It has been nearly a month since All-Star forward LeBron James made the decision to join the Los Angeles Lakers on a four-year, $153 million deal.
There have been many questions as to why James had chosen to play for the Lakers over the likes of the Houston Rockets and Philadelphia 76ers, who are both perceived as being closer to winning an NBA title. During an interview with Rachel Nichols of ESPN on Monday, the 33-year-old revealed one of the factors that led to him making the jump to Los Angeles being the challenge of bringing the historic franchise back to relevancy in the league. (h/t Dave McMenamin of ESPN)
“I like the challenge of being able to help a team get to places that they haven’t been in quite a while,” James said. “And obviously the Lakers haven’t made the playoffs in a few years, but the Lakers organization and historical franchise matches up there with all the greats. You can look at the Cowboys and you can look at the Patriots, you can look at Manchester United, the Boston Celtics — these are like historical franchises. And for me to be a part of that, I think it’s a great move not only for me but for my family and for the history of basketball in general.”
The Lakers have seen some progressive improvement over the last couple of years with a nine-game improvement this past season. However, the addition of James could push them well beyond that with the possibility of being among the top teams in the daunting Western Conference that includes the back-to-back champion Golden State Warriors.
Los Angeles has a long history of being one of the most successful franchises in the league, which presents a unique opportunity for James to push them back on top. It will be a difficult challenge with a newly formed team with a mixture of proven veterans along with young promising talent that has yet to even take the floor together.
All of this puts forth a new situation for James where it could challenge him in a way where he hasn’t before in his career.
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