Los Angeles Lakers: 3 reasons LeBron James made the right choice
3. LeBron’s trust in Magic and Co.
In the early hours of the free agency period when it became “legal” for players and executives to begin negotiations or pitches to one another (everybody tampers and talks before the midnight July 1 period), LeBron James had Magic Johnson over to his house in L.A.
There was mutual interest between the two about LeBron playing for the Lakers, but he wanted to look into Magic’s eyes and build a trust before making the decision to join the team.
This trust was obviously established and the Lakers wasted no time in coming to terms with free agents LeBron signed off on. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, a fellow Klutch Sports client, re-signed with the Lakers for one-year, $12 million and was quickly followed by JaVale McGee (one year, veteran minimum) and Lance Stephenson (one-year, $4.5 million)/ The Lakers then added a player that LeBron loves in terms of IQ and calmness in Rajon Rondo.
Outside of these moves that appeased both player and team, LeBron put no pressure on the Lakers to gut their assets for Kawhi Leonard. He’s putting no pressure on them to acquire a second star and views Brandon Ingram as a potential All-Star. This means Magic Johnson and Rob Pelinka have LeBron’s full trust to build the roster this upcoming season as well as construct a contender for around him for the next four seasons.
LeBron did well to reward his guys like J.R. Smith and Tristan Thompson big contracts for winning a title with him in Cleveland, but there was an unending cycle of questionable roster moves in the Land, including changing general managers right before the 2017-18 season. LBJ has seemingly taken off his GM hat and is entrusting Magic and Pelinka, something that works out for all parties involved.