In the midst of what threatens to be the worst season of his 16-year career, there’s a particular ray of sunshine for LeBron James that he’s been willing to address.
Summer free agency.
That should be a familiar oasis to Lakers fans recently, as the franchise prepares to miss the postseason for the sixth consecutive season and undoubtedly will do some roster reshuffling with much of the team on expiring contracts. With salary cap space, the Lakers are expected to hunt for a second star to pair alongside James from a free agency class that is likely to include Kevin Durant, Kawhi Leonard, Kyrie Irving, Klay Thompson, Jimmy Butler, Kemba Walker and Tobias Harris.
But entering the summer with James and a losing record, there’s a reasonable question for the Lakers: What’s their pitch? Asked after a frustrating loss to the New York Knicks, James had one ready – likely a version of what he’ll be saying this summer.
“At the end of the day, this franchise wants to win and wants to win big,” he said. “And the one thing about the franchise, they cater to the players. And that’s it. Everything else comes secondary, they only want us to go out and perform at a high level and play the game at a high level so we can be mentioned with some of the great teams that’s in the league at that point in time.”
Right now the Lakers are a long shot from winning big, but that’s why they want in on the market, which is one of the largest in modern times. Commissioner Adam Silver estimated during the All-Star break that 40 percent of the players in the league will be either restricted or unrestricted free agents, or have the chance to opt out of deals.
There are also many teams in the hunt, including the team that just beat the Lakers: Knicks team owner James Dolan recently predicted an encouraging summer for his franchise which has gone through similar woes to the Lakers for the last few seasons.
James said he trusts the Lakers front office to get summer deals done, though he decided against name-dropping this time after turbulence when he said in December that he’d love to play with Anthony Davis.
“Not going to name any names because every time I say something, or our organization says something about a specific person we get in trouble,” he said. “But we have an opportunity to get better, and that’s something that is definitely great to know that – when you have an opportunity to get better from a personnel standpoint.”
James went through that process last year, announcing his signing with the Lakers with a brief press release and little personal fanfare. This offseason, he said, he’s going to chiefly focus on his health after missing 18 games this season with a groin injury, the most he’s ever missed in a season.
“It’s unfortunate that we’re so far out of the postseason right now and looking like we won’t be a part,” he said. “So obviously the first thing that comes to mind is just take care of my body. Played a lot of basketball, played a lot of minutes over my 16-year career, so getting an opportunity, getting a couple more months to take care of my body, refresh my mind and my body is going to be very key going into my 17th year, so looking forward to that.”
ANTETOKOUNMPO QUESTIONABLE
For Tuesday’s game in Milwaukee, the Lakers aren’t the team with the most essential player listed on the injury report.
Giannis Antetokounmpo, one of the presumed MVP favorites, is listed as questionable for the game after rolling his ankle on Sunday against Philadelphia. He still managed to play through the injury and score 52 points in the loss.
Traditionally a durable player, the 24-year-old Greek Freak has missed just five games this season. But extra caution might be warranted: The Bucks entered Monday night’s game with a three-game lead over the Eastern Conference field for the top seed in the playoffs. They learned over the weekend that they’d be missing Malcolm Brogdon for six to eight weeks with a foot injury.
Familiar faces are on the Lakers’ injury list: Josh Hart (knee tendinitis), Tyson Chandler (neck stiffness) and Lance Stephenson (toe sprain) are all listed as questionable. Hart played Sunday against the Knicks, while both Chandler and Stephenson have missed eight of the last nine games.
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