Tim Legler: I always felt like LeBron went to LA for reasons other or not other than more than basketball. Yeah. It wasn’t just playing for the Lakers. Yeah. That mattered. The brand mattered. You know, it’s an organization committed to winning that. He wanted that. He wanted to have his legacy be part of the Lakers history. He he’s done all of those things. But there was other stuff. I think he likes the market. He likes living there. He likes there’s opportunities out there. I think his family likes it there. So, I don’t know that I ever bought into the fact that he might be leaving. And I thought the wordage around his signing was interesting. Like he he opted in for the first time, but as soon as he did it, like the language was, oh, and you know, he’s really hoping they’re committed to doing everything they can to win a championship, right? I’m not exactly sure what that means. Most guys will opt in because they think that’s the best chance to win a championship in a guy of his stature. It sounded a little bit different to me. I maybe in some ways it’s like what I said about Giannis. Maybe LeBron is also going to sit and wait. I just think no. Now turning 41 this year, what would you have to give up if you’re a contender to go after LeBron James? You you’d almost have to gut your team of young assets. Would that leave you enough to still contend? So there there’s a lot of question marks I think around LeBron. And I think a lot of it’s going to be solved by what Luca looks like at the start of the year, what kind of chemistry they have, and what chance that gives LeBron James to compete and contend again this year. -via YouTube / July 3, 2025
