LeBron James vs. Kawhi Leonard: Who is the king of Los Angeles?

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.

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”.

Lakers fans will really know if LeBron James is here for championships or business interests.

If there is one website on the entire internet that irritates LeBron James fans, it’s Lake Show Life. Whether it’s been his sulking after a 2-5 start to the season last year, to his lack of leadership, to his defense that made James Harden cringe, the writers were brutally honest in the criticism of LeBron James. Empty stats aside, he wasn’t good. Lakers fans made that clear at times during the season with a code word.

Boo. It was a sound that started with that clanking sound at the free throw line.

This was a strange team to cover last year for all media involved. It was clear that the roster full of “playmakers” plan did not work as planned even though the Lakers were in the 4th seed on Christmas Day. Conveniently that was the beginning of the end when LeBron pulled a groin and Rajon Rondo broke his hand.

In between LeBron James’ absence from the court, it looked like a corporate takeover was being orchestrated around the trade deadline when the Lakers set their sights on Anthony Davis. From his camp leaking a preferred coaching change during the season to leaks of combinations of players rumored in a trade, the Lakers season derailed quickly.

It seemed that LeBron James was more interested in his business ventures and his G.O.A.T. status than basketball last year.

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Now there will be no excuses. By the end of the season, LeBron James lost his unofficial title of being the “Best player in the World” to Kevin Durant by the end of the regular season. Now that Kawhi Leonard is now an NBA champion, NBA pundits have passed the title over to him now that Durant is out for next season.

It’s no secret that LeBron James likes playing with veterans along with another superstar. Rob Pelinka (More on him later) constructed the Lakers with his input and with shooters that were definitely missing last year. Magic Johnson admitted his mistakes last year, this year this one is squarely on LeBron James, whether it’s fair or not.

Walt Frazier basically called LeBron James a bad leader in a Lakers loss to the New York Knicks late in the season when LeBron felt the need to distance himself from the team on the bench.

This will not fly next year. Las Vegas, NBA fans and many media outlets have the Lakers in the Western Conference Finals against the Clippers. The message is clear for LeBron James.

Every star has his adversary for a great drama. Let’s meet LeBron’s competition across the hall in the Staples Center.

LeBron James ruled by using lights, camera, action. Kawhi Leonard is doing his business in the dark.

To be real with you, Kawhi Leonard picking the Clippers over the Lakers was not a shock. Sure Jalen Rose said he was 99% sure that he would go back to the Raptors, but others were dead wrong as well.

The timing of the deal was not a shock to me either. You see, Jerry West and his executives seem to do their best business at night. I’ll never forget how the Clippers traded Tobias Harris to Philadelphia right after he hit a game winner to sink the Charlotte Hornets hours prior.

The shock was how Kawhi Leonard recruited Paul George and somehow orchestrated a trade to join him in Los Angeles. No one saw that coming.

Now what everyone is trying to figure out is the timeline of when and more importantly how all of this happened. Kawhi Leonard basically had the NBA media, the Lakers and the Raptors waiting for five days all while the chess pieces were being moved.

I mean you know Kawhi Leonard is a bad man when you make Stephen A. Smith come in off of vacation to break down what happened.

Now Kawhi Leonard is quietly making his power moves while the rest of the NBA was wondering how close he was to selecting the Lakers or the Raptors.

During the press conference, while being introduced with Paul George, Kawhi rang the bell on the hottest rivalry in the NBA next season.

Boy, will this season be exciting. Now that reports are being leaked that the Lakers are upset and feel played by Leonard and his camp, I believe there will be a lot of NBA fans on the East Coast calling in sick to watch the Clippers and Lakers in the Staples Center.

ESPN’s Brian Windhorst breaks down the feelings on the Hoop Collective podcast. 

"“I’ve heard complaints from the Lakers that they got played. I’ve heard complaints from the Raptors that Kawhi came in and asked for the sun, the moon, the stars then left them at the altar.”"

Then there were reports that Kawhi’s camp asked for a delay in finalizing the AD trade.

What makes this even better is that Kawhi Leonard made it clear that the Lakers and Raptors did not have to wait for him. It’s amazing that I actually wrote a piece asking for him to just say something last year. I like this Kawhi.

I know one guy that may feel played and that’s Anthony Davis. Remember he gave back that $4 million dollar trade kicker to open up cap space to make a run at Leonard. Speaking of Anthony Davis, he along with Paul George will be the co-stars for their respective teams.

Let’s start with Anthony Davis and what part he plays in this blockbuster action drama.

Anthony Davis will be the litmus test to the Kevin Durant conspiracy theory on how it is to play with LeBron James.

Before Anthony Davis and the laundry list of NBA superstars rumored to being chased by the Lakers, Kevin Durant was the first. I knew that he would never be a Laker but boy was I wrong about him leaving the Warriors. It was this statement that set the media buzzing.

"“So much hype comes from being around LeBron from other people,” Durant said. “He has so many fanboys in the media. Even the beat writers just fawn over him. I’m like, we’re playing basketball here, and it’s not even about basketball at certain points. So I get why anyone wouldn’t want to be in that environment because it’s toxic. Especially when the attention is b******* attention, fluff. It’s not LeBron’s fault at all; it’s just the fact you have so many groupies in the media that love to hang on every word. Just get out of the way and let us play basketball.”"

Attention: Anthony Davis, your mission is to prove this conspiracy a myth. Many outlets (Myself included!) wondered why superstars kept rebuffing LeBron James’ recruiting efforts.

It seemed that nobody wanted to join LeBron James as of late. Then the February 2019 trade deadline happened and Davis wanted out of New Orleans with the Lakers in mind. Any other teams that were on the list probably were exaggerated (Especially Boston!).

This deal was groundbreaking for the league. Sure, Jimmy Butler shot a flamethrower to the Minnesota organization trying to get himself traded, but as we all know, the Lakers are looked at in a different light and microscope.

I mean if the Lakers can irritate the leader of the last dynasty in Steve Kerr, maybe they are on to something here.

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Anthony Davis and LeBron James will have something in common this year. They both made a spectacle to team up and they better make this work.

The Pelicans did themselves no favors proving that they were committed to winning pre-David Griffin. The Dell Demps era was a colossal disaster. But now Davis is under the spotlight. Like it or not, he is now the example of what is going wrong in NBA free agency.

Davis’ reputation took a hit in this saga. Most look at Anthony Davis as a “pawn” to get LeBron James another NBA title orchestrated by Rich Paul. Do I believe this? No. But if the Lakers start slow next season, think about how many pundits will start the conversation.

It is no dispute that Anthony Davis is a top 5 NBA player. There is not a big man in the league that can deal with his athleticism and skill. The question is, can he stay on the floor long enough to showcase these skills?

He is currently working hard on his game and is working with a prominent shooting coach. Couple that with backing out of playing with the World Cup, Lakers fans should get the message that he is focused on making a deep playoff run.

He’d better make that message clear to everyone next year, especially when the Lakers traded away their future to get him.

The Paul George deal does show that Lakers fans have a gripe about being singled out.

I will admit over the past year that I rolled my eyes when I read or heard that the Lakers were being singled out on issues like tampering. Moves the team made was no better. The Lakers were basically scorched on the load of assets they gave up for Anthony Davis.

Then when you compare to the Clippers deal for Paul George, one would think that they may have a point.

That’s quite a load for a player that is known to disappear around playoff time and rehabbing two shoulders. It’s funny to think people thought that I was hating when I warned Lakers fans that Paul George did the team a favor by not coming. But I digress.

Paul George has placed himself as Kawhi’s teammate in the real-life version of the 90’s game NBA Jam against LeBron James and Anthony Davis. To the millennial readers out there, that’s my era of the NBA 2K.

Paul George was the key to this whole deal and where we are today. The Clippers may not land Kawhi Leonard and the percentages of him donning a Lakers uniform probably move up from rumors to reality. According to Yahoo! Sports, Chris Haynes, Kawhi Leonard wanted to come home to Los Angeles period.

Sure, Anthony Davis is under the microscope, but don’t think Paul George shouldn’t be feeling the same amount of pressure.

Inside of three years, Paul George has forced his way out of two franchises without a Finals appearance. Indiana did a great job under the circumstances getting Victor Oladipo and other assets. They are doing okay. The Thunder, on the other hand, will be forever reminded of Damian Lillard waving goodbye to the Westbrook era and hello to years of rebuilding.

Out of the four marquee players, George is the only one that is not considered a top 5 player even though his actions has him believing his own hype. There are already reports that Sam Presti spoke out on Paul George’s claim that the Thunder deal was “mutual”.

Paul George was an MVP candidate for much of last season before tailing off at the end to finish in third place. Just like the Davis deal, it was a risk that the franchise felt they needed to take.

If George doesn’t deliver, his reputation will take a major hit. His power move wasn’t as documented as Anthony Davis’ was but it was a power move nonetheless. It had better work for the Clippers and more importantly for George himself.

We know that any Hollywood production has to have power players. In the NBA, those are the guys in the front office. Let’s look at the guy in charge of the Lakers.

Rob Pelinka may have saved his reputation (and job) constructing this roster with or without Kawhi.

Seriously folks, how many people thought Rob Pelinka was toast after Magic Johnson’s interview? For the record, my hand is up. From April 9th, 2019 to about three to four weeks ago, Lake Show Life covered the insanity of the Lakers front office to the point that the writers may have had burned out.

Robe Pelinka was a punch line by the time Magic Johnson got done talking on ESPN’s First Take. I mean it’s very difficult to go to a press conference to introduce Frank Vogel as the head coach and end up answering questions like these.

But quietly (and I mean really quiet) Rob Pelinka has righted the ship. When Kawhi Leonard selected the Clippers for his destination, Pelinka signed Danny Green, Avery Bradley, DeMarcus Cousins among others. It’s also reported that the last roster spot open is specifically left for Andre Iguodala. If the Lakers can find Iguodala in free agency, this would be a coup for the roster and their championship aspirations.

There are reports that Magic Johnson leaking details of meeting with Kawhi Leonard hurting the Lakers. That is for fans to decide especially with Leonard denying that was the case.

But it does shine the light that rumors and leaks did cease after Magic Johnson left the franchise.

The Clippers have shown by these negotiations that leaks are not a problem.

Jerry West sends shock waves across the hall.

Jerry West is an NBA legend. It’s hard to figure out what he was better at doing. Playing the game or building NBA teams.

I know, for now, Jerry West is happy with his job and his employer. He said as much on the Rich Eisen show.

"Steve Ballmer has really put together an unbelievably terrific organization. He’s spared no expense. It’s a really fun place to be. There’s not ego-driven at all. It’s just a fun place to be, and he’s got an awful lot of basketball people over there. He’s just a great owner and one of the nicest men I’ve ever been around in my life. I’ve never seen a person like this with his success. It’s just remarkable how even-keeled he is. If people knew how philanthropic he was. He keeps all that stuff quiet. I guess he’ll get mad at me for mentioning it. But he’s just a remarkable man himself. People always ask me what he’s like. And I say he’s just like you and I, normal. I’ve never seen – he’s willing to spend on players. He’s willing to spend on personnel within the front office. And as I mentioned before, I’ve never been around any organization that is better than this one. That’s for sure."

After pulling off a deal that should have had Michael Jackson’s “Smooth Criminal” music in the background, he follows that up with a quote that tweaked the Lakers fanbase. I mean he did work for the Lakers as General Manager for 18 years bringing in five titles.

Maybe he still remembers being passed over back in 2017 being brought back into the fold. No matter what, it brings more drama to a rivalry that will drive the NBA next season. But this situation does kind of shine the light on the most overlooked part of this rivalry.

He broke down how things played on Jorge Sedano’s show recently. It lays out how efficiently that front office is run.

What is a Hollywood drama without the people who finance it? 

If anyone has been paying attention to Steve Ballmer for the last five years, you may notice that he is very passionate about his team. Can you really blame him? If you dropped $2 billion dollars on an NBA team, you would be too.

But Steve Ballmer is on a mission here. He wants a Clippers legacy and based on what Jerry West said to Rich Eisen, he has the plan and resources to do so.

That legacy is planned to be in Inglewood California. Steve Ballmer is preparing an arena across from the football stadium where the Los Angeles Rams and Chargers play starting next year. It’s going to come out of Ballmer’s pocket with the goal of having “the best home in all of sports”.

"“What that means to me is an unparalleled environment for players, for fans, for sponsors and for the community of Inglewood,” Ballmer added in a statement. “Our goal is to build a facility that re-sets fans’ expectations while having a transformative impact on the city we will call home.”"

It seems that Mr. Ballmer is tired of the Clippers being on the low-end of the totem pole behind the Lakers and the Kings in the Staples Center when scheduling games. The groundbreaking will be done about a mile from where the Lakers used to play at The Forum.

The problem is that the Forum is owned by Madison Square Garden Company headed up by James Dolan who owns the Knicks (It’s true folks, look it up!). There is a lawsuit pending based on breach of contract and fraud as of this writing.

It seems that Jeanie Buss has some emails obtained by the LA Times saying some disparaging remarks about Ballmer and the planned move to Inglewood.

The Los Angeles Lakers are the gold standard of the NBA and have been for years. However, since the late Dr. Buss passed, the Lakers have struggled mightily for six years. Within that time frame, Steve Ballmer has almost eradicated the era of the ineptitude of Donald Sterling.

Is there jealousy here?

If the Clippers win the race to the title, there may be. The Lakers owned the city and ruled the NBA for years. Now the Clippers for the first time in their history have made a threat for that crown.

Steve Ballmer is an owner with the deepest pockets in American sports with no issues spending it on the best people to get the job done. He’s one of the few business owners that are serious about being the best and creating a culture where people will succeed.

The Lakers have had the moniker of “Mom and Pop” label attached to the franchise more than once this past season. Something that was contributed to the dysfunction last year.

Right now, it depends on who you ask and how they view success.

If you want to know who’s going to get the ransom, it’s going to be Adam Silver and the major marketers of the NBA. Selling this to casual fans is like selling water to fish.

The NBA is now a 12-month debate on who is the best player in the world in the second-biggest market in the United States. With jerseys and other merchandise flying off the shelves, both franchises will make a killing.

As for these two players, it depends on the fan and their perspective.

LeBron James has been the face of the NBA and considered the best for years. His influence on the NBA is global and he has mastered the media aspect of the business to keep himself relevant. His power transcends past the court to when he puts on a shirt and tie to talk business. He is well on his way to being the first active billionaire NBA player in history.

But he hasn’t won a title in three years. Two losses to the Warriors in a row and a non-playoff appearance last year has allowed the field to catch him and overtake him. We will see next year how dedicated LeBron is to regain the top spot.

Kawhi Leonard overcame a PR nightmare leaving San Antonio to lead Toronto to a title. Two NBA championships and Finals MVPs while still in his prime makes plenty wonder if LeBron James can keep up with him. Even if Leonard is not considered the top player in the NBA, no one can take away that he is the best 2-way player in the NBA.

Who’s the King?

That’s for the NBA season to decide. But for now, leave a comment in the section below and tell us who you think and why.