LOS ANGELES — On Monday, LeBron James tweeted about making a “Second Decision,” hinting at a big reveal for Tuesday morning.
This caused people to either speculate about a retirement announcement or scoff at it as nothing more than an advertisement. And sure enough, we got the answer: LeBron is partnering with Hennessy.
He shared their post and added a couple of emojis as icing to his troll cake.
With the Lakers at practice on Monday and no games until Sunday, LeDecision
Part 2 became the main topic of conversation.
“You guys are idiots,” Lakers head coach Redick said as the media laughed. “We all knew it was an ad, right?”
Austin Reaves mentioned that he even got calls about it.
“It had the world by hold for whenever he released it to whatever time he sent it this morning,” Reaves said. “Obviously, people were thinking that he was retiring. I’m glad he’s not.”
Rui Hachimura didn’t just get messages, he texted LeBron himself, though James didn’t provide many answers before the ad dropped.
“He’s using those weird emojis, ”Hachimura said. “I don’t even know what that means. I didn’t understand. He loves to do that kind of stuff.”
With the cognac in James’ hand and the drama over, for now, we can move past this and get back to the basketball.
Marcus Smart’s return to the court
On the court, the Lakers now have Marcus Smart practicing with the team. He missed the first two preseason games while he dealt with Achilles tendinopathy and did not practice the opening week of training camp.
“Marcus did most of practice and included some live play,” Redick said. “Great to see him out there.”
Smart, as one of the team’s newest members, is a player expected to improve the team’s perimeter and on-ball defense. That’s impossible to do while hurt. With him back, he can begin to show that elite defensive skill that had LeBron, Austin Reaves and Luka Dončić excited to play with him this season.
“I think the main thing is his communication, his leadership, the way he talks while he’s in practice even when he’s not participating, not 100%,” Reaves said. “Just his attention to detail, how he can be a coach on the floor at times, and that’s really big for us. We’re going to need that.”
Smart did individual work during the first week of training camp, so it’s great to hear he continues to make progress. After practice, he made a ridiculous half-court shot while sitting on the floor and got up, celebrating afterward, walking off the practice floor grinning from ear to ear.
With Smart getting a whole week of practice in, hopefully, he will have no further setbacks and be able to play in Los Angeles’ upcoming game this Sunday against the Warriors.
Notes and updates
- Redick stated that Maxi Kleber is now doing some individual work. After practice, he worked on some post moves and took some 3-pointers. Vincent, who missed Sunday’s game, did participate in some live action.
- The Lakers practiced without Luka, LeBron, or Adou Thiero. Recent reports indicate that LeBron will not play in any preseason games but will be ready for the opening night.
- With no Lakers games scheduled for this week, Redick described it as essentially their training camp. They’ll have more time to prepare, get healthy, and potentially implement some strategies as they practice for multiple days uninterrupted, with matchups or travel.
You can follow Edwin on Twitter at @ECreates88 or on Bluesky at @ecreates88.bsky.social.