Although Year 1 of LeBron James as a Laker will go down as a failure, James is projecting belief in the team with which he signed a four-year deal last July.
After telling marquee 2019 free agent Kawhi Leonard that he would ‘be in touch,’ James was asked if the approach to free agency would be any different considering the team didn’t have the season they’d hoped. In short, James said no.
From Kyle Goon of the Southern California News Group:
I don’t think it changes: I think everybody knew that coming into this year it was still going to be challenging even if we were all healthy and played all 82 games. We continue to have injuries, your depth is not as you would like it to be, and it’s hard on a ball club. So we have an opportunity to get better this summer through free agency, and through the draft, and I believe our front office and our coaching staff are going to make that happen.
LeBron’s trust in the front office last season resulted in him being surrounded with mostly veteran journeyman on one-year contracts. It also resulted in the Lakers missing out on retaining good players from the previous year, such as Brook Lopez and Julius Randle.
But what else can James say at this point? He has aligned himself with the Lakers for at least three years (he has a player option for the fourth season), and he is clearly too invested in his L.A. life to want to go anywhere else.
However, the biggest question is if, or when, the unification of two of the biggest brands in the NBA will result in winning basketball. James seems to believe it’s a “when,” as evidenced by his signing a longer deal in L.A. than he ever did in his return to Cleveland.
