Of all the calculated maneuvers by LeBron James during his eight years with the Lakers, he saved his smartest for last.
He left before the door could hit him in the butt.
He knew the Lakers didn’t want him back, so he skipped out before they had a chance to say goodbye.
He leaked the news alone, before the Lakers could publicly confirm, because he wanted to sell that this was his decision, when it absolutely was not.
This was not his idea. This was not his call. This was the Lakers saying, enough is enough. This was the Lakers saying, we want our team back.
This was arguably the greatest player in basketball getting the message and getting out before they threw him out.
Officially, on Tuesday, James informed the Lakers that he’s going to leave them as a free agent and finish his career elsewhere.
Unofficially, yay!
LeBron is gone, and he left without a fight, and the Lakers couldn’t be luckier.
LeBron is history, and it didn’t cost the Lakers a penny, and now they can breath again.
“LeBron James is one of the greatest athletes in history,” Lakers governor Jeanie Buss said on social media after the news dropped Tuesday morning. “We will always be thankful for his eight years with the Lakers — including the title he led us to in 2020 under the toughest imaginable circumstances and the countless records he broke in purple and gold. We wish him all the best in the future, both on the court and off. He will always be a cherished part of the Lakers family.”
Cherished, but gone, and thank goodness somebody over there had the conviction to let history walk.
Kudos to the new Lakers ownership for resisting every business impulse in their body to keep him while summoning the strength to stare down the most famous basketball player in the world and tell him to hit the road.
Lakers forward LeBron James looks to pass while being defended by Kings guard Daeqwon Plowden during a game in March.
(Ronaldo Bolanos / Los Angeles Times)
They could have been suckered into signing him just to throw him a grand farewell tour. They weren’t.
They could have been fooled by the 15-2 success he enjoyed when playing with Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves during that glorious month this spring. They weren’t.
They could have, as with past Laker regimes, simply been bullied by Rich Paul and his cronies. They weren’t.
They didn’t even make him an offer!
In losing LeBron, the Lakers reclaimed a bit of their soul. In letting LeBron leave, they sent a clear message to everyone who stayed.
This team belongs to Luka. This team belongs to the future. This team again belongs to the Lakers.
“Truly a honor to wear the (purple and gold),” James posted on social media. “Hope I made a few proud during my stint.”
He made many proud. He made the Lakers proud. He led them to their only championship in the last 16 years, he became the NBA’s all-time leading scorer, and, in his 23rd season, he set all sorts of records for longevity.
Lakers forward LeBron James (23) and his son Bronny (9) on the court together during a playoff game against the Rockets in April.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
In his final glorious act this spring, at age 41, he dragged a shorthanded Lakers team into the second round of the playoffs. His widely acclaimed effort against the Houston Rockets proved he could still play. He was still among the top 20 players in the league.
But, goodness, he drove the Lakers crazy.
His eight-year tenure was filled with quiet demands for roster changes amid veiled threats to leave. The Lakers were so afraid of losing him or displeasing Paul and all of his other star clients that they constantly, sometimes embarrassingly, bowed to the King.
In doing everything from acquiring Russell Westbrook to drafting James’ son, Bronny, the Lakers contorted themselves to please their leader.
And for what? Outside of that bubble title in 2020, James never led the Lakers to much of anything. Despite setting some of his records in front of them, he never connected with Lakers fans, perhaps because of the continuous passive-aggressive mind games he played with management.
Here’s guessing he wanted to stay in Los Angeles, and would have eventually accepted a massive pay cut from last year’s $52.6 million. Here’s guessing he would have chosen to remain in the town that contains one of his family homes and many of his businesses for a chance to end his career in a Laker uniform with a farewell celebration that matched the royal ones given the likes of Kobe Bryant and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
But the Lakers never gave him that choice. As it turns out, even 43,440 points were not enough to endear him to an organization that still prefers to call itself the Lakers and not the LeBrons. While he seemed invincible, LeBron was not indisposable, and now he can take his act to Golden State or Cleveland or somewhere else willing to kiss the ring.
Give him credit, though, for pulling one last move.
LeBron leaked his announcement one day after son Bronny’s $2.3 million contract became fully guaranteed.
He’s no longer a quintessential underdog routinely pardoned for his bad defense, his questionable durability and his tendency to tighten up in the playoffs.
He’s a big dog who needs to own it.
Austin Reaves, the most beloved Laker, became the most scrutinized Laker on Wednesday with the news that he agreed to a maximum four-year, $185-million contract to remain with the team.
Kudos to him for becoming the highest-paid undrafted player in league history.
Props to him for declining a rich extension offer last summer to play out the season and bet on himself.
Congrats to the Lakers for turning a homegrown talent into a budding superstar.
Seriously, it makes you just want to hug that unkempt, headband-wearing dude and let him know how his everyman story resonates with the masses.
Except that story is finished. That book has been closed. A new volume has begun.
It’s called, “Is Austin Reaves Worth It?”
Thus far, the answer has been no.
Flash back to May, the opener of the Western Conference semifinals against the Oklahoma City Thunder, a week after he had returned to the court following a monthlong absence with an oblique injury.
Lakers guard Austin Reaves chases after a loose ball ahead of Rockets guard Amen Thompson during Game 5 of their playoff series in May.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
The Lakers needed Reaves to set the tone. He instead laid an egg, shooting three for 16 from the field and zero for five from beyond the arc, his body knocked clear to Tulsa by a physical Thunder defense.
Two games later, same thing, he shoots five for 13 and one for five from deep, allowing the Thunder to pound him to a pulp.
With Luka Doncic out and LeBron James exhausted, the Lakers desperately needed Reaves to pick up the slack. He dropped it, again and again, and the Lakers were swept.
It was the same thing in the spring of 2025, when Reaves crumbled in the first-round series-clinching loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves, shooting five for 14 and two for 10 in a performance that was, as usual, generally overlooked because he tried so hard and accepted his shortcomings so honestly.
That’s not going to work anymore. That’s not going to be enough anymore.
With this new deal, Reaves becomes the Lakers’ second cornerstone along with Doncic. They are now officially a one-two punch. They are now a twin-engine scoring machine that can rival any similar duo in the NBA.
Guards Austin Reaves and Luka Doncic are the new one-two punch of the near future for the Lakers.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
Doncic has lived up to his end of the bargain. Will Reaves?
And what about defense? For $185 million, you’d think you could get some defense. Doncic needs his running mate to compensate for his questionable defensive skills, and Reaves has yet to do that.
Simply by earning his way onto the Lakers roster five years ago, Reaves has been a great role model for everyone who has ever been ignored or shunned or marginalized. But did the Lakers fall in love with his legend and ignore his frailties?
Yes, he averaged 23 points per game last season. But he only played in a career-low 51 games because of calf and oblique injuries, and will he add the muscle required to fend off such problems in the future?
Yes, he has been a great interview while admirably and publicly holding himself and his teammates accountable. But he’s always been able to lead from the shadows. How will he react when 185 million microphones are pointed at him?
In a postgame interview after the Lakers’ final loss against Oklahoma City this spring, Reaves was at his aw-shucks best.
“I take life day by day and I’m just blessed to have an opportunity to play for this organization, play a kid’s game,” he said, “I make good money. But like I said, I don’t think about what I’m really going to do in the future, just day by day.”
Lakers guard Austin Reaves consults with coach JJ Redick during a break in the action during Game 3 of the series against the Oklahoma City Thunder in May.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
That tone has to change. He now has to think about the future because he is the future, of this team, of this organization, of the hopes of this city.
With all of Reaves’ shortcomings, one can almost see the unsentimental Dodgers officials looking at Wednesday’s news and saying, “Wait, they did what?”
But in the end, the Lakers didn’t really have a choice. There wasn’t a free agent available who could match Reaves’ prolific shooting, and nobody who could match the Laker-centric story of his personal journey.
Renowned softie Rob Pelinka, who should count Reaves as one of his greatest successes, was so moved by the opportunity to bring him back that he mentioned the Lakers colors when answering a question about him.
“He started his journey here as a Laker and has made it very clear to us that he wants his journey to continue as a Laker,” Pelinka said during exit interviews this spring. “We want his odyssey to continue to unfold in the purple and gold.”
And so it will, for at least several more years, Reaves now occupying a Lakers leading sidekick role made famous during their championship years by the likes of Anthony Davis and Pau Gasol.
When her team needed her the most, JSerra High pitcher Liliana Escobar delivered a gritty 12-strikeout effort in the Southern Section Division 1 finals against La Mirada, leading the Lions to a 3-2 win and their first CIF title.
Her ability to rise to the occasion time and again while playing in the highest division is why Escobar is The Times’ high school softball player of the year, and no one is more proud of the senior than JSerra head coach Katie Stith.
“Liliana’s one of the best players I’ve ever coached,” Stith said. “She’s talented, of course, but what stands out is the type of teammate she is. She’s so wise for her age and always made it a point to look out for the team. She wanted to win for them.”
Escobar did her fair share of winning in her prep career. She had 14 victories as a junior was selected the Division 2 player of the year after posting a 1.20 earned-run average while striking out 239 batters in 140 innings. This spring she improved to 18-5 and gave up only 26 earned runs with 264 strikeouts and 47 walks in 153 innings pitched. She signed with the University of Florida on Nov. 12, one month after committing to one of the most successful SEC programs.
“What she’s accomplished the last two years is just incredible,” Stith said of Escobar, who plays travel ball for the OC Batbusters. “After battling an injury and having to sit out her sophomore season she could’ve let that defeat her, but she fought hard to be at her best.”
Escobar recorded 10 or more strikeouts 15 times this season and outdueled Orange Lutheran ace Rylee Silva twice in Trinity League action, but perhaps her most impressive performance was a three-hit shutout with 14 strikeouts in the CIF-SS Division 1 semifinals against defending champion Norco — her second win in three outings versus the Cougars this spring.
She threw a five-hitter in the Lions’ playoff opener against Yucaipa and lasted all eight innings with 10 strikeouts in a 5-4 triumph over Ayala in the second round. She struck out 10 again and gave up only three hits in a 1-0 quarterfinal victory over Garden Grove Pacifica.
“Liliana becomes so courageous and competitive when she gets in the circle,” Stith added. “She believes in herself and executes every pitch, trusting the coaches every step of the way. I’m grateful for the time I got to spend coaching her and the example she set for those to follow. This is just the beginning for her. … I think she’ll do great things for the Gators.”
Commentary: LeBron James got out before Lakers could throw him out
Of all the calculated maneuvers by LeBron James during his eight years with the Lakers, he saved his smartest for last.
He left before the door could hit him in the butt.
He knew the Lakers didn’t want him back, so he skipped out before they had a chance to say goodbye.
He leaked the news alone, before the Lakers could publicly confirm, because he wanted to sell that this was his decision, when it absolutely was not.
This was not his idea. This was not his call. This was the Lakers saying, enough is enough. This was the Lakers saying, we want our team back.
This was arguably the greatest player in basketball getting the message and getting out before they threw him out.
Officially, on Tuesday, James informed the Lakers that he’s going to leave them as a free agent and finish his career elsewhere.
Unofficially, yay!
LeBron is gone, and he left without a fight, and the Lakers couldn’t be luckier.
LeBron is history, and it didn’t cost the Lakers a penny, and now they can breath again.
“LeBron James is one of the greatest athletes in history,” Lakers governor Jeanie Buss said on social media after the news dropped Tuesday morning. “We will always be thankful for his eight years with the Lakers — including the title he led us to in 2020 under the toughest imaginable circumstances and the countless records he broke in purple and gold. We wish him all the best in the future, both on the court and off. He will always be a cherished part of the Lakers family.”
Cherished, but gone, and thank goodness somebody over there had the conviction to let history walk.
Kudos to the new Lakers ownership for resisting every business impulse in their body to keep him while summoning the strength to stare down the most famous basketball player in the world and tell him to hit the road.
Lakers forward LeBron James looks to pass while being defended by Kings guard Daeqwon Plowden during a game in March.
(Ronaldo Bolanos / Los Angeles Times)
They could have been suckered into signing him just to throw him a grand farewell tour. They weren’t.
They could have been fooled by the 15-2 success he enjoyed when playing with Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves during that glorious month this spring. They weren’t.
They could have, as with past Laker regimes, simply been bullied by Rich Paul and his cronies. They weren’t.
They didn’t even make him an offer!
In losing LeBron, the Lakers reclaimed a bit of their soul. In letting LeBron leave, they sent a clear message to everyone who stayed.
This team belongs to Luka. This team belongs to the future. This team again belongs to the Lakers.
“Truly a honor to wear the (purple and gold),” James posted on social media. “Hope I made a few proud during my stint.”
He made many proud. He made the Lakers proud. He led them to their only championship in the last 16 years, he became the NBA’s all-time leading scorer, and, in his 23rd season, he set all sorts of records for longevity.
Lakers forward LeBron James (23) and his son Bronny (9) on the court together during a playoff game against the Rockets in April.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
In his final glorious act this spring, at age 41, he dragged a shorthanded Lakers team into the second round of the playoffs. His widely acclaimed effort against the Houston Rockets proved he could still play. He was still among the top 20 players in the league.
But, goodness, he drove the Lakers crazy.
His eight-year tenure was filled with quiet demands for roster changes amid veiled threats to leave. The Lakers were so afraid of losing him or displeasing Paul and all of his other star clients that they constantly, sometimes embarrassingly, bowed to the King.
In doing everything from acquiring Russell Westbrook to drafting James’ son, Bronny, the Lakers contorted themselves to please their leader.
And for what? Outside of that bubble title in 2020, James never led the Lakers to much of anything. Despite setting some of his records in front of them, he never connected with Lakers fans, perhaps because of the continuous passive-aggressive mind games he played with management.
Here’s guessing he wanted to stay in Los Angeles, and would have eventually accepted a massive pay cut from last year’s $52.6 million. Here’s guessing he would have chosen to remain in the town that contains one of his family homes and many of his businesses for a chance to end his career in a Laker uniform with a farewell celebration that matched the royal ones given the likes of Kobe Bryant and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
But the Lakers never gave him that choice. As it turns out, even 43,440 points were not enough to endear him to an organization that still prefers to call itself the Lakers and not the LeBrons. While he seemed invincible, LeBron was not indisposable, and now he can take his act to Golden State or Cleveland or somewhere else willing to kiss the ring.
Give him credit, though, for pulling one last move.
LeBron leaked his announcement one day after son Bronny’s $2.3 million contract became fully guaranteed.
Of course he did.
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Lakers’ Austin Reaves needs to do more to earn his money
He’s no longer a cute little kid.
He’s a $185-million man.
He’s no longer a quintessential underdog routinely pardoned for his bad defense, his questionable durability and his tendency to tighten up in the playoffs.
He’s a big dog who needs to own it.
Austin Reaves, the most beloved Laker, became the most scrutinized Laker on Wednesday with the news that he agreed to a maximum four-year, $185-million contract to remain with the team.
Kudos to him for becoming the highest-paid undrafted player in league history.
Props to him for declining a rich extension offer last summer to play out the season and bet on himself.
Congrats to the Lakers for turning a homegrown talent into a budding superstar.
Seriously, it makes you just want to hug that unkempt, headband-wearing dude and let him know how his everyman story resonates with the masses.
Except that story is finished. That book has been closed. A new volume has begun.
It’s called, “Is Austin Reaves Worth It?”
Thus far, the answer has been no.
Flash back to May, the opener of the Western Conference semifinals against the Oklahoma City Thunder, a week after he had returned to the court following a monthlong absence with an oblique injury.
Lakers guard Austin Reaves chases after a loose ball ahead of Rockets guard Amen Thompson during Game 5 of their playoff series in May.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
The Lakers needed Reaves to set the tone. He instead laid an egg, shooting three for 16 from the field and zero for five from beyond the arc, his body knocked clear to Tulsa by a physical Thunder defense.
Two games later, same thing, he shoots five for 13 and one for five from deep, allowing the Thunder to pound him to a pulp.
With Luka Doncic out and LeBron James exhausted, the Lakers desperately needed Reaves to pick up the slack. He dropped it, again and again, and the Lakers were swept.
It was the same thing in the spring of 2025, when Reaves crumbled in the first-round series-clinching loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves, shooting five for 14 and two for 10 in a performance that was, as usual, generally overlooked because he tried so hard and accepted his shortcomings so honestly.
That’s not going to work anymore. That’s not going to be enough anymore.
With this new deal, Reaves becomes the Lakers’ second cornerstone along with Doncic. They are now officially a one-two punch. They are now a twin-engine scoring machine that can rival any similar duo in the NBA.
Guards Austin Reaves and Luka Doncic are the new one-two punch of the near future for the Lakers.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
Doncic has lived up to his end of the bargain. Will Reaves?
And what about defense? For $185 million, you’d think you could get some defense. Doncic needs his running mate to compensate for his questionable defensive skills, and Reaves has yet to do that.
Simply by earning his way onto the Lakers roster five years ago, Reaves has been a great role model for everyone who has ever been ignored or shunned or marginalized. But did the Lakers fall in love with his legend and ignore his frailties?
Yes, he averaged 23 points per game last season. But he only played in a career-low 51 games because of calf and oblique injuries, and will he add the muscle required to fend off such problems in the future?
Yes, he has been a great interview while admirably and publicly holding himself and his teammates accountable. But he’s always been able to lead from the shadows. How will he react when 185 million microphones are pointed at him?
In a postgame interview after the Lakers’ final loss against Oklahoma City this spring, Reaves was at his aw-shucks best.
“I take life day by day and I’m just blessed to have an opportunity to play for this organization, play a kid’s game,” he said, “I make good money. But like I said, I don’t think about what I’m really going to do in the future, just day by day.”
Lakers guard Austin Reaves consults with coach JJ Redick during a break in the action during Game 3 of the series against the Oklahoma City Thunder in May.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
That tone has to change. He now has to think about the future because he is the future, of this team, of this organization, of the hopes of this city.
With all of Reaves’ shortcomings, one can almost see the unsentimental Dodgers officials looking at Wednesday’s news and saying, “Wait, they did what?”
But in the end, the Lakers didn’t really have a choice. There wasn’t a free agent available who could match Reaves’ prolific shooting, and nobody who could match the Laker-centric story of his personal journey.
Renowned softie Rob Pelinka, who should count Reaves as one of his greatest successes, was so moved by the opportunity to bring him back that he mentioned the Lakers colors when answering a question about him.
“He started his journey here as a Laker and has made it very clear to us that he wants his journey to continue as a Laker,” Pelinka said during exit interviews this spring. “We want his odyssey to continue to unfold in the purple and gold.”
And so it will, for at least several more years, Reaves now occupying a Lakers leading sidekick role made famous during their championship years by the likes of Anthony Davis and Pau Gasol.
How sweet. How scary.
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The Times’ softball player of the year: Liliana Escobar of JSerra
When her team needed her the most, JSerra High pitcher Liliana Escobar delivered a gritty 12-strikeout effort in the Southern Section Division 1 finals against La Mirada, leading the Lions to a 3-2 win and their first CIF title.
Her ability to rise to the occasion time and again while playing in the highest division is why Escobar is The Times’ high school softball player of the year, and no one is more proud of the senior than JSerra head coach Katie Stith.
“Liliana’s one of the best players I’ve ever coached,” Stith said. “She’s talented, of course, but what stands out is the type of teammate she is. She’s so wise for her age and always made it a point to look out for the team. She wanted to win for them.”
Escobar did her fair share of winning in her prep career. She had 14 victories as a junior was selected the Division 2 player of the year after posting a 1.20 earned-run average while striking out 239 batters in 140 innings. This spring she improved to 18-5 and gave up only 26 earned runs with 264 strikeouts and 47 walks in 153 innings pitched. She signed with the University of Florida on Nov. 12, one month after committing to one of the most successful SEC programs.
“What she’s accomplished the last two years is just incredible,” Stith said of Escobar, who plays travel ball for the OC Batbusters. “After battling an injury and having to sit out her sophomore season she could’ve let that defeat her, but she fought hard to be at her best.”
Escobar recorded 10 or more strikeouts 15 times this season and outdueled Orange Lutheran ace Rylee Silva twice in Trinity League action, but perhaps her most impressive performance was a three-hit shutout with 14 strikeouts in the CIF-SS Division 1 semifinals against defending champion Norco — her second win in three outings versus the Cougars this spring.
She threw a five-hitter in the Lions’ playoff opener against Yucaipa and lasted all eight innings with 10 strikeouts in a 5-4 triumph over Ayala in the second round. She struck out 10 again and gave up only three hits in a 1-0 quarterfinal victory over Garden Grove Pacifica.
“Liliana becomes so courageous and competitive when she gets in the circle,” Stith added. “She believes in herself and executes every pitch, trusting the coaches every step of the way. I’m grateful for the time I got to spend coaching her and the example she set for those to follow. This is just the beginning for her. … I think she’ll do great things for the Gators.”
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