NBA superstar LeBron James has made his decision on which team he’ll be playing for in the 2018-19 NBA season.
James will move from the Cleveland Cavaliers, who he took to a championship in 2015-16, to the Los Angeles Lakers.
James will join the Lakers on a four-year contract worth $154 million.
He had the option of taking another year at the Cavaliers, but turned it down and has instead elected to make the third free agency move of his career.
After originally starting his career as a No.1 draft pick at the Cavs, LeBron moved to the Miami Heat ahead of the 2010-14 season, eventually winning two championships and two MVP awards with the Heat.
He then made a return home to the Cavaliers and took them to four consecutive finals series, all against the Golden State Warriors.
James’ individual brilliance was not enough to get Cleveland over the line in 2015, 2017 or 2018 – but the 2016 finals series was undoubtedly his finest hour.
After conceding a 1-3 start to the Warriors, the Cavaliers roared back into life in the final three games to deny Golden State and deliver Cleveland the championship they had so long coveted.
Throughout this most recent season there has been regular talk of unrest for James at the Cavs, and it’s been clear for a while that the decision to move elsewhere has been long coming.
‘The Decision’ to leave Cleveland was made with a lot less pomp and ceremony this time around, announced simply over the Twitter feed of LeBron’s management.
The Los Angeles Lakers have been the team to get his signature, ahead of other possible destinations like the Boston Celtics or the Philadelphia 76ers.
Cleveland now face the beginning of a new era and it will be interesting to see what kind of moves they make as they look to rebuild their team.
Worlds Biggest
Guest
Yeah mate have factored in the return of those two guys. I just think one more mid to upper tier star will help get us to the Final and give it a real crack. Tatum was superb in his rookie year, Brown very good in his second season. Kyrie has had durability issues and it will be intesting to see how Hayward goes. We need to stay ahead of the pack in the East.
Griffo
Guest
Yeah I get that and good on him for bucking the trend and being sentimental but when not making a sentimental decision he's gone to two big teams. Anyway, he'll have his reasons and good luck to him.
astro
Guest
Rockets have lost Ariza, with no real clear path to replacing him (and don't say Luc Mbah a Moute)...And Capela hasn't signed, so still a few questions around the Rox for me. Same with the Celtics...lets just see if they can make it through a year healthy. But hard to see the Lakers stopping at Lebron. Even without Leonard, they have a stack of assets to trade. Hard to believe he signed there to happily play alongside Lonzo and Ingram.
astro
Guest
Assuming Kawhi joins the Lakers, is this the most skewed the East vs West has ever been???
astro
Guest
Its the ultimate two-for-one for whichever team drafts Lebron Jnr!
KingCowboy
Guest
WB keep in mind that Hayward and Irving are returning next year from injury and they are both All Stars. Throw in another year of development into Tatum, Brown and Rozier and we have a squad that will destroy the East and beat the Warriors in the Finals.
Worlds Biggest
Guest
Hope your right there King Cow, still feel the Celts are one star short of being a legit contender. They are close and now LBJ has left the East, a Finals appearance next year must be the goal.
Red Kev
Roar Guru
LeBron has a player option for the year his son will (possibly/probably) get drafted.
Julz
Guest
Yup, you never know. Lavar Ball got his wish. LeBron can get his too
KingCowboy
Guest
You know there is a thing called the draft?
Julz
Guest
I'm expecting some players in the West moving to the East now. Guys like Davis, Cousins and maybe Kawhi can move to the East and join up with Celtics or other teams and try and get to the Finals.
Christo the Daddyo
Guest
I see you're ignoring the fact that James has spent most of his career at Cleveland. Hardly a "big team". And this list: https://www.si.com/nba/2017/09/11/top-100-nba-players-2018-list-rankings would seem to refute your point...
Julz
Guest
I think the main reason why he chose the Lakers is to set up his son there. I think he want his son to be a Laker and in his last year will play with his son and pass the torch there.
mushi
Roar Guru
If they didn't during the Nets years of DOMINANCE they won't now.
mushi
Roar Guru
First salary caps were designed to cap salaries, strangely enough, rather than with parity in mind as anything other than a marketing tool to the fans. Especially with max contracts, there are just so many more selling points to factor in the salary which is uniform for what the top 60+ odd players (not factoring in draft picks). But as Astro points out, it hasn’t as much – especially since broader media consumption allows smaller market stars to make the same amount of money in endorsements. This is actually bucking the trend of player movements which has typically focused more on either wanting your own team or wanting better team mates.
josh
Roar Rookie
The Lakers have a pretty young team, they had room to move. Also have room 1 more.
KingCowboy
Guest
Unless the Lakers get Leonard, this move doesn't really change anything in the West. Rockets and Warriors are still ahead of the Lakers. Not going to matter either way, Celtics are going to smash everyone in the end.
astro
Guest
Actually, they don't. Lebron is the Lakers biggest free agency signing since they signed a young(ish) Shaq. The Celts have had recent free agency success, but for a long time in the 90s and early 2000s they couldn't land anyone. The Knicks speak for themselves...The Bulls also have struggled to attract any major talent via free agency.
astro
Guest
One of my all time favourite players, moving to one of my all time lest favourite teams...what a strange feeling. West stupidly stacked now...surely they change the playoff structure.
Griffo
Guest
How is it in a competition that has a salary cap it's always the big teams that manage to catch the big fish?