NBA Rumors: Los Angeles Lakers aren’t sold on LeBron James re-signing?
NBA Rumors: With the way the Los Angeles Lakers have operated this offseason, they are clearly not sold that LeBron James is returning next season.
To say the least, it’s been an interesting offseason for the Los Angeles Lakers thus far. However, there’s one aspect of their offseason that simply doesn’t add up. Until, of course, you take one somewhat overlooked elephant in the room into context.
Over the past few weeks, there have been deals for the Lakers to make reportedly. Whether that was for Kyrie Irving, Buddy Hield, and/or Myles Turner. And perhaps there have been others that haven’t been extensively reported.
And the big reason why each of those deals has fallen apart is that the Lakers reportedly are unwilling to include multiple first-round picks. On the surface, that seems odd. After all, with LeBron James and Anthony Davis, the Lakers should be all-in on trying to win a championship this season.
Quite frankly, these are the types of moves that would give them the best chance of doing so. Not the roster as it’s currently constructed.
If the Lakers are indeed hesitant to part ways with multiple future assets, that tells me one thing – they’re not sure LeBron is going to re-sign with the team after this season. This could be a way of telling LeBron to sign an extension, and then we’ll mortgage the future to give you the best chance of winning this season.
It’s actually a pretty insane bargaining ploy but it sounds like the one the Lakers have elected to play this offseason.
At the very least, this entire situation is interesting and at the most, it’s highly discouraging for the Lakers.
I suppose the question that the Lakers must answer is whether or not they truly believe that LeBron would leave during the offseason? LeBron will be 38 this season and while he’s still playing at a high level, can’t possibly have that many elite years remaining.
On the other hand, he’s still LeBron James and is one of the most powerful figures in all of the NBA. Nevertheless, there seems to be a bit of a power struggle taking place behind the scenes in Los Angeles.
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It’s something to keep an eye on over the next few weeks. And if the Lakers don’t make a move before the start of the season, it could make for an interesting training camp. And I ask again, is it time we start talking about the possibility of LeBron leaving the Lakers after the season?