The Phoenix Suns could be a viable destination for LeBron James
By Adam Maynes
Los Angeles Lakers (2-1 odds)
The Los Angeles Lakers have two really good things going for them in an attempt to acquire LeBron James: they are in Los Angeles, which is one of James’ offseason homes, and LeBron’s son was just enrolled in high school in Los Angeles to play basketball; and the Lakers’ name alone often spurs thoughts of championship-level success as they are the franchise of George Mikan, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal, and Smush Parker.
However, at the moment, they really do not have that much roster-wise to sell to a superstar chasing rings.
Lonzo Ball is a growing point guard in the Association who improved his game in the second half of his rookie season. Brandon Ingram is nice, Julius Randle is certainly good, and Kyle Kuzma was the steal of the 2017 NBA Draft.
The young core has a lot going for them, and if they continue to develop, they will be a force for many years to come.
The Lakers also have the ability to create enough cap space to not only sign LeBron outright, but through some strategic trades or by not re-signing a few players (most specifically restricted free agent Randle and unrestricted FA Brook Lopez), they could create the cap space to sign a second veteran star, most specifically Paul George, should George turn down his player option with the Oklahoma City Thunder.
However, even with the addition of James and Paul George, the Lakers will have zero playoff experience among their core players, an issue that LeBron might not want to deal with (admittedly also an issue that he will have to face if he were to choose the Phoenix Suns as well, but I’ll go more in depth on that when I get there).
Not only are they are very young and immature all the way around, but they also have to face the Golden State Warriors four times during the regular season then in the Conference Finals (presumably), just to get to the NBA Finals (all of which will be further discussed on the Suns portion of this post).
That being said, Head Coach Luke Walton is highly respected, a veteran of the NBA of many years, and an asset not to be taken lightly.
Magic Johnson is also desperate to get the Lakers to a championship level once again, and you know that he would love it if it was his team was the one who finally toppled the Golden State Warriors and their current league supremacy. Magic will not be cheap as he puts together a winning basketball team and will not stop short of building a Warriors-level super team around LeBron if he can.