The Failure Of Laker LeBron

Last night, the Denver Nuggets, the defending NBA Champions, beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 108-106 at the Ball Arena (formerly the Pepsi Center) in Denver. The Nuggets thus won the Playoff series, 4 games to 1, and ended the Lakers' season.

Nikola Jokić of the Nuggets has clearly been the best player in the NBA the last 2 years. Steph Curry of the Golden State Warriors has been the best player over the last 10 years. And LeBron James, now with the Lakers, has been the best player over the last 20 years. 

LeBron might not have been the better all-around player than Steph. But there is no question that he "had a greater impact" than anyone. He has become the ultimate user of "player power." Some players became "coach killers." But LeBron did something even Michael Jordan didn't do: For the Lakers, he became, for all intents and purposes, all at the same time:

1. Star Player

2. Team Captain

3. Head Coach

4. General Manager

5. Public Relations Director

He has been those things, regardless of who the actual head coach and GM have been.

And yet, in 6 seasons with them, what has he led them to? One NBA Championship, and that in the COVID-interrupted season of 2019-20; one other trip to the Conference Finals, 2 1st Round exits including this one, and 2 flat-out Playoff misses. The Lakers' win, this season, in the NBA's 1st-ever in-season tournament was a big story, but, ultimately, didn't help them achieve real success. It's another notch on LeBron's record. It might be the NBA's "FA Cup," but, so far, it doesn't really mean anything.

A head coach with that record, with that franchise, would be fire. A GM? Certainly.

If Lakers owner Jeanie Buss had the power that an NFL team owner had, she wouldn't have given LeBron anything beyond the captaincy. If she had the mindset of an NFL team owner, then, after the 2022 Playoff miss, she would have told LeBron, "You wanna play on an NBA team with your son? Go ahead, try it, but try it somewhere else: You're gone. We have higher standards than any other NBA team, and you have failed them."

And she would have done what it took to sever ties with him. If that meant messing up salary cap space for the next three seasons, so what? They wouldn't have won anything over the next 3 seasons, anyway.

Next season, 2024-25, the Los Angeles Clippers will be moving into a new arena, where they won't have to look over their shoulders for the Lakers.

LeBron is 40. He is already looking over his shoulder at Father Time, who can be beaten many times, but only needs to win once.

One title in six years. By Laker standards, that's not good enough. He'll get his number retired. Heck, Kobe Bryant got two numbers retired, and LeBron could, too. He'll get a statue.

But that doesn't mean that he hasn't failed in Los Angeles. Will he come back next season? Almost certainly. With the Lakers? Probably, but it's not a given. Does he have to win one more title to make his Los Angeles tenure no longer a failure? In my opinion, yes.

Maybe he should stick to politics, and leave sports out of it.