A sorely disappointing 2018-19 season for the Los Angeles Lakers culminated in team president Magic Johnson abruptly resigning.
Since then, it has not been great for LeBron James and Co. Johnson’s recent comments calling out Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka coupled with uneasiness within the front office only adds to this.
For his part, James is now worried that the Lakers’ drama will impact their ability to add star players in free agency.
“Even before Magic’s latest move, sources close to LeBron James expressed concern that the combination of Magic’s messy exit and all the negative Lakers headlines threatened to sabotage their summer,” Sam Amick of The Athletic reported Tuesday. “The challenge of convincing another elite star to come to town was already seen as daunting around the league, and now these horrendous optics make that uphill climb far worse.”
Los Angeles has long been seen as potential big-time players in free agency. It’s one of the reasons LeBron signed with the team last summer.
The Lakers have enough cap room to add two max-contract players. They have also been closely linked to New Orleans Pelicans star Anthony Davis in trade talks. Though, it now appears nothing is going to come to fruition on that end.
Short of James and Co. adding at least one star player, the team will continue to be mired in mediocrity. That’s especially true with the domination we’ve seen in Oakland out west.
This could be a franchise-altering offseason in Hollywood. Unfortunately, it might not end up in the Lakers’ favor. LeBron is certainly worried about that possibility.