Lakers rumors: LeBron James originally wanted to spurn LA for New York

LeBron James has a complicated relationship with fans of the Los Angeles Lakers. On one hand, he is the best player on the team and pulled the team out of its worst stretch in franchise history. On the other hand, there has always been a LeBron James-Kobe Bryant rivalry that has entrenched the fans.

And let’s just be honest, it is easier to hate on LeBron James when he is not a member of your team. Personal feelings aside, every Laker fan should be happy that LeBron chose to come to LA because without him, there would be no Anthony Davis and no NBA Championship. They wouldn’t have even won the play-in game on Wednesday without him.

It almost didn’t happen. While many knew that LeBron was on his way out of Cleveland, there was a lot of speculation on where he may end up. The Lakers seemed like the most logical choice because of non-basketball reasons, but the New York Knicks also offered a very enticing option.

So enticing, in fact, that LeBron James reportedly preferred to go to New York and was swayed out of the decision by his wife, Savannah. Lisa Robinson said the following on a recent episode of the Brian Windhorst and the Hoop Collective podcast (h/t Kasabian, Bleacher Report).

"“We heard that LeBron wanted to come to New York. And I have really good sources about this, that he was thinking about coming to New York but that his wife wanted to be in Los Angeles, wanted the kids to go to school in Los Angeles, and that just kiboshed the whole thing.”"

It was no secret that there were lifestyle decisions attached to joining the Los Angeles Lakers. While they had tradeable assets, they were not in a great position success-wise and it was the allure of LA that seemed to appeal to LeBron. The ability to make ‘Space Jam 2: A New legacy’.

It was obviously deeper than that, which leaves us asking a very simple question:

Could LeBron James have had the same success with the New York Knicks as the Los Angeles Lakers?

Simple answer? Yes.

The Los Angeles Lakers may have been in a much better situation in terms of tradeable assets but LeBron and Klutch would have found a way to make the Knicks successful. Whether it was trading the draft capital or waiting for Anthony Davis to come to New York in free agency, LeBron would have got his second star.

And it probably would have still been Anthony Davis. Maybe another star gets acquired via trade but the Knicks would have then had the cap space to sign Davis last offseason. You could argue that the Knicks would have more stars right now than the Lakers currently have.

The Lakers do not make that Anthony Davis trade without LeBron as they know he would have no reason to stick around past the one season. The only hope the Lakers would have had is Kawhi Leonard choosing them over the Los Angeles Clippers as he then would not be playing third fiddle.

Thank goodness for Savannah or the Los Angeles Lakers could be riding a decade-plus streak without making the playoffs right now.