LeBron James’ tenure as a Los Angeles Lakers star has nothing to do with NBA great Kobe Bryant. The “Black Mamba” retired in 2016 after 20 seasons, all of which he spent in LA after being drafted and quickly traded from the Charlotte Hornets in 1996.
“King James” was picked up as a free agent in the summer of 2018 following two stints with his home state team, Ohio’s Cleveland Cavaliers, and then the Miami Heat. Between the two camps, he won three league championship titles, two less than Bryant at the time of his retirement. On Saturday (Oct. 5), a Legion Hoop tweet caught the attention of LeBron, provoking him to call cap, quite literally, on the misconstrued motivation behind his move to the West Coast.
The Twitter account that promotes all NBA-related things shared a link to a Lakers Daily post, citing an insider perspective on the career move. The Lakers Daily fan site is not affiliated with the team in any way. According to its “About” page, “Lakers Daily is a subsidiary of Ann Fire Digital” whose goal is to “bring Los Angeles fans together as a nation and a community” while providing “up-to-the-minute news” about the organization.
Their report headline reads, “LeBron James joined Lakers partly because of how they handled final season of Kobe Bryant’s career." It was inspired by an article that EPSN senior writer Ramona Shelburne published on Oct. 4, days after the franchise’s media day. Halfway through the editorial piece, she wrote, “Part of the reason James came to the Lakers as a free agent in 2018 is the standard of care they showed during the final seasons of Bryant's career a decade ago, sources said. James liked playing for an iconic franchise as much as he liked how it treated its iconic players.”
LeBron responded to the tweet with a blue cap emoji and then wrote, “I came to the Lakers cause I wanted to help Jeanie win championships, bring that Spark back to the Lakers and see my family blossom in SoCal. Why would I make a decision on how someone else is treated[?] Mama always said, ‘Stay out of grown folks business.’” To date, the athlete who has amassed a billion-dollar empire has won four championships, the last being in 2020.
The 2024-2025 NBA season will mark the record-breaking forward’s 21st year in the league and his sixth with the Lakers. It also serves as the first time he plays professional basketball with his son LeBron “Bronny” James, Jr. The 19-year-old was picked up as a second-round draft pick this summer, making it the first time a father and son will play on the same team in league history. His debut comes after an abbreviated season with the University of Southern California Trojans.