For those paying particularly close attention to the Lakers during the LeBron James era, there was a clear inflection point.
Riding high after a title in 2020 and feeling hard done by due to injuries the following season, the Lakers front office and LeBron had a harmonious relationship. Looking for an offseason shakeup, the franchise offered up two trades to LeBron: one for Buddy Hield and one for Russell Westbrook.
Fans know how things played out from there and it took the team many years to recover
from acquiring Westbrook. When a deal plays out that disastrously, multiple figures are to blame.
Rob Pelinka, now President of Basketball Operations, deserves a lion’s share of the blame, particularly for even offering up the decision to a player on the team. But LeBron doesn’t escape unscathed, either, as he did offer his input.
As it turns out, that moment fractured the relationship between LeBron and the front office so severely that it never recovered, as Dave McMenamin of ESPN reported in his article on Thursday.
There was more of a disconnect between James and the organization, sources said, one that started during the doomed 2021-22 season following the Russell Westbrook trade and never fully recovered.
The shift in how the two sides collaborated after that move was evident. Originally, Pelinka freely shared that he consulted with LeBron and Anthony Davis on roster moves. After the Russ trade, the same synergy didn’t exist.
LeBron, in a calculated move, distanced himself from the front office and any decision-making that happened from that point forward. Similarly, Pelinka said he was the sole decision-maker as well.
That the relationship between the two sides never recovered from that moment isn’t particularly surprising. It’s a cloud that will hang over the post-title tenure for LeBron and Pelinka. It was a huge mistake that backfired in the worst way possible.
Even if the Lakers had modest success after that, it’s a defining moment in both their times with the Lakers and one that, understandably, changed the dynamics between the player and franchise.
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