Los Angeles Lakers instantly become a contender with LeBron James

The Los Angeles Lakers have signed LeBron James to a four-year deal. By landing him, the Lakers instantly become a contender.

For the last few years, the Los Angeles Lakers have fallen on some hard times. As Kobe Bryant’s career came to an end, so did the success of the Lakers. A failed super team and poor decisions in free agency resulted in the Lakers having to go through a tough rebuild.

However, since taking over as the President of Basketball Operations and the general manager, Rob Pelinka and Magic Johnson have done a great job for the Lakers. While building a solid young core, the two were also able to create cap space.

Having cap space doesn’t always result in  star players coming as the Lakers know, but this time it worked, as the Lakers were able to sign LeBron James.

James has been one of the top priorities of the Lakers for quite some time now, and they were able to get the job done by signing him this offseason.

For the last five seasons, the Lakers have missed the playoffs. However, with James signing, they will once again be a playoff team, and depending on the development of their young core, could be a threat in the Western Conference.

While dethroning the Golden State Warriors will be very difficult, the Lakers are heading in the right direction. Getting James to commit for as long as he did was certainly a big win for the Lakers, as they don’t have to worry about him potentially leaving anytime soon. It will be interesting to see if the Lakers do try and land another star in a trade to go along with James. However, a player or two from their young core might end up emerging as a star.

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With arguably the best player in basketball and one of the top young cores in the league, the Lakers could be heading toward some promising years. The five-year playoff drought for the Lakers has felt like a long one. However, with James now in town, that will be coming to an end.