For a long time, Colin Cowherd has been one of the more prominent members of the Lebron James Appreciation Society, singing his praises from the proverbial mountaintop of his radio show, at the expense of nearly every other all-time great and era.
In a surprising about-face from his standard LeBron pom-pom shaking, the national sports personality offered a pointed take on the “Lebron James effect” has on franchises:
“I have a very strong belief- owners should own, GMs should GM, coaches should coach, players should play. To be an athlete you have to be selfish and the athlete’s prism is ‘what’s good for me and what’s good today.’
A general manager obviously has to have a more comprehensive view and even as smart as LeBron is in terms of basketball, every team he leaves is a shipwreck. Why? Because you build the team for the moment , and the minute he leaves you don’t have any depth, you don’t have any draft picks, so it’s all about winning now.
Right now, LeBron is a lease, not a buy. It’s very hard to plan your future around a player who doesn’t know his future. LeBron is squeezing every ounce out of this career, but I’m not asking him for big opinions on personnel”
Returning to Cleveland to much fanfare, this pro loo cess was repeated. By the time James left 4 seasons later, the Cavaliers had expended all their draft capital in the pursuit of moves to support of and acquiescing to Lebron James. Kyrie Irving saw that he was being targeted to be traded and got out of town before a LeBron-friendly deal could be crafted. Kevin Love, who like Chris Bosh, had to sacrifice the most impactful part of his game, was left in Cleveland and never was the same All-NBA caliber player he was before coming to the Cavaliers.
The cycle has once again played itself out in Los Angeles, as the Lakers jettisoned all of the young talent they had to acquire Anthony Davis. Others ,including the ill-fated Russell Westbrook acquisiston, to shape the roster into a more LeBron-friendly one have drained the team of most of their draft capital for the foreseeable future, with LA having to cough up picks for the rest of the decade.
Although they did pull off the jaw-dropping Anthony Davis for Luka Doncic swap, the Lakers are painted in the proverbial corner in terms of roster improvements. The Lakers had the fifth-highest payroll in the NBA this season at $192,057,940. Should LeBron opt into his $52 million player option, and all indications are that he will, that means Luka and LeBron will account for 51% of their total cap.
Adding in the $15 million player option for Dorian Finney Smith, the Lakers will have $112 million tied up with just those three players, and with the contracts currently in force, the Lakers could have $189,239,092 already on the books, leaving them little space to make moves in free agency, meaning barring Rob Plink being able to pull a rabbit out of his hat in terms of a spectacular trade, the Lakers will largely resemble the team seen in 2024-25.
Unfortunately for Lakers fans their team will be the latest franchise to feel deleterious aftershocks of the Lebron James experience.
