LeBron James’ biggest battle: A franchise he possibly can’t control
By Ronald Agers
LeBron James power brokering will have an impact on the rest of his career in L.A.
The Davis trade saga will change the way the NBA brokers deals in the future. I can almost guarantee a rule will be in the next collective bargaining agreement. But meantime in between time, you can bet LeBron James’ career in Los Angeles will be very different going forward.
The reputation of the franchise changed forever after the trade deadline. I mean this started rumors of LeBron James being traded, folks! It does depend on who you believe (For the record…I don’t believe it)
First Ric Bucher of the Bleacher Report. Then Stephen A. Smith weighed in…
Which leads to this problem for the Lakers and LeBron James. This situation is going to derail any chance of landing a max level free agent. What makes it worse is both parties are responsible.
The dysfunction shows the complete power struggle between LeBron’s camp and the front office to the rest of the NBA. When Magic Johnson left, the rumors started about how bad the relationships were with other team’s front offices and Rob Pelinka. If this statement by Zach Lowe is true, the Lakers are looking at the lottery next year.
"“Who they hire in the front office is going to be absolutely crucial to replace Magic, because there are two orbits here: There’s a Lakers orbit … and then, the more interesting one is, there’s a LeBron orbit. And I’ve had some powerful people in the league, including a powerful agent who represents lots of key players, tell me, ‘We don’t want the person to be from either of those orbits. We don’t want the new GM, or president, or whatever, even to have some sort of connection to LeBron. We need it to be a fresh start. My players don’t want to have the impression that LeBron is running the team.’”"
Well Lakers fans, you can’t say there wasn’t a warning last offseason!