Lakers Rumors: Why LA is better for LeBron James than Houston
By Jason Reed
1. The Los Angeles Lakers have more flexibility to work around LeBron
One key thing about LeBron James, and what may be his worst trait of all, is that he wants to be able to at least have a say in the decision-making process for his basketball teams. Most of the time, though, that it more than just a say and the decisions seemingly revolve solely around what LeBron wants.
The Cleveland Cavaliers finally did not completely cave into that pressure and kept the Brooklyn Nets’ first-round pick in the 2018 NBA Draft. However, the front office still put the team in a terrible position contract wise. Cleveland looks like they will be bad for a pretty long time.
Some may say this is a positive thing. Some may trade one title for five years of mediocrity, at least I would. Even though the Cavaliers will struggle, they still have the trophy to look back at.
When it comes to flexibility to at least entertain what James want to do, the Lakers are in a much better position. Los Angeles enters the summer with $61 million in practical cap space with a big contract to offload still in Luol Deng.
With so much young talent on the roster, the Lakers can afford to even part ways with one young star to bring in an established star. While fans are usually against any trade involving a young asset, it could be done.
Houston, meanwhile, will be in a salary cap crunch after signing James and would have to pull some serious strings to add any pieces. In fact, the roster would practically be set for the next season, taking away LeBron’s say in the decision-making process.