July 1 at 5:05 pm, Klutch Sports Group tweeted that LeBron James would be joining the Los Angeles Lakers.
This was probably a top three moment of my life. I was so happy. One of my favorite players in the league and arguably a top three player of all time at worst on the Lakers? Sign me up. The purple and gold won’t have much of a chance to go against the Golden State Warriors, but this is a contending team again. If it weren’t for the nine-game losing streak the Lakers went on last year and the myriad of injuries, the Lakers probably could have made the eighth seed.
I made the very stupid decision to go on Facebook to see a lot of posts regarding this.
“How do I like the Lakers with Lebron on it?”
“This will always be Kobe’s team 😤”
“Idk how I feel with my team picking up that crybaby”
“Kobe’s the Real King!”
There was even a post on Twitter where a so-called “fan” offered someone to pay $300 to deface a new Lebron mural in Venice Beach.
First of all, $300 is some broke boy money. Second of all, how insane do you have to be to willingly want someone’s art to be vandalized because you’re partial to a player?
The LeBron era is gonna accelerate the growth of the younger players while still giving Los Angeles the star player that it hasn’t had in years.
Something that I never quite understood is how Laker fans viewed LeBron like he didn’t just make it to eight consecutive finals in a row. They’re viewing him like he’s not one to just drop 27 points, seven assists and seven rebounds on a nightly basis. LeBron had every expectation placed on him when he was drafted straight out St. Vincent-St. Mary’s and it’s an understatement to say that he lived up to those expectations.
Which made me beg the question: What do these Kobe fans have against LeBron?
As much as Nike tried to push it with the puppets in 2009 and 2010, I never saw Kobe and LeBron as rivals. If anything, early LeBron’s chief rivals were the Boston Celtics while Kobe’s rival was his own teammates prior to Pau Gasol coming in? Ruben Patterson? Raja Bell? Okay, we don’t really know. But I can see that those Kobe fans viewed LeBron as a threat to Kobe’s claim that he was the best player in the league (he was just for one year though. That was in ’06).
Kobe and LeBron never had their finals series against each other. Even if there was a rivalry, Lebron took 16 of the 22 games they played against each other.
There are of plenty of people that stan for players. But it’s irrational to say “BUT KOBE BRYANT WOULD…..” when you can’t enjoy and accept the fact that the Lakers have made their first big free agent signing in 22 years. Sorry to break it to you, but Kobe does not care about your loyalties.
He’s not gonna hop onto Twitter and RT you saying “Yeah you’re right. This is always going to be MY team”. He’s going to continue to drink his wine and learn a Tchaikovsky piece on his piano at home by ear. Kobe’s long retired. There’s a top player on the Lakers right now and the fact that people are treating him like he’s Wesley Johnson is disheartening.
The LeBron fanbase having to integrate with the “KOBE IS THE GOAT” fanbase (he’s not the GOAT btw, but this is a different conversation for a different time) will be something to behold. Laker fans can sit back and finally watch a more developed and appealing product on the court.
Lakers fans had to watch Ryan Kelly, Jordan Hill, and Robert Sacre at the same exact time on the court just a few years ago. They went up to 35 wins last year and even though that wasn’t enough to past the threshold into the postseason, the prospect of them making it higher than the eight seed looks as good as it has been in five years.
It’s one of the most cliché things for anyone to say, but it’s just time to appreciate greatness now. Night in and night out, LeBron will do something to wow you. If you’re more partial to Ronnie Price and Carlos Boozer pick-and-rolls, I don’t know what to tell you. If you want to see Jeremy Lin not foul at Byron Scott’s behest in a late game situation, I think there’s a vine of it somewhere. We should all be as happy as Magic Johnson was when D’Antoni resigned.
No matter what you always have to consider what’s best for the franchise. It’s yet another cliche point to bring up but you have to root for the name on the front, not the one on the back (unless you were accused of this sort of thing in which, I’m not rooting for you at all). Kobe’s time with the Lakers is over. It’s been over ever since he tore his Achilles against the Warriors. Even though he’s not young, LeBron still has a few years left in him to contribute.
Last season, the Lakers were probably a few injuries away from making the playoffs. By adding one of the best players in the league, they might finally play in the postseason once again.
LeBron came off one of the best seasons of his career which is crazy to think about in terms of everything that he’s done within the past 15 years. Barring any injuries, he’ll be putting on a show night in and night out for this team. It’s the King’s time in LA and second superstar this summer or not, I’m sure everyone so against the signing will be eating their words.
The King is bringing back some much-needed excitement to the Lakers. And for at least three years, we’re in for a good time.
Now this is going to be fun
Sorry. Flashbacks from 2012-2013 when I typed that.
