With on-court excellence, LeBron James forced the Lakers to act

Editor’s note: This is the Friday, January 27, edition of the Purple & Bold Lakers newsletter from reporter Kyle Goon. To receive the newsletter in your inbox, sign up here.

For the first time in more than a month, Anthony Davis approached the postgame dais, immaculately dressed in designer wear to talk about a game he actually played in after a 113-104 win over San Antonio.

But he began with a statement.

“LeBron wont’ be coming tonight,” he said. “I gave him the night off.”

A reporter commented that Davis had left James on his own the last 20 games he had missed with injury. Davis laughed: “Isn’t that right?”.

James had just spent a good deal of his locker room time telling everyone how tired he was, screaming at one point to teasingly interrupt the start of Thomas Bryant’s postgame scrum. But his mood was cheery: He was fawning over highlights of his younger son Bryce James, who had caught a lob for Sierra Canyon, and bantering with Davis about the release of the House Party remake he just produced.

The good humor had an obvious root, besides winning – a night removed from looking despondent on the Lakers bench during a double-digit loss to the Clippers, James had Davis back in the fold, as well as new trade aquisition Rui Hachimura. To remove all subtlety about his feelings about the trade, James mentioned aloud in the locker room as Hachimura was walking out: “Feels good to have another 6-8 wing in this.”

It’s been clear James has wanted help for a while. Throughout the season, he’s made jabs at the roster, particularly critiques about the team’s shooting and size. The Lakers hope Hachimura (whose overall 3-point shooting is down this year but who is still shooting 42% on corner threes) help address both. And by picking up a player they can re-sign this summer, the Lakers have a straightforward course to function as an over-the-cap team and make more deals now rather than simply wait for cap space this summer. 

That makes LeBron happy. Even though it might not have seemed it on Tuesday night when a reporter recounted to him about general manager Rob Pelinka’s approach to finding a trade, stressing the need for patience for a deal that would make the Lakers a frontrunner. The reporter asked James how that philosophy sat with him.

“How does it sit with you?” James snapped. “He said it to you guys. He was talking to you, he wasn’t talking to us. Rob is going to do his job – that’s his job. My job is to be out on the floor and make sure my guys are locked in and ready to go.”

Running through the season’s quotes about roster moves, you’ll find that there is a lot of this discourse – a shift from previous years, when Pelinka talked about texting and calling James and Davis about various personnel moves, describing them more as partners in roster building than mere teammates. But Pelinka, too, picked up on the new company line, which he has, in some form or another, used since last April.

“Our captains, LeBron and Anthony Davis, are always involved in what Coach Ham is doing, what the front office is doing,” he said Tuesday at Hachimura’s introduction. “At the same time, I think LeBron said it really well at the press conference the other night when he said, ‘My job is to play basketball. The front office’s job is to do their job and build a roster. And Coach Ham’s job is to coach.’ I agree with that. We all have to do our jobs and do them with excellence and all be together. That’s how we operate and will continue to operate.”

Let’s not fool ourselves: James still has a great deal of control within the Lakers’ organization. There are still more Klutch players, earning the majority of the team’s salary, than players from any other agency on the roster. But the compelling part of James’ odyssey this season was that he finally took his own advice.

One of his mantras is, “Keep the main thing the main thing.” It means if he focuses on basketball, all other aspects of his life – his family, his enterprises, his charitable efforts – will be taken care of. By focusing on the main thing, James reminded the NBA what an incredible player he is, and found a way to increase his leverage to force the Lakers to make a win-now move (and possibly more). LeBron is not a great general manager, but he is a great basketball player, and leaning into that has expanded his influence.

The Lakers’ 2-10 start was abjectly bleak. But one of the most discouraging parts was that James was a shadow of himself. In those first 12 games, James averaged 24.9 points, 8.8 rebounds and 6.9 assists – familiar numbers – but his efficiency was brutal, shooting just 45.7% and hitting just 17 of his team-high 71 threes. His defense left much to be desired. As the Lakers blew close games, James was definitely hurting the team, and they were minus-61 in his minutes during that stretch.

Even as rumblings grew that team leaders wanted to see trades happen, as ESPN reported at the time, the “team leaders” weren’t exactly fulfilling their obligations. A sub-par LeBron, on the verge of 38, didn’t seem worth investing in to a lot of outside observers, not just the Lakers. James’ prime looked like it might finally have reached its end.

Davis’ monster run started to change that, putting the Lakers back in the Western mix and forcing James to report for duty. He started to pick things up when Davis was dominating – it’s impossible to say definitively if that’s when James first truly bought into the season, but it certainly seemed to be a turning point. The Lakers showed their potential in a road win at Milwaukee, one of the presumed title contenders, and played tight games against Philadelphia and Boston.

After Davis’ injury, the seminal date to remember is Dec. 28, the loss against the Miami Heat. Afterward, James turned a reflective answer to questions about turning 38 into a clear sign of dissatisfaction: “I think about that I don’t want to finish my career playing at this level from a team aspect. I’ll still be able to be compete for championships because I know what I can still bring to any ball club with the right pieces.”

That disgruntled cry brought some intriguing reactions, including: Would the Lakers and LeBron ever split? Would the team look to trade their franchise star, the 2020 Finals MVP, this summer?

But amid the sound and fury he created, James went for another tactic: Relentlessly competing.

Without Davis, James reeled off an incredible run, averaging 34.6 points, 8.3 rebounds and 7.6 assists while guiding the Lakers to a 10-10 record, a respectable mark given the team’s limitations without Davis and a slew of other injuries. The Lakers were plus-85 in his 613 minutes in that span. He hustled, driving a transition offense that has become one of the NBA’s best, and getting his defense to a passable level, if not a great one. From his 48-point performance on his birthday on, his teammates were forced to raise their games as well, to the point where a roster most had written off early in the year was able to win five straight games – no matter the competition, not an easy feat in the NBA.

The Lakers becoming competitive is a reflection of a lot of people, including coach Darvin Ham and his staff, but none of it happens without James as the engine, the leading scorer and top option on the opposing scouting report. When he had a slow night against Memphis, astute observers could see the Grizzlies defense loaded up against him, giving opportunities for Russell Westbrook and Dennis Schröder (who have also been pivotal players during this stretch) a chance to win the game for the Lakers.

James learned the hard way last season that being regarded as one of the franchise’s central decision makers has backlash. When the trade for Westbrook went south quickly, fans and talking heads alike slammed him. A year ago, this very space questioned if James would take accountability for his role in the deal as he engaged in passive-aggressive comments that were unflattering to his own team.

The strategy James has practiced since then is distance from the front office. Last April at his exit interview, James said he would offer his opinion on personnel moves, but minimized his role: “It’s my job to make sure that I’m ready at the start of training camp, and ready to lead the franchise and lead the team that’s put on the floor, whoever that may be. So that is my focus.”

It’s a reasonable enough sentiment, but in the last month, he’s put his money where his mouth is, proving he’s still one of the NBA’s best players even at 38 years old. He’s engaged, playing as many games as possible, and has fueled improbable wins and comebacks, such as the 25-point halftime comeback against Portland on Sunday. The Hachimura deal being announced a day later was probably a bit incidental, but the timing felt … well, appropriate

The Lakers have not appreciably moved up the standings, but they’re close to the Western pack (as of Friday morning, they have just two more losses than the 6th-place Dallas Mavericks) and have been competitive enough with James and Davis that the franchise had no honorable choice but to focus on this season – trying to win with a pair of All-NBA talents. Pelinka has also set himself up for another move before the deadline, though the scope of that will be, in part, dictated by the market (so far, teams have been slow to acknowledge that they are sellers, leaving out perhaps the most enticing players).

But that’s Pelinka’s job. By focusing on basketball, James has been doing his. In that sense, his night off from the media dais was understandable.

He’s not just resting up from what he’s done; there’s a lot more work to do in the coming months, he hopes – into April and maybe even beyond.

– Kyle Goon

Editor’s note: Thanks for reading the Purple & Bold Lakers newsletter from reporter Kyle Goon. To receive the newsletter in your inbox, sign up here.

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