The battle for Los Angeles is heating up with the Los Angeles Lakers and LA Clippers putting together contenders. LeBron James and Kawhi Leonard are the leaders, so who is the true king of Los Angeles?
I have one question for Los Angeles Lakers, LeBron James and NBA fans. Is anyone ready for the season to start yet? The NBA offseason has set the fans up for excitement for the next five years at least.
The business of building teams changed when the Golden State Warriors dynasty reign ended this past season.
No longer are teams (Not for the lack of trying!) loading up with superstars making a run for the NBA title.
It all ended with one decision by Kawhi Leonard heard around the world.
Free agent forward Kawhi Leonard will sign with the Los Angeles Clippers, league sources tell Yahoo Sports.
— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) July 6, 2019
Thanks to one Kawhi Leonard decision to spurn the Los Angeles Lakers and the Toronto Raptors, the era of the dynamic duos will be for the time be the rage of NBA GM’s around the league.
The NBA talk this summer is which team has the top duo in basketball. Get used to these discussions because this narrative of the entire NBA will be sold to fans all over the world.
No matter who is doing the rankings these days, the top two duos in the NBA happen to reside in the same city, Los Angeles. It’s official NBA fans, the new basketball Mecca is Los Angeles, California. New York had it throughout history but with the media market, the star power and two teams that are considered the top two contenders as NBA champion, L.A. has now taken over.
Folks, what is happening here in the NBA is of epic proportions. It’s like there are two versions of Hollywood. One is the classic version with blockbuster movie releases that get released on July 4th and during the Holiday season. The other Hollywood will start opening night of the NBA season.
The stars on the marquee? LeBron James and Kawhi Leonard. The battle for the “King of L.A.” is now on. This is a script not even Quentin Tarantino can match.
The storylines between these two teams will fill talk shows, networks and digital media for the next two to three years. I know Lakers fans are sorely disappointed that Leonard took his talents across the hall but I can tell you Kawhi set us all up for the greatest inner-city rivalry in NBA and maybe sports history.
All of this surrounds the two most powerful players in the NBA, LeBron James and Kawhi Leonard. This is not about Anthony Davis and Paul George even though they are powerful pieces in the big picture of this concept and are great players. There are levels to this and Leonard and James are at the top of the NBA food chain and it’s not even close.
You have LeBron James, who was the undisputed “King” of the NBA for over a decade that started and ended on the same day. Now after losing two straight NBA Finals to the Golden State Warriors and sitting out of last year’s playoffs, people are now questioning not only his game but his motives of coming to Los Angeles.
Then you have Kawhi Leonard, a player whose teams stopped two dynasties. The most recent one was last year when he led the Toronto Raptors to the NBA title ending the most dominant era since Kobe and Shaq’s Lakers beating Golden State. The other era, LeBron James knows about very well.
Kawhi Leonard won his first Finals MVP and put his name on the map when the San Antonio Spurs destroyed the Miami Heat in 2014. After that Finals loss, LeBron left Miami and went back to Cleveland.
Now the stage is set. Who really runs the Staples Center courts, LeBron James or Kawhi Leonard?
I’m the first to say and last to remind that basketball is a team sport and champions have it together from the roster all the way up to ownership level.
Over the next several pages, Lake Show Life will break down Kawhi Leonard and LeBron James, the faces of the franchises and the NBA overall. Then delve deeper and look at their support system to see who really controls the power in L.A.
Let’s start with the player who is nicknamed the “King”.