The King doth protest too much.
LeBron James is trying very, very hard to convince his fans, followers and the media that his trust in the Los Angeles Lakers franchise is still intact.
James took to his Instagram story on Wednesday and recorded a segment from First Take, where they discussed the rumors that the trust between LeBron and the Lakers must be rebuilt. James also wanted to make it very clear that he trusts the Lakers, because he’s at the Lakers practice facility for a workout.
As ESPN’s Brian Windhorst has noted several times, James is a master at influence without accountability. Even if he does have a distrust of the Lakers, the obvious next step for him would be to pretend that he totally trusts them.
Also, LeBron has some pretty good reasons to worry about the Lakers organization. Rob Pelinka is currently running the head coaching search with Kurt Rambis aiding it. The same Kurt Rambis who was Phil Jackson’s lieutenant in New York and we all know that Jackson and James aren’t exactly on good terms. Maybe he knows they will have someone unexpected to come in and save the day, but the Lakers ownership group hasn’t earned the benefit of the doubt.
James is clearly distancing himself from the rumors about his unrest. But that doesn’t mean that he’s refuting them in good faith. In fact, the way he so performatively denied them is enough to make me think LeBron is legitimately worried about the direction of the organization in charge with the remainder of his legendary basketball career. Why shouldn’t he be?
