NBA: Lakers Land LeBron James
Los Angeles Lakers fans everywhere rejoice; The King has landed in the City of Angels. LeBron James has reportedly agreed to a four-year and $154M contract with the Lakers. This time around there was no live television appearances, no parties, no proclamation of how many rings are going to be won, and no long drawn out decisions. It was just an announcement made via Twitter courtesy of Klutch Sports. There has been rumblings since the beginning of the 2017-2018 season that no matter what happened this season LeBron was going to head West but this post season run may have been the icing on the cake. Who knows what would've happened had J.R. Smith called a timeout and Cleveland had gone on to win Game 1.
LeBron's ridiculous 51/8/8 stat line somehow wasn't enough and now here we are, he has officially committed to L.A. According to ESPN's Darren Rovell the Lakers will have paid James more money ($154M) in his four-year contract than his entire 11-year tenure in Cleveland ($136.6M). His services aren't cheap and rightfully so. The Western Conference is a gauntlet of some of the most talented players in the league including the reigning champs in the Golden State Warriors, the Houston Rockets, Anthony Davis, Russell Westbrook, and Paul George but having James almost certainly guarantees a spot in the playoffs. Let's not forget, this man has made the NBA Finals for eight (!) consecutive years.
The Lakers haven't been postseason bound in five years and haven't had much success outside the pair of 'ships brought to town thanks to Kobe Bryant and company. It is really hard not imagining a LeBron-led Lakers team making the playoffs with a crop of talent young stars in Lonzo Ball, Kyle Kuzma, and Brandon Ingram. Boston is now the de-facto best team in the Eastern Conference and with James on the Lakers the great rivalry between the two winningest franchises of all-time has since been renewed. Golden State and Cleveland already gave us four straight Finals matchups it may be time to move on to the next big thing. James is by far the most popular player in league and he's on the Lakers, next season is going to be one for the record books.
Photo Credit: Business Insider.
