The LeBron James Lakers era is over and was a success for everyone involved

On July 1st, 2018, LeBron James rocked the Los Angeles Lakers world when he agreed to sign a 4-year max contract with the franchise. 8 years and a championship later, the James era in Los Angeles is over as he is going to sign with a new franchise (or maybe he will return to a team). It was a long road that had many iterations over the years.

During the 2018 offseason, the Lakers wanted to land a 2nd star to pair with James, with Los Angeles natives Paul George or Kawhi Leonard being the targets. George committed to signing a new deal with the Thunder, before James even signed with the Lakers, while Leonard was traded to the Toronto Raptors. The Lakers did not land a star and saw both Brook Lopez and Julius Randle walk out the door. They signed Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Rajon Rondo, Lance Stephenson, JaVale McGee and Michael Beasley in free agency. Those guys added to a team that already had young players like Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram, Kyle Kuzma, Josh Hart and Ivica Zubac on the roster. The 2018-19 Lakers were the 4th seed on Christmas and beat the back-to-back defending champion Golden State Warriors that night. Then, James pulled his hamstring and the season fell apart. The trade deadline didn’t help as the Lakers did everything in their power to acquire Anthony Davis from the Pelicans but no deal was made. With all the rumors that were swirling it messed with the Lakers young guys heads and the Lakers could not recover. The 2018-19 Lakers finished 37-45 good enough for 10th in the Western Conference and missed the playoffs, this was before the Play-In Tournament began so they did not qualify for that either.

The 2019 draft lottery was the gift the Lakers needed as Los Angeles jumped from 11 to 4. That was the boost the Pelicans needed in a Davis package as the Lakers finally acquired Anthony Davis on June 15th, 2019. Los Angeles sent out Ingram, Ball, Hart, the 4th pick in the draft and 2 future first round picks in the deal to the Pelicans. They wanted to acquire a 3rd star in Kawhi Leoanrd but he signed with the Clippers when the other LA team acquired Paul George from the Oklahoma City Thunder. In free agency the team signed Danny Green, Dwight Howard and Avery Bradly while re-signing KCP, Rondo and McGee. The Lakers went into the season one of the favorites to win the title and they had an elite regular season to prove it.

However, during the season, tragedy struck the NBA and Los Angeles Lakers as Lakers legend Kobe Bryant was in a helicopter crash that took his life along with 8 others, including his daughter Gigi. It was a devastating blow to the league and more specifically the Lakers family. It was James who led the organization through that difficult time, he delivered a beautiful speech about Bryant. Saying, in part, “the fact that I’m here now, means so much to me. I want to continue along with my teammates to continue his legacy, not only for this year, but as long as we can play the game of basketball that we love. Because that’s what Kobe Bryant would want. So in the words of Kobe Bryant ‘Mamba out,’ but in the words of us, not forgotten. Live on, brother.” Kobe’s death shook the entire Lakers franchise and James played the leading role in guiding the Lakers through that tragedy.

The COVID-19 shortened season had the Lakers go 52-19 and get the first seed in the Western Conference. Once the playoffs started in the bubble, Los Angeles was a machine. They took out the Trail Blazers 4-1 after dropping Game 1 and took out the Rockets 4-1 also after dropping Game 1. Then came the Western Conference Finals. All season it was expected we’d get a Lakers-Clippers Western Conference Finals, the battle for Los Angeles. The Lakers had pursued George and Leonard multiple times, through trade and free agency, and the Clippers had swooped in and landed the Los Angeles natives. However, after the Clippers took a 3-1 lead, they watched their series against the Nuggets slip away and they lost to Denver losing the final 3 games of the series. This set up a Lakers-Nuggets matchup. Unlike the first 2 rounds, the Lakers took Game 1 and then an Anthony Davis buzzer beater put the Lakers up 2-0. After Denver took Game 3, a 6 point win in Game 4 and a 10 point win in Game 5 for the Lakers knocked the Nuggets out and put Los Angeles in The Finals, where they’d take on the Miami Heat. After wins in Games 1, 2 and 4, the Lakers had a chance to close out the series in Game 5, like they had in all the others, but despite 40 points from LeBron James, Los Angeles would lose the game. 35 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists from Jimmy Butler and 26 points and 7 threes from Duncan Robinson extended the series to force a Game 6. Where the Lakers would close it out behind 28 points, 14 rebounds and 10 assists from LeBron, who would win The Finals MVP.

After the title, the Lakers got to work to remake the roster. They traded Danny Green to the Thunder (he was then flipped to the 76ers) for Dennis Schroder while signing Montrezl Harrell, Wesley Matthews and Marc Gasol. In March, the team signed Andre Drummond as a buyout player. The 2020-21 Lakers had an up and down season and finished with a record of 42-30 in the regular season finishing 7th in the Conference. The Lakers took a step back, in large part, due to health. LeBron missed 27 games and Anthony Davis missed 36. In the Play-In Tournament, the Lakers took on the Golden State Warriors. In one of my favorite play-in games ever, it was Los Angeles who won the game and advanced to be the 7th seed. In the first round, Los Angeles took on the Phoenix Suns. After dropping Game 1, the Lakers won Games 2 and 3 to take a 2-1 series lead. Then, in Game 4, disaster struck as Davis strained his groin and missed Game 5 and he was limited to just 5 minutes in Game 6 as the Suns put the Lakers away, and ended Los Angeles’ season.

That summer, the Lakers decided to make a huge swing trading Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Kyle Kumza, Montrezl Harrell and the 22nd pick in the draft to the Washington Wizards for Russell Westbrook. It was the decision that ultimately cost the James and Davis era another chance to win a championship. Not only did it cost the Lakers 3 useful players in KCP, Kuzma and Harrell (along with a first round pick) but the Lakers could not re-sign either Alex Caruso or Dennis Schroder due to the trade. That is five key rotation players out the door for Westbrook. A lot of people expected Westbrook to be the key that pushed the Lakers over the top. However, did the Lakers need to be pushed over the top after winning the title just a year prior and having injuries killing any chance they had at going back to back? Hindsight is 20/20 but from the jump you could see that Westbrook was going to be a bad fit with James and Davis. The Lakers won the title with the LeBron-AD pick and roll with spacing and Westbrook needs the ball and is a bad shooter. The fit was bad and the season was among the most embarrassing in not just Lakers history but NBA history.

Many picked the Lakers to win the Western Conference or even the championship. Instead they finished 33-49 and 11th in the conference, missing the entire postseason. As I mentioned, the Westbrook trade was a disaster and the team was a mess all season. Injuries hurt them, LeBron played in just 56 games and AD played in just 40 but it didn’t matter. They were a disaster and saw Head Coach Frank Vogel lose his job at the end of the season with Darvin Ham replacing him. It is one of the most embarrassing seasons for a team in NBA history and is one that LeBron, the Lakers and the Lakers fans would like to forget. One good thing about that season is that Austin Reaves was signed as an undrafted free agent and he quickly became one of the most important players on the team.

The summer of 2022 saw the Lakers improve the team on the margins. Talen Horton-Tucker went out the door to the Utah Jazz for Patrick Beaverly while the team signed Dennis Schroder, Thomas Bryant, Lonnie Walker, Troy Brown Jr., Damion Jones and Juan Tascono-Anderson as free agents. The season got off to another bad start and on January 21st, the Lakers were 21-25 which had them 13th in the west. Thus, Rob Pelinka and company got to work at the trade deadline. They sent Kendrick Nunn and 3 second round picks to the Washington Wizards for Rui Hachimura, Beverly and a 2nd round pick to the Magic for Mo Bamba and Bryant to the Nuggets for 3 second round picks. The big move they made was when they traded Westbrook, Jones, Tascono-Anderson and a 2027 first round pick to the Utah Jazz as a part of a three team trade that landed them D’Angelo Russell, Malik Beasley and Jarred Vanderbilt. The Lakers were able to pull themselves back up and finish 7th in the west with a 43-39 record, setting them up in the Play-In tournament.

In the 7 vs. 8 play-in game, the Lakers were matched up with the Minnesota Timberwolves. It was a great back and forth game that ended up in overtime but Taurean Prince missed a game tying shot in the corner and Los Angeles moved on to take on the Memphis Grizzlies. After the two teams split in Memphis, it was the Lakers who took both games in Los Angeles to take a 3-1 series lead. After the Grizzlies took Game 5 by 17 points, Los Angeles crushed the Grizzlies by 40 in Game 6 behind 31 points from D’Angelo Russell and the Lakers advanced to meet the Golden State Warriors. After the two teams split in San Francisco, the Lakers took Game 3 to go up 2-1 in the series. Game 4 was a classic. In the late stages of the game, Stephen Curry had the ball with the Warriors down 1. After he missed a tough mid-range shot and the Warriors got the offensive rebound, Curry had enough room and launched a deep 3 that was just a bit short. The Lakers got the rebound and held on to go up 3-1. The rest of the series was uneventful, Golden State took Game 5 at home by 15 and the Lakers took Game 6 at home by 21 to move on and face the Denver Nuggets. This time, it was the Nuggets who moved on to the NBA Finals by sweeping the Lakers. The games were close but a sweep is a sweep and the Lakers season ended after a fun run to the conference finals.

In the offseason, the Lakers drafted Jalen Hood-Schifino in the first round (yikes), re-signed Rui Hachimura and D’Angelo Russell and signed Taurean Prince, Cam Reddish and Gabe Vincent. The 2023-24 Lakers were a similar team to the previous season’s group, a good team that could win a round or 2 in the playoffs but couldn’t hang with the big boys of the NBA. After surviving the best NBA game Zion Williamson has ever played in the play-in, the Lakers were matched up with the Denver Nuggets in round 1. A Game 2 Jamal Murray buzzer beater sealed any hope the Lakers had at upsetting Denver as the Nuggets took out LA in 5 games. This series led to the dismissal of Darvin Ham. The Lakers made a push at defending back-to-back National Champion Dan Hurley, only for him to turn them down (which remains crazy to me) so they pivoted to LeBron’s podcast co-host JJ Redick to be the head coach.

The 2024-25 Lakers were defined by one thing and one thing only and for that they have Nico Harrison to thank for that. On February 1st, 2025, they traded Anthony Davis, Max Christie and a 2025 first round pick to the Dallas Mavericks for Luka Doncic. It remains one of the most stunning trades in NBA history and changed the future outlook of the Lakers. No longer were they going to build around LeBron James because Luka Doncic was the face of the franchise. They tried to trade for Mark Williams a few days after the Doncic deal but it fell apart due to Williams failing a physical. The team finished 3rd in the Western Conference and won 50 games, their best record since the title year. However, the playoffs went very poorly and they were knocked out in 5 games by the Minnesota Timberwolves.

The 2025 offseason saw the Lakers add Marcus Smart, Deandre Ayton and Jake LaRavia in free agency. At the trade deadline, they needed more shooting so they traded Gabe Vincent and a 2nd round pick for Luke Kennard. They finished with a 53-29 record, 4th in the Western Conference and faced off with the Rockets in the first round. However at the beginning of April, Luka Doncic suffered a service hamstring strain that cost him the remainder of the season and Austin Reaves missed the first 4 games of the first round putting LeBron James right back in the spotlight. After the Lakers took Games 1 and 2 at home, the series shifted back to Houston where the Rockets had a 6 point lead with under a minute to go. However, back to back Rockets turnovers lead to back to back Lakers threes and Los Angeles would tie the game and win it in overtime. While the Rockets would win Games 4 and 5 to force a Game 6 back in Houston, the Lakers would win game 6 and end the Rockets season. However, Game 6 would be the last Lakers win of the season and the last win of LeBron’s Lakers career as the team was swept by the Thunder in the second round. On June 30th, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported that James would be leaving the Lakers.

LeBron’s Lakers tenure had some high highs and some low lows (2019 and 2022 stick out in the low category) but they climbed the mountain top and won the NBA championship. For that reason, it needs to be seen as a success. LeBron James revived the Los Angeles Lakers. He made them relevant again and then took them to the top of the NBA mountain. They also don’t have Luka Doncic because if they don’t trade for Anthony Davis and they don’t get Luka and AD would have been traded somewhere else if LeBron wasn’t a Laker. So yes, there were some bad seasons and some bad moments but overall LeBron James won the Lakers a title and indirectly set up their future. There should be no debate on this, the juice was worth the squeeze for the Lakers in terms of signing LeBron James.