Well this has been quite the day, hasn’t it?
A little after 7 pm Central Time, Klutch Sports Group sent out a tweet that changed the landscape of the NBA universe. The tweet contained a press release announcing that LeBron James has agreed to a 4-year, $154 million free agent contract with the Los Angeles Lakers.
This is the third time LeBron has joined a different team as a free agent. He left the Cleveland Cavaliers to join the Miami Heat in 2010, then left Miami to rejoin Cleveland in 2014.
The three time NBA Champion and 14-time All-Star spent the last four seasons playing for the Cavaliers, leading them to four consecutive NBA Finals appearances. In 2016, James helped the Cavs win their first NBA Championship in franchise history by defeating the Golden State Warriors in seven games.
Despite this success, the Cavs lost their three other Finals appearances to the Warriors, including getting swept by Golden State this past season. James’ relationship with Cavs owner Dan Gilbert has been rocky ever since Gilbert publicly bashed James when he left the Cavs back in 2010.
James owns two houses within the Los Angeles area, and many expected him to sign with the Lakers once his contract with the Cavs ended.
Now that they have signed LeBron, the Lakers are looking to fortify their roster further by adding another superstar. Kawhi Leonard reportedly wants to leave the San Antonio Spurs to join the Lakers, and the two teams have been trying to work out a trade to send Leonard to Los Angeles.