When LeBron James leaves a team, they get worse. That much has been true for every single instance in which the all-time great has departed a franchise throughout his NBA career. The Los Angeles Lakers will hope they can be the first team to post an equal or better record in the year that followed James moving on.
Let us do a quick rundown of the history.
LeBron James' former teams have always gotten worse after he has left
In 2009-10, the Cleveland Cavaliers finished with an impressive 61-21 record. That was good enough for the top seed in the Eastern Conference. 2010-11, without James, delivered a monumental drop-off in the win-loss column. The Cavs only mustered up a lowly record of 19-63.
In all fairness, that was the early LeBron era Cavaliers. Those teams were desperately crying out for James to carry them to whatever success they found. There was not a structure in place to survive without him.
So, what did the Miami Heat do after their superstar forward packed his bags after four years?
In 2013-14, James' last year down in South Beach, the Heat finished with a 54-28 record before losing to the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA Finals. Miami still had a serviceable team in 2014-15, but the LeBron-sized hole was too large to patch up that quickly. They only managed 37 wins.
To no one's surprise, the second time James left Cleveland did not go much better for the franchise. 2017-18 featured 50 wins and an NBA Finals appearance for the Cavaliers. 2018-19 was, oddly enough, another 19-63 record. It was the same brutal mark as the first time he left.
Why the Lakers could be different than the Cavaliers and Heat
Unlike the other three instances of James leaving his former teams, the Lakers are much better equipped to handle his exit. That should be true even when accepting that LeBron is never an easy player to see go. Despite being in the home stretch of his long career, there is a level to which Los Angeles should be expected to miss their aging star.
Former Laker Horace Grant supported that idea in a recent interview with Action Network. No matter the day and age, losing LeBron is always a negative.
“With a guy like LeBron, I don’t care if he’s 50 years old. When he leaves a team, it can’t be good.," Grant said.
While losing that kind of reliable presence from the team will hurt, Rob Pelinka and the front office did their part to make the most out of James' departure. That cap space that was created from LeBron leaving was used to revamp a deeper and more complimentary roster around Luka Doncic.
There lies the reason as to why the Lakers may be the only team throughout James' long career that is capable of overcoming his exit. They still have a superstar in his prime who can carry a franchise all by his lonesome. None of the other former teams had that.
2014-15 Dwyane Wade was the closest any of those previous squads had to a player of that caliber. Wade was still an All-Star for the Heat that season, but he was nowhere near the level of the top-five player that Doncic is now. The Miami legend was firmly on the decline.
At minimum, repeating as a 53-win team would buck the trend of each LeBron team getting worse after his decision to move on elsewhere. That is a tall mountain to climb. However, it is not one that should be totally undoable for these Lakers.
Add us as a preferred source on Google