The Los Angeles Lakers went from being “this close” to bringing Ty Lue on board as the next head coach to all of a sudden being a complete train wreck again. After Lue reportedly walked away from negotiations, it’s now being reported that people close to owner Jeanie Buss are pleading with her to trade superstar LeBron James.
Stephen A. Smith said on SportsCenter (h/t Bleacher Report) that the latest developments with Lue have sparked this.
“Nothing is out of bounds right now. We don’t know what the hell is going on in Los Angeles. You’ve got folks close to Jeanie Buss imploring her to trade LeBron James. He does not have a no-trade clause, and now you haven’t given him the coach he wanted.
“LeBron James has quietly been about the business of trying to get Kawhi Leonard to come to the Los Angeles Lakers instead of the Los Angeles Clippers. So making a move like this, by not bringing in the coach he wants, not securing the coach he wants in Los Angeles, you never know what dominos are going to fall right now.”
Truly, nothing has gone right for the Lakers in a long, long time. The organization appears to be in full disarray, and this latest development with the coaching search magnifies it all so much more.
Trading LeBron James — if that’s even something that’s feasible — would be the ultimate white-flag move, indicating the franchise is ready to blow it all up once more and start from scratch.