Could the rumors be true? Could LeBronzo be a real thing? According to Tania Ganguli of the LA Times, there is a chance LeBron James ends up in the Purple and Gold next year, but he has to make sure other stars will play there and has to believe in the coaching staff and organization as a whole. How will he get this information? Kentavious Caldwell-Pope.
In Richard Deitsch’s article for Sports Illustrated Ganguli reports:
It could be the one I cover. But in order for LeBron to come to the Lakers, he has to believe in the organization and the coaching staff. And he has to know another star will come with him. With another Rich Paul client (Kentavious Caldwell-Pope) on the Lakers roster, he’ll have a good amount of information about how things are inside the building.
LeBron is notorious for orchestrating elaborate moves throughout his career so this isn’t the most far fetched idea. Remember when LeBron James returned to the Cleveland Cavaliers he conveniently didn’t mention Andrew Wiggins and Anthony Bennett in his “I’m Coming Home” article and within that off-season they were traded for Kevin Love. Now that can’t be some crazy coincidence that the two former number one overall picks he doesn’t mention somehow end up traded. And later in that season when Dion Waiters was traded people believed LeBron “allowed” for that trade to happen. It is no secret that LeBron James is considered to be the Cavs’ real GM, so it wouldn’t be out of this world to believe that James has a mole in LA if he really wants to go play there next year.
Now the other end of this story though is what does KCP have to gain from this relationship? But being that KCP is also a Rich Paul guy one would imagine that he has at least a decent relationship with James. And if James does end up going to LA thanks to KCP’s advice maybe LeBron will allow for KCP to follow him there and chase a ring. These are all hypotheticals, but it does make sense.
This is only one of the many options for LeBron next season and I’m sure by the end of the year we’ll be hearing plenty of stories about who he’ll be suiting up for next season.