LeBron James May Have Cost the Lakers an All-NBA Free Agent in 2019

LeBron James is one of the greatest recruiters of all time. Who knows what his career would have looked like if he hadn’t teamed up with Dwayne Wade, Chris Bosh, Kyrie Irving, Kevin Love, or Anthony Davis? Wherever LeBron has gone, he’s made sure other stars are either joining him or are already there. 

Now, some recent news about the  2019 NBA free agency indicates that not every player in the league is that interested in playing alongside LeBron. Bruce Arthur wrote about Kawhi Leonard's 2019 free agency and said:

“The Raptors believed there was a real chance he would return instead of going to the Clippers despite the lure of Leonard’s home state of California. Leonard didn’t want to play with LeBron James, so the Lakers were a third wheel in the sweepstakes. Jimmy Butler, a preferred partner, was headed to Miami. And Leonard recognized that Toronto was the best basketball situation, all told.”

It’s no surprise that some players don’t want to play with LeBron. If you are on LeBron’s team, it is exactly that, LeBron’s team. What he says goes, and if you don’t “fit in” you could be subject to something as small as petty social media posts or as extreme as being traded. 

We know that Kawhi Leonard marches to the beat of his own drum. The fact that he didn’t want to join LeBron’s team and fit in isn’t all that surprising. 

Still, just imagine if the Lakers had been able to sign Leonard. A Big Three of LeBron, Kawhi, and Anthony Davis would have easily been the top trio in the league. 

It would be interesting to hear exactly why Kawhi didn’t want to play with LeBron, but we probably will never find out. For now, we can just imagine what could have been if LeBron had made the Lakers a bit more interesting as a free agent destination.