Many Los Angeles Lakers fans are adamantly against the team signing LeBron James. Why would fans not want the best player currently in the NBA?
This offseason is a very important one for the Los Angeles Lakers. The team is coming off of its 5th straight year of missing the playoffs which is unacceptable to a fan base who hasn’t seen its team miss three straight playoffs since the Lakers were founded.
The Lakers are in a rebuilding phase though and have improved by 18 wins in two years since hiring Luke Walton as the head coach. Shortly after Walton was hired, Magic Johnson was named the president of basketball operations. Rob Pelinka was then hired to be the general manager.
It was speculated that the Lakers hired Magic to have a former NBA superstar running the team that could relate to current NBA superstars and recruit them. That time is now, as LeBron James is set to be a free agent.
Pretty much every NBA fan base would welcome LeBron with open arms, but maybe not the Lakers fans. From tweets I’ve read from random Lakers fans, I’ve noticed that a part of the Lakers’ faithful doesn’t want LeBron. This would surprise some, but not me.
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Relationship Between Lakers Fans and LeBron
Some of the reasons Lakers fans don’t like LeBron may be the same reasons that national NBA fans don’t like him. Fans are constantly annoyed by the continuous speculation of what team LeBron will join due to him leaving Cleveland, leaving Miami, and the past couple deals that he has signed.
Other fans still just don’t like him after the pompous and arrogant Decision TV special in 2010. Maybe some fans just don’t like him always complaining in regards to foul calls while at the same time getting caught flopping multiple times.
In regards to Lakers fans, I think the main reason that they don’t want LeBron is the rivalry between him and Kobe Bryant in the late 2000s.
It’s no secret that Lakers fans love to praise and defend Kobe Bryant. You can argue all day on who the best Laker of all-time is, but it’s safe to say Kobe is the most beloved Laker since Magic Johnson.
Once LeBron came on the scene in 2004, Kobe was hitting his prime. As LeBron grew in the East and Kobe began to dominate in the West, NBA fans became hungry for a matchup in the NBA Finals. Lakers fans especially wanted the matchup, as many fans started to believe LeBron was passing Kobe in talent. Lakers fans did not like this.
That matchup never happened though, as the Kobe vs. LeBron debate waged on.