The Lakeshow Review

All good things must come to an end. All bad things must come to an end. All things must come to an end. Regardless of how you feel about the seven seasons that LeBron James has spent as a Los Angeles Laker, it’s clearly obvious at this point that it’s in his best interest to seek greener pastures. As well as it’s in the organization’s best interest to build towards the future. LeBron’s timeline and the Laker’s timeline are simply incongruent at this point. The Lakers want to get younger and build around their new star acquisition Luka Dončić, while LeBron James is playing the remainder of his career for his legacy. Chasing all-time records and chasing Michael Jordan. These two visions are incompatible, nor do they ever intersect over the course of their natural trajectories. Which is why the Lakers must choose; do they continue going younger with the aim of being a perennial contender, or do they halt those plans and become a sideshow amidst LeBron’s eventual retirement tour and future family engagements? They very clearly cannot do both. They can either compete for championships or cater to their second best player. The wise play for the Lakers in this scenario, in my humble opinion, is to move on. The Lakers-Klutch Sports joint venture has run its course, and we’ve bared witness to its fruits. For better or for worse, the results are the results. Treating this past season as something to build upon will only spell trouble for the Los Angeles Lakers. They can choose to either make drastic changes, or continue deluding themselves that they aren’t merely tinkering the settings on the treadmill. It’s time to outright ditch the treadmill. It’s time to move on.  

LeBron is set to make over $52M this upcoming season. At this salary, it’s increasingly difficult to add the necessary parts this team needs in order to improve. Plus, he’s no longer the team’s top dog. Luka is. It doesn’t make sense for the Lakers to shift so much of their attention to someone who is no longer the team’s best player. And on top of that, the Lakers employ the services of his son, Bronny, who as the 55th pick in the 2024 NBA Draft, boasts a fully guaranteed contract spanning over four years. The team, in my opinion, can’t be prioritizing the James Family’s personal whims at the expense of building around their new cornerstone, Luka and their championship endgame. For a team as cap-stricken and asset-bare as LA, it’s virtually impossible to do both. If anything, LeBron should consider taking a significant paycut, if the optimal outcome of trading him can’t be achieved. He isn’t worth $52M to this team, or any team trying to contend for championship for that matter. The days of LeBron being the best player on a championship team are long gone. 

James no longer has the ability to run through the rigours of an 82-game season plus an extended playoff run. That much was clear in 2025, when he looked like a completely different player as soon as the playoffs commenced. Even during the regular season, he was not impacting games quite at the level that he and his fans are accustomed to seeing. He was still filling up the stat sheet, but to the tune of a mediocre plus-minus of -54. Yeah the stats were there, but the sheer impact was not. Once the postseason started, LeBron looked tired. As evidenced be his meager 19 points on 18 shots performance in Game 1 of the Minnesota series, after almost a week of rest. He had some bright moments, including a 38 point performance in Game 3. But capped off the series with a disappointing 22 point on 21 shots performance in Game 5, as the Lakers dropped the series in five games. He also shot 2-9 combined in the final two fourth quarters combined (games 4 and 5). Which is a dead giveaway that he was gassed. Overall, his numbers weren’t abysmal (although his fourth quarter play in fact was), however, for a player making close to $50M, more than anyone else on the team, you’d expect more. As in much more. He simply is not quite the difference maker that he once was and can no longer be the engine of a championship offense. Not to mention, the team does not have the luxury of being able to wait for LeBron to “play his way” into a series. For a player getting payed prime money, you expect him to play like it, especially in the playoffs. It simply doesn’t make sense for the Lakers to view LeBron James as a franchise cornerstone any longer.

Not to mention, the fit between Luka and LeBron, is not an ideal one. Yes, both are big names. And yes, you will occasionally be treated to the occasional highlight-worthy play, such as a Luka outlet pass to LeBron in transition resulting in a slam dunk. But on a consistent basis, particularly within the half-court, they are not a good fit. They have trouble playing off of each other, and while they both can compile nice looking statlines, they come by way of a your turn-my turn effort as opposed to liquid synergy. LeBron is simply not the type of scorer you want next to Luka. He isn’t a quick scorer, in the sense that you can’t just throw him the ball on the block and watch him execute a quick turnaround jumper or spinning layup. LeBron needs the ball in his hands, just like Luka needs the ball in his hands. They both play a relatively similar game, except LeBron is 40 while Luka is 26. You want the young guy who’s entering his prime to control the bulk of the offense, not the older player who’s entering his twilight. Dibs should always go to the best player, thus Luka should have the ball in his hands more. Unfortunately, LeBron simply can’t compliment Luka’s game as you’d like. This was evident in the playoffs. Against good defensive teams who can limit the highlight reel transition plays, the Lakers struggled to get consistent execution in the half-court with both Luka and LeBron. LeBron can’t post-up (he had no success backing down smaller players on mismatches), so you can’t play any semblance of an inside-out game. LeBron can’t pull through trigger from range coming off a pindown as he lacks the footwork (which is an imprtant weak-side function when Luka is operating on ball screens). And he simply doesn’t have the offensive repertoire to score in crunch time in the playoffs (an area where he’s always struggled) when the game slows down making footwork and shot-creation all the more valued. At this stage in his career he also isn’t able to do the dirty work needed to compliment a Luka Dončić, and the style of ball he likes to play. Setting picks, rolling hard to the basket, rolling hard into a post up and punishing smaller players in the post, etc. He plays a game that’s very similar to Luka’s, when what you really need is a foil, not a duplicate. 

Of course, you also have to talk about LeBron’s age. He’s 40. And it showed. He broke down towards the end of the year, most notably during the playoffs. Where he did not look comfortable shouldering the load he’s expected to carry. After sustaining a groin injury against Boston, shortly after the Luka trade, LeBron should’ve used that time to sit out and rest. Instead, he came back almost immediately when it was evident that he was still nursing some discomfort, which hurt the team. Ideally, he could’ve used the rest. And even more ideally, the Lakers could have used a well rested LeBron as their number 2 guy. Instead he played tired and likely hurt, and his production took a dip. Outside of a gaudy Game 3 effort, he was fairly ho-hum in the rest of the series, particularly late in fourth quarters. And the bigger problem is: none of this will be getting better. Because… oh yeah, he’s 40. This is what happens to players when they turn the big 4-0, they break down. Sure, LeBron has been an outlier throughout his career when it comes to longevity. But even he is starting to feel the cracks. At his current salary of $52M, there simply isn’t any flexibility for the team to get LeBron the necessary ‘help’ to ease his burden. He’ll likely shoulder the same load next season and likely break down again. I don’t think that’s worth it considering what the Lakers are paying him. Thus, it’s time to move on. The LeBron era has come and gone. The team has young talent itching to spread their wings, and it no longer makes sense for the team to cater to the demands of a 40 year old at the expense of the teams’ franchise player and the rest of the locker room. Some concessions need to be made. If the Lakers are serious about their bid to build a postseason powerhouse, it would be in the best interest of both the organization and LeBron for both to move on and prioritize the ensuing chapters of their respective legacies.