LeBron James had planned on remaining with the Cleveland Cavaliers, but Kyrie Irving’s trade request in 2017 and his exit to the Boston Celtics led him to change direction and eventually sign with the Los Angeles Lakers as a free agent in 2018. The business partnership between James and the Lakers became one of convenience where he moved to Los Angeles for the biggest franchise in the NBA that was floundering in the years following Kobe Bryant’s retirement in 2016.
“I think LeBron intended to stay in Cleveland and then the Kyrie Irving thing blew up,” said Brian Windhorst on ESPN Radio Los Angeles. “And that was in 2017. LeBron decided before his last year that he was going to be done in Cleveland.
“I think in 2017 he looked around and saw the Lakers and saw a great opportunity. And whether he decided he wanted to do that in August of 2017 or whenever. He made the decision on July 1st. His previous two times, he dragged his thing out until July 7th or 8th. He knew what he was doing.
“And the Lakers made trades at the trade deadline to open up the cap space. The Lakers knew what he was doing.
“When LeBron went back to Cleveland, they didn’t have the cap space. This is one thing people don’t remember. Not only did they not have the cap space, they had Gordon Hayward in their building, and they were about to give Gordon Hayward an offer sheet.
“All of a sudden Rich Paul had to say ‘Hello, LeBron is a free agent. Did you not notice that?’ And they said ‘Oh really?'”
Windhorst then went on to talk about the revealing actions between James and the Lakers over the past few years where he had a no-trade clause added to his contract and then the team didn’t offer him a contract extension in 2025. Jeanie Buss reportedly considered exploring a trade of James in the fallout of their trade for Russell Westbrook.