Getty Josh Hart, LeBron James, Kyle Kuzma
Dwyane Wade and Dirk Nowitzki, both the elder statesmen of the NBA will both retire at the end of this NBA season.
Dirk Nowitzki @ 40 is entering his 21st season! That means he’s spent more than half his life on an NBA court.
With both NBA elder statesmen retiring at season’s end, the OG baton is passed on to goes to James, Jamal Crawford and Vince Carter.
A member of the Atlanta Hawks, Carter is in his 21st season in the NBA. Jamal Crawford is flourishing as a solid role player and a mentor with the Phoenix Suns.
James was solid statistically this season, averaging 27.4 points, 8.3 assists and 8.5 rebounds in his first season with the Lakers.
A groin injury on Christmas against the Golden State Warriors changed the trajectory of he and the Lakers’ season.
Los Angeles Lakers’ LeBron James injury is more complex than what has been initially reported, I’m told.
Per Lakers source: “LeBron could ‘rush back’ and return at the end of January. But he could very well be out until the end of February, or even longer.”
The Los Angeles Lakers are sitting in 11th place in the NBA’s Western Conference and won’t be making the NBA Playoffs.
They’ll enter this summer looking to make a splash in NBA Free Agency.
“I like being uncomfortable in the offseason,” LeBron James told The Athletic’s Joe Vardon. “I like being counted out. It motivates me.
“I’ve had basically the same offseason training regimen the last eight years,” LeBron added. “I knew how long I wanted to rest for the season on a short timeline. I’m figuring out now how to get as much as I can out of two months of extra time for training. It requires a totally different strategy. We’re looking at it in an entirely new way.”
James joining Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and the Miami Heat produced two NBA championships and preserved Wade’s career.
LeBron James logic: With Dwyane Wade & Dirk Nowitzki retiring at season’s end:
a). The OG mantle goes to LeBron & @JCrossover.
b). If LeBron is looking to win more rings, he might need to ‘defer’ to another All Star or two the same way Wade did in Miami with LeBron & Chris Bosh.
Many believed that Wade gave James the assurance that the Heat team was his team and James relished in that moment.
Could James do the same this summer?
“No,” ESPN senior writer, Ramona Shelburne told me on the Scoop B Radio Podcast.
“I think my answer’s no to that, just because so much of the way LeBron plays is that he has to have the ball in his hands. He’s a playmaker, he’s Magic, Magic Johnson, I don’t know why we’ve all had a hard time seeing that for his whole career because he’s maybe not flashy like Magic, but he’s a 6’9” point forward. He doesn’t even call himself a point guard, but he is and he sets everything up, everything runs through LeBron, so there was this idea that they were going to do things differently. But I don’t think so, maybe he was going to be more of a finisher and they tried that for a minute, it didn’t work. So they just run everything through LeBron again. So whoever they get, I’m still not convinced of who they’re really going to get; I don’t know if they get the free agents this year. Maybe they get somebody to trade or whatever, but as long as LeBron is healthy and still an incredible player, I just think that the offense runs through him, it just does.”
The Lakers have a lot to consider this offseason.
Los Angeles struck out in the Anthony Davis sweepstakes at the NBA’s trading deadline in February.
As for Anthony Davis:
Demps told Magic this is what he wanted:
✅Lonzo
✅Kuzma
✅Ingram
✅Zubac
✅Hart
✅KCP
✅2019 unprotected FRP
✅2020 FRP swap
✅2021 unprotected FRP
✅2022 FRP swap
✅2023 unprotected FRP
✅2019 and 2021 2nd round picks
Lakers said: 👎🏽✌🏽✌🏽✌🏽✌🏽✌🏽✌🏽
It’s plausible that they may be looking for a new head coach as well.
Luke Walton gone in LA? If Walton were fired, Mark Jackson is a likely candidate. So is Jason Kidd. I asked a credible league source this afternoon whether they thought Kidd would be a good fit.
They told me: “it would be great” and “anything is possible.”
The Lakers purposely filled their roster with one-year contracts to maintain their salary cap flexibility for the summer of 2019 where several NBA superstars like Kevin Durant, Kawhi Leonard, Klay Thompson, Jimmy Butler, Kyrie Irving, Kemba Walker, DeMarcus Cousins, and DeAndre Jordan are expected to become unrestricted free agents.
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Lakers Offseason May Not Attract Free Agents says ESPN analyst