The top NBA sportsbooks adjusted the 2018-19 NBA Finals odds long before LeBron James officially committed to joining the Los Angeles Lakers.
Simply the possibility of King James taking his talents to Hollywood vaulted the Lake Show back to title-contending status.
Some of the best NBA betting sites still have the Golden State Warriors as the favorites to win next year’s NBA Finals, but most at least have the Lakers in the mix.
Is that a dangerous knee-jerk reaction? For the books, it’s probably an appropriate one. They have to protect themselves from the potential James brings as a member of the Lakers.
Of course, bettors may want to calm the excitement.
James to L.A. is interesting. It’s marketable. It’s historic. It’s, well, fun.
But it also could be a huge mistake. Here’s why.
My first issue with James suddenly being L.A.’s savior is the fact that he might be coming to Los Angeles for the wrong reasons.
Well, let me be a little clearer. He has a home in California and it’s been reported for weeks that his eldest son may be playing high school ball there.
James didn’t want to keep uprooting his family and had mentioned he wanted to make his next decision with his family in mind. This plays into that, while James can be a hero in raising a dead Lakers team back to life.
James only wants the best for his kids and the lifestyle in Los Angeles is obviously about as good as it gets.
King James had also done all he could in Cleveland. He’d already gotten the Cavs to the NBA Finals several times and even landed the franchise their first title in ages.
Nobody should be chastising James for leaving, but they should be wondering just how serious he is about winning more titles. They should also at least consider questioning his motivation.
James owes nothing to anyone. He’s one of the greatest talents in NBA history and he’s won two championships, putting himself in a position to snag several more.
Even if he’s ready to chill in L.A. and coast the rest of his career, I don’t think anybody can be too mad about that.
I’m not saying that’s what he’s doing, but he’s leaving an easier conference to go to a younger team that isn’t any closer to competing for a title as it stands.
James probably still wants to win a title or seven if he can. The man has said he wouldn’t mind playing until he’s 40 and suiting up next to his son down the road is a dream of his as well.
However, if he’s truly “in championship mode”, joining up with a young and unproven Lakers squad makes little sense.
James makes his teammates better and L.A. certainly has some talent.
Lonzo Ball could end up being a sensational point guard, the team brought back two-way ace Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and even signed role players like JaVale McGee and Lance Stephenson.
Young talent like Josh Hart, Kyle Kuzma, Julius Randle and Brandon Ingram round out a relatively solid roster at first glance, but one that hasn’t learned how to win.
On top of that, all of the Kawhi Leonard rumors and the possibility of adding other big name free agents clouds the future of this roster.
L.A. as presently constructed may cease to exist, so it’s impossible to know what to expect out of them going forward.
Adding guys like Lance Stephenson and JaVale McGee won’t move the needle and this young core isn’t necessarily leaps and bounds better than the surrounding talent King James had in Ohio.
If Kawhi Leonard and/or guys like DeMarcus Cousins, Clint Capela or others morph from fun Lakers rumors to actual Lakers players, then we can start getting into the hypothetical game.
For now, James just joining the bright lights to play alongside a bunch of kids and some spares.
No matter what the Lake Show does to beef up King James’ supporting cast this year or in the future, he’s always going to have a tough road ahead of him in the loaded Western Conference.
Everyone knows the Golden State Warriors remain the best team in the league, while the Houston Rockets almost took them out in the playoffs last year.
Right there, at a minimum, that’s two title contenders the Lakers may have to get through each year just to reach the NBA Finals.
That isn’t even including well run franchises like the San Antonio Spurs, an Oklahoma City Thunder squad that just brought back Paul George or a loaded Denver Nuggets team ready to take the next step.
You shouldn’t dismiss the Utah Jazz, New Orleans Pelicans, Portland Trail Blazers or Minnesota Timberwolves just yet, either.
I’m not saying those teams are or will be better than a James-led Lakers squad, but what if those teams aren’t done moving pieces around?
There are still big moves to be made and depending on what the rest of the Western Conference does to combat the Lakers, this huge cross country move could end up being a lost cause for Bron Bron.
James and the Lakers obviously have their work cut out for them in the Western Conference. Even if they stack up more talent this summer or next year, they face loaded teams just to get to the Finals.
Once there, they could have tall orders in taking down either the Boston Celtics or Philadelphia 76ers.
Now the top two teams in the Eastern Conference (by quite a bit), the Celtics and Sixers look equipped to get to the Finals and compete for a title on a regular basis.
Philly may be best built to take down any Western Conference super team, as Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid are superstars in their own way and Philly is arguably just one more big move from taking over this league.
The Lakers are getting better and they could become even more dangerous depending on the moves coming around the corner.
This isn’t so much a mistake for James as it is for the Lakers. They’re investing a lot of money in a 33-year old that will turn 34 in December.
King James has been pretty fortunate to this point in his career. He has avoided any serious injury and he remained arguably the best player on the planet last year.
I’m wondering how long either of those anomalies can keep up.
James could get hurt at anytime. Predicting an injury is silly and hoping for it is criminal. However, James has logged a crazy amount of minutes throughout a career that stretches out an incredible sixteen years.
James is in elite physical shape, but he will hit a wall eventually. Kobe Bryant did, Dwyane Wade did and just about every great athlete you’ve ever followed has as well.
It might come slower and the impact might not be as great, or it could come quickly and make James look painfully human, just like every other revered professional athlete.
I doubt this is the year James suddenly looks old or slow, but that time is coming.
If the Lakers are banking on him ferociously leading this team back to title contention all on their own, they could be betting the farm on the wrong guy at the wrong time.
Ultimately, there’s just too much going on here. James is shifting to a conference he’s never played in.
He has no idea what it takes to win consistently in the Western Conference and facing teams like the Rockets and Warriors several times a year (not to mention in postseason play) could wear on him and the Lake Show.
It’s not necessarily James I’d be worried about, though.
To me, it’s more about the lofty expectations, the presence of LaVar Ball, the big moves the Lakers still have to make and the potential for those moves to blow up in their face.
What if they sign DeMarcus Cousins and his Achilles is never the same? What if they bring in Kawhi Leonard and his lingering quad issue is chronic?
There is just so much wiggle room for this thing to go painfully wrong.
Vegas doesn’t think it will go wrong for Lebron and the early indications are that Lakers fans see a championship on the horizon. For the league’s greatest franchise, maybe that’d be a welcomed thing.
I have to admit, LeBron James in La La Land is very interesting. It’s different, it’s fresh and it ignites old/new rivalries we didn’t even think could be meaningful again (or ever).
This is probably good for the NBA. I’m just not sure it equates to titles and from a championship-winning perspective, there’s a very real possibility this ends up being a gaffe for all parties involved.
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