neal (3), Robert Horry (3), Pau Gasol (2), Wilt Chamberlain (1), Karl Malone, and Gary Payton. Each of these players was wooed by the Lakers at some point in their career, is or will be a Hall of Famer, and contributed to the 16 championship trophies that have been brought home to the Los Angeles Lakers organization.
Whether by means of its name or its pedigree, much like baseball’s New York Yankees, the Lakers have always seemed to wind up with the greats of each era.
Until recently, that is.
Before the end of Kobe Bryant’s historic career, the Lakers attempted to gear up for one last championship run in 2012, to give Kobe a legitimate shot at getting a sixth or possibly even seventh ring. In doing so, they brought in Dwight Howard – a dominant big man from Orlando, and Steve Nash – a flashy two-time MVP point guard from Phoenix nearing the end of his career. Unfortunately for Lakers fans, injuries and drama led to an unsuccessful end to the Kobe-Howard-Nash experiment, and a complete rebuild effort for the Lakers.
Since that last major offseason splurge, the Lakers have swung hard and swung often for marquee players. Incredibly (perhaps, to the Lakers’ front office: Incredulously), those swings have only led to strike-outs. For years now, reports have been published by ESPN, Bleacher Report, CBS Sports, and various other news outlets about ‘the Lakers’ reported interest in [insert highly-acclaimed free agent here]’, but to no avail. For the first time in the Lakers’ long history of being a premier destination for premier players, their WANTED: posters were not being snatched off of the nail.
During these years, the Lakers’ reported interest in players including the likes of Hassan Whiteside, LaMarcus Aldridge, Kevin Love, Demar DeRozan, Kevin Durant, Gordon Hayward, and Paul George (twice) have not led to any ink scribbled on the signature line of a contract. Each decision by the players to either stay with their current team or sign with another served as a mark of insult to that Long History the Lakers had so meticulously crafted.
Could it be that the luster of LA had finally faded? Had the players proven that small-market teams were closing the gap? Was it possible that the laundry list of greats in Laker history made the idea of needing to stack up against them too overwhelming? Was Hollywood and all of its glitz and glam finally showing its true, overrated self? Perhaps. Were Laker-haters nationwide grinning from ear to ear at the Lakers’ inability to garner the attention of the game’s top players? Absolutely.
It looked like times were changing. It looked like the Lakers would lose out on all three of the top players ready to move (of which they were considered a shoe-in for at least one of the three) with Paul George agreeing to a deal to stay in OKC, talks going nowhere for a trade involving disgruntled Kawhi Leonard of San Antonio, and LeBron James likely hoping for one of the other two to join him in signing with LA. It looked like this might be the last straw for a Lakers organization now desperate for reassurance that it was what it thought it still was: a premier destination for premier players. It looked like losing out on all three might be the last shred of evidence needed to prove that it was no longer. George went as far as to say, “I wanted to come [to LA] a year ago, prior to going to OKC. And unfortunately wasn’t traded to the Lakers – Lakers didn’t grab me.” The pressure was placed very directly on the shoulders of LA’s front office for not sealing the deal. Realizing this, Magic Johnson, LA’s president of basketball operations, recently said that he would step down if he couldn’t deliver an elite free agent signing within the next two summers. Things were getting serious. It looked like Los Angeles was watching its last chance to ‘grab’ a premier player flit away. The premier-destination-façade was beginning to crumble, brick by failed pursuit brick.
Until recently, that is.
As recently as July 1, 2018, when LeBron James announced that he would leave Cleveland a second time and join the Los Angeles Lakers.
And, poof: the Lakers organizations’ headaches went away, the façade rebuilt, and Magic Johnson’s job stayed intact. Whether LeBron joined for the name and pedigree, or simply for family and business, it didn’t matter. Los Angeles was reaffirmed once again that they indeed were the premier destination for premier players. And, as long as that reputation continues to proceed it, everything else will, like its Long History, fall into place.
In joining the Lakers, LeBron adds his name to that long list of acquired Laker greats, and, maybe, at least in the eyes of the Lakers organization, even tops that list. After all, LeBron James just returned to LA its luster. And, like the Cavaliers and Heat before them, they are forever in his debt.