Jul 29, 2026 5 min read

The Biggest Losers of LeBron James' Final Decision Were the Los Angeles Lakers

Are we sure these two idiots aren't running the Lakers? (Image Credit: "Running Point")

The Los Angeles Lakers acquired Luka Dončić on Feb. 2, 2025. For the next year and a half, they had what they considered to be a big three with him, Austin Reaves, and LeBron James (I don't think Reaves is that good, but that's not really material to this discussion). From that point on, they did almost nothing to re-shape their roster.

Seven months prior in July 2024, James had made it clear that he was willing to sacrifice some of his salary if the Lakers were able to do something creative to improve the team. They weren't, but he took a small pay cut anyway (he also took less money in 2010, so it's not like sacrificing his salary is a total foreign concept). And then one of the biggest heists – perhaps the biggest heist – in NBA history fell into their lap. And they didn't know what to do about it. They traded for and then untraded for Mark Williams, claiming he had failed his physical. Williams has played in 72% of his team's games since, so not sure that really holds up.

Since then, it's been a whole lot of nothing. Here is the Lakers list of transactions between the date of the Dončić and James declaring himself to have moved on at the start of free agency (I filtered out two-way/Exhibit 10 transactions/second-round picks):

Feb. 7th: Signed Jordan Goodwin
Feb. 11th: Signed Alex Len
Feb. 11th: Waived Christian Wood
Mar. 27th: Waived Cam Reddish
July 6th: Signed Jaxson Hayes
July 6th: Signed Jake LaRavia
July 6th: Signed DeAndre Ayton
July 6th: Signed Adou Thiero
July 20th: Waived Shake Milton
July 20th: Waived Jordan Goodwin
July 21st: Waived Trey Jemison
July 22nd: Signed Marcus Smart
July 22nd: Signed Christian Koloko
Nov. 25th: Waived Christian Koloko
Jan. 13th, 2026: Signed Kobe Bufkin
Feb. 5th: Acquired Luke Kennard for Gabe Vincent and a 2nd-round pick

Marcus Smart was a nice addition for them, but as much as I love Marcus, he was basically a more veteran version of Jordan Goodwin, who they could have retained and chose not to. DeAndre Ayton and Jake LaRavia were OK, but ultimately did not move the needle. Luke Kennard hit that one cool (just about) buzzer beater against Orlando, and had a couple of nice playoff games, but in each of the final games of their playoff series' against Houston and Oklahoma City, he scored a combined 8 points on 3-for-11 shooting.

That's it. The Lakers never attracted a buyout candidate. They never put together a creative trade. Even after LeBron made concessions and took a back seat to Dončić and Reaves, they treated it like what had to happen rather than the incredible sacrifice that it was – 41-year-old LeBron James (.557 eFG%) was essentially as effective as 27-year-old Austin Reaves (.567). Even after LeBron led the Lakers to a playoff series win over the Houston Rockets without Dončić or Reaves, there was seemingly little to no recognition from Lakers brass.

And so, LeBron James left, and signed with another team for a minimum salary. Just like he had promised to do two years ago, when he found a team that was doing its all to compete, he sacrificed salary. If the Lakers had made him feel wanted and laid out a plan for doing the same thing, would LeBron have stayed at the same minimum salary? We'll never know for sure, but inertia is powerful. If they were able to get LeBron to do so, they could have acquired both Walker Kessler and signed Peyton Watson in restricted free agency to a deal that the Denver Nuggets would have been unlikely to match. Or perhaps they could have gotten in on LaMelo Ball or Naz Reid. Or lured Draymond Green away from the Warriors. Lu Dort would have been a good fit, as would have Santi Aldama. Neither cost that much in terms of assets, and if LeBron had been willing to stay at the minimum, there would have been easy salary room for at least one of them.

You may think this is all a touch crazy. But consider that LeBron played for the Lakers for eight seasons, longer than any other continuous stretch of his career (seven seasons in Cleveland, four in Miami, then four more in Cleveland before coming to LA). When you think of it in those terms, it gets harder to shake the notion that the Lakers just supremely mismanaged LeBron the last couple of seasons. They very clearly wanted to turn the team over to Dončić – the team is literally going to take a field trip to Slovenia next month. But had they played their cards better, they could have put together the super team that Philly did, or at least amassed much, much greater depth than they have.

As currently constituted, the Lakers don't stand much chance of competing for the one or two seed in the West this coming season, and that's if they stay healthy. Their three highest paid players – Dončić, Reaves, and Kessler – have only suited up for 74.7%, 83.7%, and 51.6% of their games across the past three regular seasons. And none of their next five highest-paid players – Quentin Grimes (22.1 minutes per game in the playoffs), Sandro Mamukelashvili (14.9), Jarred Vanderbilt (10.7), Collin Sexton (N/A), and Jake LaRavia (14.3) – started a playoff game or averaged even 25 minutes per game in last year's playoffs. Neither Sexton nor Kessler has ever even played a single playoff game.

This is not to say they're incapable of such roles, or that because they're the eight highest-paid players that they'll get the most run, but it's certainly not a group that inspires much confidence. I'm not so sure why the Lakers were so eager to turn the team over to Dončić if it was going to look like this. Yes, it's built in his image, but this supporting cast isn't even in the ballpark of the cast that Dončić took to the NBA Finals three seasons ago. And given that their next first-round draft pick completely under control is not until 2032, and the fact that they're hard-capped at the first apron this season, they don't really have a lot of freedom to keep re-making the roster either. This might be it.

The Golden State Warriors have been pilloried as the biggest loser of the LeBron James sweepstakes, and that's true in a sense, because of the five teams seen as most likely to sign him – Cleveland, Golden State, Miami, Minnesota, and Philly – they are the ones who did just about nothing this offseason. But the only reason there was a sweepstakes to begin with is because the Lakers managed their relationship with LeBron so poorly that he wanted to leave in the first place. Maybe he just wanted a fresh start, but I'm willing to bet that if the Lakers had a competent front office that had presented him with a credible plan for how they could gear up for an NBA Finals run if LeBron took that same minimum salary, he would have stayed. The comfort and familiarity of staying in LA would have been too tough to beat. Instead, they have Rob Pelinka, the guy who did almost nothing with his last year and a half besides driving LeBron out the door, and so LeBron chose Philly. And Lakers fans have to be left wondering just how dramatically different their roster would have looked with a minimum-salary LeBron on it.