The Los Angeles Lakers have been LeBron James' team since he joined the franchise back in the 2018 season. It makes sense that it was because how great he was.
James is still a fantastic player, having made another All-NBA team this year. Still, he's not at the top of his game anymore, which makes sense considering his age.
The Lakers made a trade to acquire Luke Doncic a couple of weeks before the trade deadline in order to prepare for the future. One NBA media member believes LA would like to move on from James soon.
Rumors have been floating that the Lakers would like to make the transition from the LeBron era to the Luka era very soon. One NBA media member believes they want to do that ASAP.
John Gambadoro is a long-time sports radio host who has certainly accumulated some sources over the years. He believes that the Lakers want to expedite that move.
The Lakers were just the third seed in the Western Conference this past season and won 50 games. They aren't a bad team, and they just made an upgrade at the center spot.
Adding Deandre Ayton should theoretically allow them to make a deeper run in the playoffs than they did this year, losing in the first round of the playoffs against the Timberwolves.
Los Angeles wants to be sure that they are prepared for the future a year early rather than a year late, so this past year might not have any bearing on what they decide to do with James.
James has the ultimate power in this situation, though. He has a no-trade clause, so the Lakers wouldn't be able to move him unless he decided he wanted out.
Of course, the Lakers don't want to move James out of town yet. They just don't want to build a team around his skill set anymore. They want to do that around Doncic instead.
This past season for the Lakers, James averaged 24.4 points, 7.8 rebounds, and 8.2 assists per game. He shot 51.3 percent from the field and 37.6 percent from three.
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