To say that LeBron James‘ relationship with the Los Angeles Lakers is rocky at the moment would be an understatement. Ever since the front office traded for Luka Doncic, the way certain things have gone down hasn’t sat well with James.
At 40 years old, he needs to make the best decision for the end of his career. He would surely love to stay in Los Angeles, but he feels slighted by Doncic being treated as the face of the franchise despite still playing at an extremely high level and being LeBron James. That has set up a stand-off of sorts. The Lakers would probably love to keep Doncic and James together, but that may no longer be possible.
Charles Barkley says Lakers are Luka Doncic’s team now, not LeBron James’
The national media is picking up on the signals, too. Following ESPN’s report about James feeling discontent about a “series of microaggressions” on part of the Lakers, Charles Barkley has come out to say what many won’t: “It’s Luka’s team going forward“.
“Well, [LeBron’s] on the downside of his career. It’s Luka’s team going forward. But hey, they’ve got bigger problems than those guys.“
While Barkley believes the Lakers will have a “good team“, he isn’t sold that it’s enough to compete with the best squads in the Western Conference. If he feels that way, then it would behoove the Lakers to focus more on the future.
Doing that would put James as the second-most important player for the franchise behind Doncic. Clearly, James still sees himself as the most important one.
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