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Did you feel that yesterday? Did you feel the earthquake that LeBron James sent across the NBA, while he decided to join the Los Angeles Lakers on a four-year contract worth $ 154 million.
The NBA grew from an old legend to which many people had heard about and who was fed up with the Golden State Warriors who controlled the tale of a fascinating new fire camp story. The back-to-back champions are still the keepers of the badociation, but James and the Lakers certainly have their attention.
You can just hear the Lakers fans rejoice while others attach to their still stunned Kobe Bryant jerseys. If you listen even more closely, you could probably hear Lavar Ball laughing, saying, "I told you so."
Beyond all pandemonium, the one who smiles ear-to-ear is Magic Johnson.
When he joined the Lakers in February 2017, the arrival of Magic looked like nothing more than another old school player joining a team with whom he was successful in his bonus as a player. However, it was significantly different when Isaiah Thomas took the lead with the New York Knicks, Joe Dumars with the Detroit Pistons, Larry Bird and the Indiana Pacers, or Boston with Danny Ainge because there were high expectations that have replaced it. The expectations of signing the biggest stars of the league and winning titles with them.
Johnson immediately infused the world champions 16 times with a level of energy they had missed since the pbading of the late Dr. Jerry Buss. The Lakers lacked vision, clarity and sense of direction under his son, Jim.
Magic has brought back the "magic" that has made Los Angeles one of the league's most legendary franchises, with the exception of the Boston Celtics. He brought back pride for the Lakers fans. And most importantly, it instilled hope and a very noble promise to give the city of Los Angeles a winning product that it deserved. All the while, he was smiling and was the charismatic character that he has been since his Michigan State debut.
Johnson has just signed the largest free agency signing the Lakers' history. For a period of one year, it was widely acknowledged that he would put the team in a position to run to King James.
Around the NBA trading deadline earlier this year, the Lakers appeared to be in shock or freefall as news announced that they would not sue James this summer. In the end, it was all smoke and mirrors as they knew, all along, that they were going to roll out the red carpet for him.
Signing James proved that Johnson can indeed recruit the best players in the league, in this case the best player, and make them sign a contract. Whether it's LeBron's legacy or simply the lure of Los Angeles, Magic has found a way to sell LA LA to a player who already has a vacation home there.
Signing James shows that the Lakers are a legitimate threat to attract big names in the free agency for the next few years as long as LeBron and Magic are at the helm. In addition, he talks about the relationship that these two men of 6 "9" have developed.
So what's left for James, Johnson and the Lakers?
Well, it's about building a team that can compete for the championships. As Scottie Pippen once said, "It does not mean anything without the ring".
James joins a team that stars promising young talents in players like Lonzo Ball, Kyle Kuzma and Brandon Ingram, averaging 42.4 points last season. Each of them is versatile on the offensive side of the ball. As a team, they finished 11th in points per game, but finished seventh in the pool. James repeatedly said that he wanted to play the ball and Ball can help him in this regard.
The Lakers also excelled in the transition as they only finished second behind the Golden State Warriors in their percentage of fast break points. They dropped an impressive score of 109.6 points per game, but their defensive rating was higher than that of the Cavs since they finished 12th in the league. The best part of their defense was their ability to close on the shooters as they only allowed opponents to shoot 34.6% of the depth, good enough for third place in the league.
All of these things are good, but the NBA is a place where the power of the stars is needed to hoist a championship. The Lakers need the help of James.
Los Angeles is hot on the runway of DeMarcus Cousins because a one year max contract will probably do the trick for him. In addition, purple and gold are eager to understand the Sudoku puzzle that are the San Antonio Spurs. They want Kawhi Leonard, but it seems unlikely that the Spurs are treating the former player par excellence of the final, unless they divert the team to which they address themselves.
The Lakers have already hit Paul George, so it's imperative for them to bring Cousins and Leonard to have a chance to pbad the second round of the Western Conference. The Golden State Warriors are not going anywhere and the Houston Rockets will not go down either.
LA-Bron = Immune to hatred. ?? #MondayMotivation #MondayMojo pic.twitter.com/Fq2oiMdcEp
– FOX Sports (@FOXSports) July 2, 2018
With James, the Lakers signed the likes of Lance Stephenson and JaVale McGee for one year contracts of combined value $ 6.9 million. In addition, they re-signed Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, a year-worth of $ 12 million, and waived Julius Randle's contract, creating $ 12.4 million in ceiling space. As a result, they were able to distribute another one – year contract in the direction of Rajon Rondo worth $ 9 million.
Now, a new problem has been revealed for Los Angeles. One that makes things a lot more complicated and that is money. It will be interesting to see if Johnson has another round in his sleeve to get another player of mark or two. The four-year clock now begins for Magic, LeBron and the Lakers to understand this thing.
Short titles will not be tolerated in Los Angeles.
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