The Los Angeles Lakers spent the summer embracing the Luka Dončić era.
Horace Grant believes that does not make the loss of LeBron James any easier.
Grant, who won the 2001 NBA championship with Los Angeles, cautioned that James’ departure will leave a significant void even as the franchise reshapes itself around Dončić.
“With a guy like LeBron, I don’t care if he’s 50 years old,” Grant told Action Network. “When he leaves a team, it can’t be good.”
Grant also praised James for continuing to produce at an elite level deep into his career.
“I have the highest praise for LeBron being 42 and still playing at a high level,” Grant said. “I’m a big fan of the young man.”
For the Lakers, that is the tension surrounding one of the most consequential transitions in franchise history.
They have one of basketball’s premier offensive engines in Dončić. They also just lost one of the greatest players the sport has ever seen.
Horace Grant Says Luka Doncic Changed Lakers’ Direction
Grant believes James understood where the organization was headed almost immediately after Los Angeles acquired Dončić.
“I think LeBron knew that when Luka was traded there, that the writing was on the wall,” Grant said. “They were going to start building around him.”
That pivot became complete this summer.
James informed the Lakers in June that he would play elsewhere in his 24th NBA season, ending an eight-year run in Los Angeles that included the 2020 championship and a long list of individual milestones.
The breakup also reflected where both sides stood.
Lakers reporter Jovan Buha of Buha’s Block podcast said at the time that the decision was mutual, with the Lakers ready to get younger, more athletic and more defensively capable around Dončić and Austin Reaves while James sought a fresh situation.
Grant sees the same transition.
“Whenever LeBron leaves, it’s not a good thing,” Grant said, “but I think it was time for him to get re-energized.”
History Shows Life After LeBron Can Be Difficult
There is precedent behind Grant’s warning.
James previously left Cleveland in 2010, Miami in 2014 and Cleveland again in 2018. Each team missed the playoffs the following season.
These Lakers are not built like those teams.
They still have Dončić, one of the league’s premier creators, plus Reaves and a roster reconstructed specifically around their younger superstar.
That gives Los Angeles a far more defined succession plan than James’ previous teams possessed.
Still, replacing his production is only part of the equation.
James averaged 20.9 points, 6.1 rebounds and 7.2 assists last season and remained capable of taking over playoff games at 41.
His departure also removes an enormous amount of playmaking, size, experience and organizational gravity.
The Lakers clearly decided the future belonged to Dončić.
Grant’s warning is that moving toward that future does not mean Los Angeles should underestimate what it left behind.
The Luka era has officially begun.
The first test will be proving the Lakers can absorb the end of the LeBron era without taking a step backward.
Lakers Get LeBron James Warning From Former NBA Champion