Just hours before the official start of free agency, LeBron James told the Los Angeles Lakers he wouldn’t return.
The four-time NBA champion had already decided to leave the place he had called home for eight years.
While there was still a possibility that he could’ve stayed, the writing was already on the wall.
According to ESPN insider Ramona Shelburne, the Lakers didn’t reach out to him in the week leading to free agency, not even virtually. That may have rubbed him the wrong way, especially since they did so with Austin Reaves.
LeBron James felt he wasn’t a priority for the Lakers
“After the season, sources close to James said the most important factor in him re-signing would be how the Lakers approached him,” Shelburne wrote.
By the time the Lakers did reach out to James’ agent, Rich Paul, the future Hall of Famer had already decided to move on.
He was reportedly willing to take less money than he was eligible for as long as the Lakers conveyed a plan. They didn’t, so he didn’t want to meet with them anymore.
“He might have been willing to take a pay cut from the $52.6 million he’d made the season before, sources said, if the Lakers explained how they planned to reallocate the money,” Shelburne noted. “They never did, and James never made himself available to meet. He had been a priority enough times in his career to know when he wasn’t one.”
At the end of the day, it makes sense that the Lakers are moving on and transitioning toward the Luka Doncic era.
Still, after eight years and with one of the most impressive resumes in sports history, James may have felt disrespected. The Lakers didn’t cater to his ego anymore, and it may have cost them a chance to keep him in town for the final stretch of his career.