The past two years have not been easy for LeBron James and his Lakers. After winning the title in 2020, the Purple and Gold became a shell of themselves, losing much of the defining traits that made them so good at the start.
But after pouring in 42 points and 16 rebounds in Saturday’s Drew League match, James spread only love and positivity to his community. Here is the message he sent, clearly meant for Los Angeles natives.
Thank you @DrewLeague!! Loved the energy from start to finish! All for the city of 👼🏼's!! 🙏🏾🤎✊🏾👑 https://t.co/U4wovXaUuz
— LeBron James (@KingJames) July 16, 2022
This was just the latest masterclass from Bron in what has been a pretty wild offseason. For their part, the Lakers have been working day and night to trade Russell Westbrook, and to no avail so far. And as much as Russ and the Lakers may pretend to like each other, James is clearly done trying to make things work with Westbrook — that was made clear in the summer league when the two sat on opposite ends of the gym.
There was evidence of strain a week ago, when Westbrook attended one of the Lakers’ Summer League games in Las Vegas and sat near the team bench, but did not approach or seem to publicly acknowledge teammate LeBron James in any way. James did not approach Westbrook either, and the two teammates left the game at different times through opposing entrances in Thomas & Mack Arena…
The subtext of the chilly scene seemed clear: Several people within the Lakers organization acknowledged it was an awkward and tense moment between its two most high-profile superstars, sources told Southern California News Group.
For now, none of that is relevant to James. It’s up to Rob Pelinka and Jeanie Buss to re-shape the roster and build a contender, not LeBron.
In the meantime, he’s going to continue living his best life and defying father time by keeping his game at such an elite level. Lakers fans can consider Saturday’s Drew League game a showcase of what is to come for the King.
