Los Angeles Lakers rumors: LeBron James still favors LA in free agency?
If you believe the latest Los Angeles Lakers rumors, LeBron James is seriously considered taking his talents west if he does ditch the Cleveland Cavaliers next offseason.
I know you’ve heard it a million times already. Expect to hear it a million more before anything is set in stone. Regardless, at this moment, the NBA rumor mill seems convinced that LeBron James is targeting the Los Angeles Lakers as his next destination if he does indeed leave the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2018.
At least, that’s what the latest Lakers rumors would lead us to believe. As we all know, though, it’s anything but a guarantee at this point that the King will soon be moving his throne to Hollywood.
The Cavaliers’ early struggles during the 2017-18 season could very well be helping Magic Johnson‘s case, though. Through seven games, Cleveland is sitting at 3-4, good for tenth place in the Eastern Conference.
This team has severely underwhelmed this season, with LeBron being forced to shoulder too much of the load.
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Then again, it’s not like the Lakers have been any more impressive. They currently sit at 2-4, having suffered a couple of tough losses. Los Angeles did secure a overtime victory over the Washington Wizards, but has seen struggles on both sides of the court keep the team from posting a better record at this point.
Regardless, the speculation will continue to be that a union between LeBron and the Lakers is inevitable. Here’s some of the latest, born from a roundtable organized by Sports Illustrated‘s Richard Deitsch, answering the question of which team James will be with in the next year or two.
This comes from Bleacher Report‘s Howard Beck:
"“I don’t know, and no one else does either. I do believe, based on people I’ve spoken with in the last six months, that there’s a reasonable chance he leaves Cleveland again. I’ve had team executives swear — as long ago as May — that LeBron’s departure was a near certainty. The general belief around the league is that, if he does leave, he’ll land with the Lakers. How much of that is belief/speculation vs. inside knowledge is hard to say. It’s a gossipy league.”"
And more from the LA Times‘ Tania Ganguli:
"“…in order for LeBron to come to the Lakers, he has to believe in the organization and the coaching staff. And he has to know another star will come with him. With another Rich Paul client (Kentavious Caldwell-Pope) on the Lakers roster, he’ll have a good amount of information about how things are inside the building.”"
Or how about this short-and-sweet point from The Athletic‘s Marcus Thompson:
"Lakers. He’s gotta come West at some point, right?"
Now I do want to focus a bit on the point Ganguli made. She mentions that LeBron’s agent is currently working with Magic and the Lakers due to his representation of Caldwell-Pope. There have also been a number of reports/rumors over the last few months that Paul has been seen chatting with Lakers brass.
Then, there’s this little nugget from Chris Broussard (take it for what you will):
https://twitter.com/undisputed/status/923572182415949825
Obviously that must be taken with a grain of salt. They may have been feeling out their clients’ next potential home, or maybe they were there for other purposes. Heck, maybe they were just in town and decided to catch a game.
I know it’s all speculation at this point, but it’s too hard to ignore all of the talk. Every time we hear another respectable media member discuss the situation, they appear to have heard from more than a few “league sources” that it’s believed James to the Lakers is the eventual outcome.
The saying goes, “where there’s smoke, there’s fire.” It’s too early to assume that’s entirely the case, but I’m starting to get the feeling that LeBron will seriously consider taking his talents to Los Angeles when 2018 NBA free agency begins.
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Then again, it could be more hoopla about top free agents considering the Lakers when, really, there’s no interest. I guess we’ll have to wait until next offseason to know for sure.