Evidence continues to mount that the Los Angeles Lakers are slowly phasing out LeBron James.
The Lakers recently failed to extend a notable courtesy to their star forward James, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst reported on Friday. Last month, the Buss family agreed in principle to sell their majority interest in the team to billionaire Mark Walter at a record-breaking $10 billion valuation. Windhorst notes that Lakers star Luka Doncic was given a heads-up about the agreement and proceeded to post a congratulatory message over social media.
However, James was not given the same heads-up, according to Windhorst. The four-time NBA MVP additionally did not post any public acknowledgement of the sale agreement afterwards.
Now 40 years old, James has been with the Lakers since 2018 and led them to the 2020 NBA championship. But with the Lakers now focused on building around their new superstar in the 26-year-old Doncic, James is being pushed to the fringes, and he can feel it.
James and the Lakers notably did not agree to a new contract extension this summer. Instead, James picked up his $52.6 million player option for next season and, after doing so, essentially issued a soft trade request via a statement from his agent Rich Paul.
It is possible that the 21-time All-Star James is simply playing his usual game of pressuring the Lakers into making win-now roster upgrades through passive-aggressive actions in the press. In fact, many prominent media figures do not believe that James will actually be traded this summer. But with their behavior both in public and in private, it certainly looks like the Lakers are steering towards the off-ramp of the James era.
