The Los Angeles Lakers have every reason to sort out their free agency situation with LeBron James as soon as possible. Bringing back LeBron for business reasons makes sense, but waiting all summer to agree on a deal would be damaging to the rest of LA's offseason to-do list.
The Lakers need to upgrade at the center position. They need to upgrade at the wing position. They need to figure out what's going to happen with Marcus Smart and Rui Hachimura. They haven't signed Austin Reaves to his new deal yet! There's a lot of stuff to do, and yet, LeBron's decision somehow weighs on LA more heavily than the rest.
I get it -- LeBron is LeBron, arguably the greatest player of all time and still very much a fan attraction (and All-Star-level player!) that the Lakers would be foolish to discard. But if Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka is going to respect LeBron to a fault -- in the fashion of allowing James to take as long as he wants with his decision -- what are we doing? Does LeBron's summer vacation calendar trump the Lakers' offseason needs in importance? What if he strings you along all summer and then signs with the Golden State Warriors?
Latest intel on LeBron James timeline doesn't sound great for Lakers
ESPN's Brian Windhorst, a noted LeBron expert, always has his ear to the ground on all things King James. Windhorst's info this week on the Lakers-LeBron saga was a mixed bag. While Windy did predict that LA would end up re-signing Bron, he also gave it a 51% chance of happening. Ugh.
In Windhorst's view, it'll take a lot of back and forth for the Lakers' front office and LeBron to come to a salary number that everyone is comfortable with. Interestingly, Windhorst also predicted that a deal could happen in a month or so. (LeBron gave an interview in recent weeks that suggested he might wait until August!)
"The Lakers would love to have LeBron back, but they want him back at a number," Windhorst said. "LeBron wants to play in LA, but he wants a certain number ... I would suspect that they're ultimately going to agree on a number, but I don't think it'll happen tomorrow. I think that they'll eye each other ... and exhaust all of their other options before they ultimately ... shake hands in about a month. Now, having said that, I don't think it's a guarantee. I'm probably a 51% that he remains there."
Feeling any better at all, Lakers fans? (didn't think so)
Windhorst's estimates weren't exactly heartwarming if you're a Lakers fan praying for a LeBron return, but at least Windy was being honest. It does look like LA and Bron will be engaging in a summer standoff of sorts, even though this doesn't benefit the Lakers in any way, shape, or form. If they end up missing out on free agent X or trade Y because of this drawn-out LeBron process, there'll be some rightfully annoyed fans.
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