LeBron James and Paul George to the Lakers? There's no ignoring All-Star weekend's biggest subplot
LOS ANGELES – When Paul George and LeBron James take the Staples Center floor as teammates in the NBA All-Star game on Sunday night, the millions of Lakers fans tuning in will hardly notice the team logos on their black jerseys.
Sure, James still plays for the Cleveland Cavaliers and George is a member of the Oklahoma City Thunder. But in their purple-and-gold dream world, where all these years of bad basketball and free agency failings finally come to an end, the soon-to-be free agents will join forces and spend the next few years returning glory to the once-proud franchise.
So they’ll buzz about George on Team LeBron. They’ll recap all the supposed bread crumbs that have been left behind along the way, including the growth of James’ business dealings in Los Angeles that were clearly a prelude to his arrival; the recent purchase of a $23 million Brentwood home; George’s childhood spent 90 minutes from here in Palmdale, Calif., and how his well-chronicled interest in joining the Lakers has to mean he’ll sign that maximum salary contract top executive Magic Johnson will be offering come July.
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Superstar subplots are standard fare for All-Star weekend, but the James-George story line has been on steroids this time around because of the tantalizing timing of this year’s locale. Add in the fact that the Lakers have no All-Stars of their own for the second consecutive year, and this local love affair with these two particular visitors is on a whole new level.
The awkward dynamic was there for all to see on Saturday, when Lakers fans who paid $10 to sit in the bleachers at media day chanted “We want Paul” while he spoke with reporters about his free agency future.
George took it in stride at his assigned station, but his Thunder co-star who was two tables away, Russell Westbrook, wasn’t about to let this kind of recruiting go unchecked.
“That’s out,” he hollered after interrupting himself mid-sentence to address the crowd that was some 100 feet away. “Paul ain’t going nowhere; it’s over for that.”
The chanting stopped.
“See how quickly they silenced,” Westbrook said with a grin.
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But this noise won’t go away anytime soon, with both players making it clear at every turn that they won’t truly know what they want to do until this season comes to an end. The Cavs overhauled their team at the Feb. 8 trade deadline and look capable of a fourth consecutive trip to the Finals again. The Thunder, inconsistent though they’ve been, have had enough impressive performances against the league’s best teams to make you wonder if they might become the surprise squad of the playoffs.
Still, despite all this evidence that both players will value winning and title contention above all else, suspicion persists among fans and some media members that this Lakers plan is already in place.
“It’s a long ways until the end of the season,” George explained. “There’s no awkwardness (being in LA amid all the Lakers speculation). I’m a Thunder (player), and that’s all there is to it. I’m not one foot in, one foot out. I know what team I’m representing, and I know what our main goal is. There’s no awkwardness.
“This organization knows what’s important to me, and that’s all it is. They know what’s important to me.”
No one can blame Lakers fans for daring to dream, but history hasn’t been in their favor when it comes to this sort of free agency swooning – even when players like George have the local connection that so many see as an advantage. The irony of it all? James and George both have teammates who fit that bill.
Former UCLA Bruin Kevin Love was rumored to be Lakers-bound during his early years with the Minnesota Timberwolves, but the Cavs star was traded to Cleveland in the summer of 2014 and decided to stay when free agency arrived a year later. There was similar speculation about Westbrook, as the fellow UCLA product grew up in South Central Los Angeles. Alas, the reigning MVP signed a five-year, $205 million extension in September and has spent much of the time since doing all he can to convince George to stay too.
Toronto Raptors star DeMar DeRozan can relate as much as anyone.
Just like all the rest of the would-be Lakers, the Compton native ignored all the rumblings about his hometown return leading into his free agency in the summer of 2016 and instead focused on finding the best basketball situation. Odds are, George and James will do the same.
“I mean it was flattering, for sure, just hearing the rumors about going home and (people) wanting you to come home,” DeRozan said. “You grew up here, and you’re a Laker fan. For me, I just knew where my mind was at and where my heart was at (in Toronto). So as long as you know that, it really (doesn’t) get to you as much. It (doesn’t) make the decision that hard, but it’s definitely something cool and flattering when you see and hear about it.”
Unless you’re a Lakers fan. Then it’s nothing short of heartbreaking.
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