The Los Angeles Lakers are always one of the NBA’s most fascinating teams to follow. But this upcoming season has all the makings of them carrying the can’t-miss tag. Reasons? Well, where should we begin?
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Luka Doncic and his new slimmed-down figure signed a three-year, $165 million extension in early August, effectively guaranteeing that he will be the face of the team going forward. The team also signed Deandre Ayton to be its new starting center, sorting out a major deficiency from last season.
Then, of course, there’s LeBron James, who is about to set the record by embarking on his 23rd NBA season. Nobody knows if this is LeBron’s last ride or not. But given that he made Second Team All-NBA last year, he apparently still has plenty left in the tank. How he’ll handle being the second-best player on his team, something that was alluded to but never fully clear with Anthony Davis, will be fascinating.
LeBron is arguably the greatest player of all time. But for as good as he is with a basketball in his hands, he may be even better at keeping himself atop the news cycle.
For example, Luka’s extension was noteworthy not only because of the blockbuster trade circumstances, but because LeBron and his son Bronny were two of the few Lakers not in attendance to show support.
Olden Polynice, appearing on this week’s episode of Byron Scott’s Fast Break, called LeBron out for being such an attention seeker after he seemingly showed up to work out at the Clippers facility in late July.
“I don’t want to throw the word of the day out there, which is narcissistic, but it’s kind of like along those lines,” Polynice said. “He has to stay talked about. He has to stay in the media. That’s all it is. He knew what he was doing.”
Polynice correctly pointed out that LeBron could have gotten into any gym he wanted, including the Lakers’ facility. But he made a choice to post those pictures with the Clippers logo instead.
This was the second time this summer that he had seemingly visited an opposing team’s gym. James had paid a visit earlier to the Cavs’ practice gym, as well.
As it turns out, the Clippers no longer own this gym, as reported by For The Win. It’s now owned by LeBron’s agency, Klutch Sports. Just that the old Clippers logos haven’t been changed yet. Still, Polynice’s point stands that LeBron knew exactly what he was doing by posting those pictures.
Will LeBron be able to set his ego aside in the chase for his fifth ring? The Lakers may not be one of the top favorites, but they have the tools to make some noise, even in what promises to be an extremely competitive Western Conference.
If LeBron doesn’t undermine things with his need for attention, this will be a Lakers season to watch. Then again, it could still be if he does.
