July 1, 2018: In a blockbuster announcement, superstar LeBron James reveals he has agreed to a four-year, $154 million free agent contract with the Los Angeles Lakers. James, a four-time NBA MVP at the age of 33, had spent the previous four years on a second tour of duty with Cleveland, leading the Cavaliers into four straight NBA Finals (and winning one in 2016). LeBron became the first player to lead the NBA Playoffs in scoring and then leave for another team the following offseason.
Including his time with the Miami Heat, James had been to seven consecutive NBA Finals, but extending that streak with the Lakers was seen as a longshot. L.A. had gone 35-47 in 2017-18 under coach Luke Walton and had not made the playoffs since 2014. Things started well, but James suffered the first major injury of his career on Christmas Day. He missed 17 games—and then was shut down toward the end of the season. The Lakers went 37-45, and Walton was fired. The wait wasn’t terribly long, though, as the Lakers and James won the NBA title in 2020. It was in October, 2020, mind you—as the very odd NBA Finals were postponed for more than three months due to the COVID-19 crisis and were held in an “NBA Bubble.”
In the five seasons since, the Lakers have made the NBA Western Conference Finals once, lost in the first round of the NBA Playoffs three times, and missed the postseason altogether once. But there are always the milestones. James has become the NBA’s all-time scoring leader, passing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in February, 2023 (currently 42,184 points). He is also now the oldest player ever to do lots of things, like average more than 25 points per game, score 25-plus points in 10 straight games, and record two 50-point games in the same season (and so on).
Now, LeBron’s contract is making headlines again—and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future—as he opted in to the final year of his Lakers deal over the weekend. The 40-year-old James is set to play a record 23rd NBA season. It won’t necessarily be with L.A., but we’ll see. It’ll be hard for LeBron to resist chasing a coveted NBA title with a team now anchored by 26-year-old Luke Doncic. Of course, James could go on, as he was healthy enough to play 70 games this past season. Is he the G.O.A.T.? It’s between him and Michael Jordan. Discuss amongst yourselves.
(Tom Scott hosts the Scott Slant segment during the football season on KTVB’s Sunday Sports Extra. He also anchors four sports segments each weekday on 95.3 FM KTIK and one on News/Talk KBOI. His Scott Slant column runs every Wednesday.)
