Los Angeles Lakers: Next steps after landing LeBron James

After years of rumors about LeBron James joining the Los Angeles Lakers finally came to fruition, these are the next steps the Lakers should take this summer.

LeBron James took less than 24 hours into the free agency period to make his intentions known about his next destination, and to little surprise, it’s the Los Angeles Lakers.

LeBron signed a four-year, $154 million contract on the evening of July 1 in a press release by Klutch Sports, embarking on a new journey to the Western Conference and his third NBA team in his 15-year career, which will feel surreal well into the 2018-19 NBA season.

The lure of Los Angeles’ off-court business opportunities and an improved living style for his family was too much to turn away, and LeBron now finds himself in a better situation to contend over the next four seasons with a more talented roster and cap flexibility to add more firepower to a young nucleus.

The Lakers wasted no time in filling some of their roster out by agreeing to terms for Kentavious Caldwell-Pope in a deal that will bring back KCP (a fellow Klutch Sports client) to the Lakers on another one-year deal worth $12 million, according to multiple outlets.

I like the KCP signing and how he fits in terms of providing off-ball shooting and solid perimeter defense, but these are the next steps the Lakers should take to fill out their roster.