Los Angeles Lakers: 3 former LeBron James teammates to target in free agency

The Los Angeles Lakers have been linked to a couple of LeBron James’ former Cleveland Cavaliers teammates in 2019 NBA free agency.

There was a brief stretch during this offseason when the new-look Los Angeles Lakers appeared on the verge of turning into the old-look Cleveland Cavaliers.

Before L.A. hired head coach Frank Vogel, the team had extensive (and ultimately failed) negotiations with former Cavs coach Tyronn Lue. For a few weeks leading up to free agency, rumors persisted that Kyrie Irving would seriously consider signing with the Lakers to reform the championship-winning tandem he had with LeBron James.

The Kyrie chatter has slowed down significantly amidst reports that Irving is leaning toward staying in the Eastern Conference and L.A. is targeting restricted free agent D’Angelo Russell instead.

More recently, it’s been reported that the Lakers aim to sign another former Cavs guard, J.R. Smith, if Cleveland trades him and the other team buys out his contract. Former Cleveland sharpshooter Kyle Korver has also been linked to the Lakers in trade-and-waive free agency rumors.

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Reuniting LeBron with former teammates is a perfectly reasonable idea. Those who have played with LeBron in the past are familiar with the veteran superstar’s playing and leadership style, and they’ve presumably already developed a chemistry with him.

If the Lakers believe they have a short window to win with LeBron, they don’t want to spend any more time than necessary playing getting-to-know-you basketball when there are some players available that already know the routine.

Some of the names being thrown around would be a bad fit for what the Lakers need, but there are some free agents who have history with LeBron that would actually make sense for this team.

Here are three ex-teammates of LeBron that Los Angeles should consider.