2. Signing LeBron James in 2018
Before LeBron James signed with the Lakers in free agency in 2018, they had swung and missed on pretty much every big-name free agent that popped up this decade. This announcement might not have had the magnitude of him taking his talents to South Beach or back to Cleveland, but anytime a legend dawns a Lakers jersey it is a big deal.
Before his decision to go to Los Angeles, many Lakers fans had mixed feelings about LeBron’s career for some reason or other. It was even proven when fans inexplicably defaced a mural in Los Angeles that was dedicated to LeBron.
However, since his arrival, the Lakers have instantly become a team that could compete with any team in the league on a nightly basis. Not since the days of Kobe’s prime had the Lakers had a guy that was head and shoulders above pretty much everyone in the entire league.
It would have been awesome to see what LeBron could have done in the playoffs with the young core last season, but his groin injury mid-season derailed those dreams when they were the four seed in the West on Christmas day.
Yet it was inevitable that LeBron was going to need a second star next to him to compete for a championship, and it was his Klutch agency run by his friend Rich Paul that helped push AD towards the purple and gold as well.
In the three seasons prior to LeBron’s arrival in Los Angeles, the Lakers only won 78 games. In their one and a half seasons since he showed up, they have already won 63 games in half the time.
It is clear by now that James did not just come to Los Angeles to make movies and improve his Hollywood persona. He is on a mission do what so many legendary greats have done before him, win a championship in a Lakers uniform.