Hello to a new era<\/p>\n
The relationship was characterized by passive aggression, cryptic tweets and small slights that added up to a big, if not inevitable, breakup. After such a complicated tenure, at least LeBron James\u2019 Lakers career ended with clarity<\/a>.<\/p>\n By informing the team before free agency started that he would not be returning next season, James offered a clean break when both sides needed it. The 41-year-old, who is still the best unrestricted free agent on the market, will keep the rest of the league hostage. The Lakers can move forward in peace.<\/p>\n They didn\u2019t take long to find their rebound star.<\/p>\n The Lakers went all-in to get center Walker Kessler<\/a>. Not just with the four-year, $130-million contract \u2014 which is longer than many of the other deals signed this month \u2014 but with the draft capital. When a simple offer sheet wouldn\u2019t have been enough to pry the restricted free agent away from Utah, the Lakers threw in two first-round picks (2031, 2033) and two first-round swaps (2028, 2030). They don\u2019t control their own first-round pick until 2032, meaning there aren\u2019t many exit ramps if things go wrong.<\/p>\n But, on the other hand, what if they go right?<\/p>\n Kessler, 24, is seen as a \u201cperfect\u201d fit for the Luka Doncic-Austin Reaves Lakers, a league source told my colleague Broderick Turner<\/a>. He\u2019s an elite rim protector, averaging 2.4 blocks per game in his four-year NBA career. He led the NBA in offensive rebounds in 2024-25 and ranked fourth in rebounding rate, according to Basketball Reference.<\/p>\n He\u2019s what Doncic asked for.<\/p>\n The concern might be more about an unproven track record. He only played five games last season because of a shoulder injury. He finished third in rookie of the year voting in 2023 but has only one full-time starting season. Even then, he played only 58 games in 2024-25.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a big bet for a player who hasn\u2019t even approached an All-Star conversation.<\/p>\n (Thuc Nhi Nguyen \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n Six of the Lakers\u2019 top nine players from last season are gone. The Lakers started reloading their draft assets by trading Deandre Ayton on Friday, shipping the big man to Washington for Jaden Hardy and second-round draft picks in 2031 and 2032. Hardy, like new free agent addition Quentin Grimes, is another Doncic teammate from Dallas.<\/p>\n With Ayton\u2019s departure, the Lakers are on the hunt for a backup center. They have two remaining roster spots and are still in the mix to add a two-way wing defender. Rookie Cameron Carr is showing in summer league that he could be an immediate three-point threat. He has some work to do in the weight room and needs more reps to be ready on the defensive end to fill the three-and-D responsibility Rui Hachimura held.<\/p>\n Hachimura was the last of the Lakers\u2019 unrestricted free agents to settle on a new home. The 6-foot-8 forward was a valuable asset to the Lakers and maybe wasn\u2019t appreciated enough for his willingness to accept different roles, even moving to the bench briefly during an important contract year.<\/p>\n Hachimura, who made about $18 million last season, got looks from across the league but agreed to a two-year, $28-million deal with the Clippers on Monday<\/a>. <\/p>\n Even for some NBA players, moving is prohibitively inconvenient.<\/p>\n Goodbye to the old<\/p>\n Outsiders looked at James\u2019 initial move to the Lakers as something that went beyond basketball reasons. Perhaps the breakup was the same way.<\/p>\n Doncic, Reaves and James could have been as competitive as any trio in the league, evidenced by the short, successful glimpses we saw last season. The basketball could have been beautiful.<\/p>\n But if James would have played out his career with the Lakers, there always would have been an awkward pall over the final years. This relationship wasn\u2019t serving either party anymore. He was right that it was simply time to move on.<\/p>\n On paper, he leaves behind a historic chapter of an unparalleled career. Already a Hall of Famer before he came to L.A., James won the Lakers\u2019 17th NBA championship, ending a 10-year title drought for the franchise. He broke the NBA\u2019s all-time scoring record while wearing a Lakers jersey in front of a sold-out Lakers crowd.<\/p>\n In the hearts of Lakers fans, the legacy is complicated. Fans never got to create the everlasting joyful memories we saw at the Knicks championship parade or, if you\u2019ve been watching soccer, in this month\u2019s FIFA World Cup. Perhaps the Lakers faithful will never forgive him for his role in the disastrous Russell Westbrook trade that set the organization back for years. James, for all his personal accolades and cultural influence, still stands no chance against the spirit of Kobe Bryant, especially after Bryant\u2019s shocking death in 2020.<\/p>\n The comparisons were unrelenting. But James never shied away from them.<\/p>\n \u201cTruly a honor to wear the [purple and gold],\u201d James wrote on Twitter with purple and yellow heart emojis, responding to a kind statement from Lakers governor Jeanie Buss. \u201c… Hope I made a few proud during my stint.\u201d<\/p>\n Most breakups are hard. The end of this relationship, at least, is a rare instance when you can smile both because it\u2019s over and because it happened.<\/p>\n Poll results<\/p>\n Last week, we asked which unrestricted free agent would you most like to keep. Ultimately, no one gets their wish; all have signed elsewhere. There were 39 total votes, with several submitting two names, but for the sake of this count, I only took each ballot\u2019s first choice.<\/p>\n Here are the results:<\/p>\n Rui Hachimura: 23<\/p>\n Marcus Smart: 9<\/p>\n Luke Kennard: 5<\/p>\n Jaxson Hayes: 1<\/p>\n \u201cMarcus Hachimura\u201d: 1<\/p>\n New question<\/p>\n Last week\u2019s poll didn\u2019t have a particularly long shelf life. The first wave of free agency swept up almost all the available Lakers players within hours. This new question could fuel debate to outlast all of our natural lives: Would you like to see the Lakers retire LeBron James\u2019 jersey? Slide into my inbox (thucnhi.nguyen@latimes.com<\/a>) to vote!<\/p>\n \u2014Yes<\/p>\n \u2014No<\/p>\n Favorite thing I ate this week The special combination b\u00e1nh m\u00ec (b\u00e1nh m\u00ec \u0111\u1eb7c bi\u1ec7t) from San Francisco\u2019s L&G Vietnamese Sandwich. <\/p>\n (Thuc Nhi Nguyen \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n When I was young(er), my parents went grocery shopping at the Vietnamese store Saturday mornings, and on his way out the door, my dad would poke his head into my room and ask simply, \u201cOne or two?\u201d He was asking how many Vietnamese sandwiches I wanted for lunch.<\/p>\n B\u00e1nh m\u00ec remains my ultimate comfort food, and I liked the special combination b\u00e1nh m\u00ec (b\u00e1nh m\u00ec \u0111\u1eb7c bi\u1ec7t) from San Francisco\u2019s L&G Vietnamese Sandwich so much that I went twice in three days. It had all the right Vietnamese cold cuts with the perfect pate and mayo ratio, and for an $11.50 deal, I even risk the caffeine-fueled heart palpitations to add a Vietnamese iced coffee.<\/p>\n In case you missed it<\/p>\n Lakers lose Rui Hachimura, who signs two-year deal with the Clippers<\/a><\/p>\n Lakers\u2019 Adou Thiero hoping to learn and lead with Cameron Carr this summer<\/a><\/p>\n Cameron Carr makes a strong first impression in Lakers\u2019 summer league opener<\/a><\/p>\n Lakers trading Deandre Ayton to the Wizards for Jaden Hardy, draft picks<\/a><\/p>\n Lakers announce summer league schedule, roster<\/a><\/p>\n Lakers get their new center. How Walker Kessler, three free agents fit with Luka Doncic<\/a><\/p>\n Lakers\u2019 top defender Marcus Smart agrees to deal with Rockets<\/a><\/p>\n News Analysis: LeBron James won\u2019t return to the Lakers. Now what?<\/a><\/p>\n Luke Kennard leaves Lakers for two-year deal with Phoenix Suns<\/a><\/p>\n Plaschke: LeBron James got out before Lakers could throw him out<\/a><\/p>\n Until next time…<\/p>\n As always, pass along your thoughts to me at thucnhi.nguyen@latimes.com<\/a>, and please consider subscribing<\/a> if you like our work!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Welcome back to The Times\u2019 Lakers newsletter, where it\u2019s been a, uh, busy week. Over a short seven…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":918695,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[40],"tags":[190819,59416,23301,83097,8604,2444,1260,21063,7825,9323,7629,62,190820,3007,6620,190821,124365,67,132,68,2452],"class_list":["post-918694","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-big-trade-move","tag-guys","tag-howard","tag-jerami-grant","tag-lakers","tag-los-angeles-times","tag-nba","tag-next-month","tag-pandemic","tag-player","tag-players","tag-sports","tag-talen-horton","tag-team","tag-time","tag-trade-season","tag-tucker","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us","tag-week"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116879014625549447","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/918694","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=918694"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/918694\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/918695"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=918694"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=918694"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=918694"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1783432114_846_.jpeg\")
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