How engaged is LeBron James to Lakers after the Luka Doncic trade?

As it was, Laker’s reluctant was to sacrifice their future to build the best possible team around a 40-year-old version of LeBron James.

Now, with Lakers acting for the next LeBron, was the old lebron concerned that they could further prioritize the future rather than the present?

“What’s wrong with that?” James replied.

Before I could remind him of his public campaigns to directly or indirectly shame the Lakers management to improve the guard schedule in the weeks that led to any recent trade deadline, he continued, “If I had concerns, I would have waived my clause without trade and got up from here. “

The statement was not entirely convincing, not because of what he said, but because of how He said it.

His body language certainly did not project enthusiasm over the prospect of staying with Laker’s rest of his career as his voice was monotonous and his lips were persecuted.

I asked James if he was still imagining he withdrew with Lakers. Just five weeks ago, he said it was the “plan”, but he could become a free agent this summer by rejecting a player setting for the 2025-26 season.

“I mean, listen, I’m here right now,” James said. “I’m here right now. I am obliged to the Lakers organization. “

More specifically, he said he was obliged to help integrate the team’s three newly acquired players.

“As a leader of the team, as one of the team’s captains, it’s my job to do it as smoothly as possible,” James said.

So he did not waive the provision without trade in his contract-to. He’s here – so far. He did not say he would not retire with Lakers, but he also did not say he would.

Perhaps James would not see or sound excessively happy about his team’s overnight transformation out of respect for his hand -picked sidekick and close friend Anthony Davis, who was unconsciously traded to Dalla’s Mavericks. Maybe James hid how upset he was.

Or more likely, maybe James didn’t know what to think about how Lakers suddenly went from being his team to Luka Doncic’s.

James is notorious passive-aggressive. He often refrains from explicitly saying what he wants, but he usually finds a way to convey how he feels.

When he refused to say at the end of last season, if he thought he might have played his last season for Lakers, he basically called them to surround him with better players and draft of his son Bronny. When he said last month that Lakers had to play “close to perfect basketball” to win, he demanded that they upgrade the team.

His words after Lakers’ 122-97 victory over Clippers Tuesday night at the Intuit Dome were uncharacteristically difficult to decipher.

Why?

Probably because he was still trying to find out how the trade for Doncic would affect him.

James has spent his entire 22-year-old career as the most important person on each team he has played on, and that counts the team owners. He affected the construction of guards designed to enlarge his virtues, and rightly. He is one of the greatest players of all time.

Even in this last phase of his career, James has exercised considerable power over Lakers. He may have lost the ability to lead a team to a championship on his own, but his star status offered an otherwise incompetent franchise something to sell. As long as Lakers had James, they were relevant. So when James wanted them to draft his son, they did.

Doncic cost James his leverage. Before Lakers had to finish their trade for Doncic, Lakers should have been afraid of the idea of ​​James, who withdrew when it would have sent them into the kind of dark age they endured between Kobe Bryant’s pension and James’ arrival. Doncic may not deliver Lakers a championship, but he will give them an identity. In addition to being a generation scorer, the Slovenian also speaks Spanish, which could help him get in touch with his strong Latino city in ways James could never.

General Manager Rob Pelinka said earlier in the day at Doncic’s initial news conference, “Luka will be at the center of what we build in the long term.” Pelinka never mentioned James.

James, who was not aware that a trade was in the works until it was completed, said the size of the deal shocked him.

“I haven’t seen this one,” he said. “I’ve seen it all until this one. I have never been part of such a transaction. It was different. “

Since owner Jerry Buss’s death, Lakers has been known to take the way for the least resistance. In this case, it would be for James and Doncic to play well together, for the two players to lead Lakers to a title, and for the ageless James to teach the soft Doncic how to take better care of themselves.

Such a scenario would count as a victory for everyone involved, and James has started the process of building a relationship with Doncic, sitting next to the sidelined newcomer on the bench under Lakers’ victory over Clippers and sharing his admiration of him.

“Luka has been my favorite player in the NBA for a while now,” James said.

To his part, Doncic said he has long admired James from a distance and said that playing with him would be “a dream come true.”

However, the partnership could very well be a failure. James and Doncic both like to have the ball in their hands, and at least one of them will have to figure out how to play the ball. The team’s defense can also be problematic, especially if Lakers does not land a center before the trade deadline on Thursday. James was solid defensively against Clippers, but how consistently can he be at that end of the floor of his age? Doncic and Austin Reaves can only protect the most limited offensive players.

“It’s a little tough right now to digest what it will look like on the floor,” James acknowledged.

This is probably why James was unclear about his future.

By playing for Lakers as long as he has done, James has shown that he appreciates living in Los Angeles more than he wins another championship. The smart money would be on him to end his career with Lakers.

But what if Lakers doesn’t want to sign him again when he becomes a free agent after next season? What if the team waves in his commitment to developing his son?

The choice may not be his.

For the first time in his career, LeBron James is not in control.