The Los Angeles Lakers have signed LeBron James to a four-year deal. Here are five reasons to love the signing.
Coming into the offseason, the Los Angeles Lakers were focused on getting a star. While many assumed that Paul George was going to be coming to Los Angeles, he ended up staying with the Oklahoma City Thunder.
At the time, George signing with the Thunder certainly stung, as this was thought to have hurt the chance of the Lakers getting LeBron James. However, late Sunday night, James’ decision was announced and he will be a member of the Lakers.
After years of struggling, the Lakers now have the best player in the world to lead their impressive young core. With James, the Lakers are now instantly a contender in the Western Conference, as they are getting the best player in the league.
Considering that the Lakers have struggled to add stars in free agency recently, this is great news for the team moving forward. It shows that Magic Johnson and Rob Pelinka are both well-liked and respected in the front office, as getting the best player in the world to leave his hometown and commit for as long as he did is impressive. Overall, it was a great job by both Magic and Pelinka to sell James on coming to Los Angeles.
With the Lakers signing LeBron James, there are certainly a lot of things to take in for what his impact on the franchise will be. Here are five reasons to love the Lakers signing James.
– Proved Magic and Pelinka can get a star
One of the reasons to love the signing of LeBron James for the Lakers is that this front office can accomplish goals that they set. Since taking over the front office, Magic Johnson and Rob Pelinka have focused on building their young core and getting cap space.
Starting with the big trade of D’Angelo Russell to the Brooklyn Nets, the Lakers were able to begin ridding themselves of some of the bad contracts that they inherited. Also in that trade, the Lakers were able to replace a talented young player in Russell with Kyle Kuzma. In his rookie season, Kuzma proved to be one of the best players in his class, and that trade looks like a win for the Lakers.
Prior to the NBA Trade Deadline, the Lakers were able to free up more space by sending Larry Nance Jr. and Jordan Clarkson to the Cleveland Cavaliers. While having cap space is great, the Lakers have seen that it doesn’t always result in you getting a star player. However, with Magic and Pelinka in charge, the Lakers were able to accomplish just that by signing James. Magic said he was going to bring stars back to Los Angeles, and he certainly kept his word.
– Will break playoff slump
For the past five seasons, the Lakers have not been able to make the playoffs in the Western Conference. While last years team was much better with the young core, they did end up missing the playoffs by a sizeable amount. However, if not for injuries, the Lakers might have been right in the mix for the playoff spot last season.
Now that the Lakers have LeBron James, the five-year playoff drought will be coming to an end. The drought from the playoffs has resulted in a lot of bad basketball for the Lakers, but the future is now bright with James.
Wherever LeBron has played, his team has been one of the best in the league. In the Eastern Conference, James has been able to make the NBA Finals for almost a decade straight, which is a remarkable accomplishment.
Now that LeBron is on the Lakers, the Western Conference will instantly become more difficult. It is not going to be easy to dethrone the Golden State Warriors, but James has shown that he is still the best player in the world, and always have a chance to win. Even though it hasn’t been easy for Lakers fans recently, the playoff slump will finally be coming to an end.
– Long-term commitment
While it was becoming clear a few days before his announcement that LeBron James would be coming to the Lakers, the deal that he signed was a very surprising one. For the last number of years, LeBron has been signing essentially one-year deals with an option. This has given James flexibility to leave if he didn’t like the direction of the team, or if a better opportunity presented itself.
With James signing a three-year deal with an option for the fourth year, it is a clear indication that he is in this for the long haul. Considering that the Lakers didn’t have another star in place, James committing for so long is very surprising.
The young core of the Lakers is certainly good, and depending on how quick they can develop with James, the Lakers could be a scary team to have to deal with. While there are still some unknowns about how good the young core of the Lakers will be, James obviously has some confidence in the group that he was willing to sign without a player like Kawhi Leonard or Paul George already there. At 33-years-old, James could be looking to finish up his career as a member of the Lakers.
– Can help attract other players
One of the benefits of having a player like James on the roster is that other players like to play with him. Being teammates with James usually results in being a playoff team and being a title contender right away.
With both the Miami and the Cavaliers, we have seen veterans come and play with LeBron for cheap or much cheaper than they could have gotten elsewhere. Getting players to come in for cheaper than market value certainly helps a team build a really solid roster, and the Lakers will have that to look forward to for the next couple of years.
As of now, the Lakers were able to add some nice pieces like Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Lance Stephenson, Rajon Rondo, and JaVale McGee. With a lot of offseason left, we will have to see if some other veterans decide to join James in Los Angeles.
In addition to getting veterans to join the Lakers, having James might also be able to help the Lakers land another superstar in years to come. Since James signed a multi-year deal with the Lakers, he is clearly here to build something. We will have to wait and see who wants to join James, but the Lakers will likely be favorites to land veterans looking to win as long as James is on the roster.
– Best player in the world.
Easily the top reason to love the James signing for the Lakers is the caliber of player that they are getting. James is 14-time All-Star, 4-time MVP, 3-time champion, 3-time Finals MVP, 14-time All-NBA, and a 6-time all defensive team player.
While James is 33-years-old, he is coming off another amazing season. Last year, James averaged 27.5 points, 9.1 assists, and 8.6 rebounds a game. What was also very impressive was that James was able to play in every single game last season. For a player to accomplish that in his 15th year, when getting nights off has become the norm, that is a great accomplishment.
In the playoffs, James was able to elevate his play to another level, as he averaged 34.0 points per game. The 34.0 points per game in the playoffs was the second-most that James has ever averaged in his career, as he carried the Cavaliers to the NBA Finals.
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Even though the Lakers aren’t getting James in his 20s, they are getting a player that takes extremely good care of his body. James’ attention to his health has resulted in him being able to avoid any major injuries. Adding the best player in the world to one of the best young cores in the NBA will have Los Angeles very excited for next season.