LeBron James is entering his 22nd NBA season. For no less than four or five of them, he’s been at the center of the league’s offseason news cycle.
Such is the case again this summer, with James’ name spinning on the rumor mill as much as ever. A lot of that noise has been created by James and agent Rich Paul. For whatever reason, they appear to be upset with the Lakers after picking up a $52.6 player option.
But the Lakers are seemingly being passive-aggressive right back. It’s been one of those basketball dramas that we can’t stop watching, reading about or listening to — no matter how hard we try.
Will LeBron take a buyout? Will he return to the Cavaliers? Will he re-join Anthony Davis (LA) and Kyrie Irving (Mavericks) with the Mavericks?
Round and round it goes, where it ends nobody knows.
“I think we’re all suffering from LeBron exhaustion at this point,” one rival scout told Hoops Wire. “I mean, how many more summers are we gonna do this? Where does it end?”
It probably only ends when James comes out and expresses excitement over returning to the Lakers.
“But has he commented on anything the Lakers have done this offseason?” the scout asked. “I don’t think so. But he sure has praised the Cavs, man. Something weird is going on there.”
The scout echoed the sentiments of many — saying he believes James will play for the Lakers this next season, despite all the chatter.
“He’s too old to be doing this,” the scout said. “I admire LeBron the player and the person. But enough is enough, dude. The NBA is soon going to march on without him, very soon. And it will indeed move on and it will flourish. I just think it’s time for LeBron to take a backseat to the guys who are the new faces of the league. I think fans are getting sick of hearing about him, especially when it’s all just nonsense.”
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This could get uglier and uglier.
It’s hard to imagine Bron buying in completely this season as a player would have to do in order to complete for a chip.
That’s where he could be a problem for a Luke led squad. Is he going to bark at his teammates when HE fails to rotate over quick enough on D? Raise his arms up while whining to his teammates? That’s the type of behavior they can’t afford if they’re looking to complete. The winners with winning mentality already in Los Angeles may not have patience for this type of behavior. Who will say something first?
I don’t know if Luka wants that public battle this year, or if he’ll leave it to the retired guys to speak up thru tweets and commentary when Bron plays lazy. Magic, Worthy, Horry, keep it pretty real thru the media when talking about what they see on the court, and that’s one of the Lakers best assets right now for keeping LeBron playing honest to an extent.
But there’s something about the attention grabbing drama habits of The Chosen One that tells me it won’t be one big happy family in LA this year competing for a championship. Wouldn’t mind being wrong on that, I’m rooting for a lot of those guys.