It wasn’t the most explosive trade deadline, but LeBron James sitting idly as power moves were being made was an unfamiliar sight.
The Los Angeles Lakers had nothing to give but needed plenty, and usually that means James’ unspoken pressure tightens the vice on even the most seasoned general managers, yielding something, anything.
But it was quiet on the Lakers front, as teams turned down Russell Westbrook. Perhaps the Lakers were unaware other teams have seen the film or taken advantage of his wayward play this season.
The Lakers’ desperation got them to this point and couldn’t bail them out. James has a few objectives as he heads toward his golden years: catch Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the league’s all-time leading scorer, compete for championships and play alongside his son, Bronny, a junior in high school.
He looks well on track for the first, not so much on the second and the third remains to be seen. The most pressing, annoying issue is his excellent play hasn’t translated into wins. Arguably the biggest reason why is his fingerprints from the offseason.
He pressed for Westbrook, and therefore feels as responsible for his team’s debt as Lakers team president Rob Pelinka. Pelinka didn’t get this far by telling powerful people no, and the Lakers needed something drastic to keep pace with the Phoenix Suns — while being wholly unaware the Golden State Warriors would be back with a vengeance.
Where’s the line between player empowerment and being the steward for a franchise? It’s almost impossible to draw, so it’s not an indictment in full on Pelinka. You want your star players to be as invested as possible at every turn. If he isn’t, there’s a risk of him checking out emotionally, practically.
But healthy discourse and pushback are part of any relationship, even with a figure as powerful as James on the other side. It’s never as linear as we’d like to think, with plenty of voices and influences around to place responsibility solely on one or two people.
If there’s trust, sides can agree to disagree or at least understand every franchise has to operate with the hope of both maximizing the present while not fully sacrificing tomorrow.
It does seem appropriate, though, to wonder what James was thinking when he either initiated or OK’d the Westbrook acquisition. Westbrook’s movies were well on display for years now, and his athletic demise was predictable.
If giving James credit for his basketball acumen is a thoughtless exercise, how did he manage not to see through the haze of triple-doubles and cut to the meat — an aging player who couldn’t shoot, doesn’t defend and will have a hard time fitting in when he’s not the focal point.
A common trope among players and coaches revolves around “embracing your role.” Stars speak of it when referencing supporting players as if it’s second nature, but as the predictable case of Westbrook has shown, it’s easier to talk about it than it is to be about it.
Westbrook was captured whispering to James and Anthony Davis in the waning moments of the Lakers’ nationally televised loss to the champion Milwaukee Bucks earlier this week. And if there was any doubt he gained some self-awareness by being planted on the bench for the last quarter and a half, it hit the audience like a brick — like a bad layup or miscalculated bank shot or hesitated triple.
He made that moment about their frustration about himself, saying he was brought to Los Angeles to help them down the stretch in close games, tacitly placing the blame on the man who catches all the strays, coach Frank Vogel.
But Vogel didn’t put this team together, and he’s given Westbrook chance after chance to show he can reclaim the form of his prime.
James, Davis and Westbrook met up, made a pact and entered into this union on draft night, inviting all the smoke.
Now, the fire is at the door and everyone’s looking around with a bucket of water.
James wasn’t ready to take a step back with usage, not the man who’s chasing Abdul-Jabbar. It seems contrary to James’ reputation, but he would rank second in shot attempts per game if he played enough games to qualify, trailing only Luka Doncic (21.1 to 21.0). His passing skills are second to none. He’s been sold as pass-first, but he’s always been aggressive, occasionally curiously passive and traditionally makes the right play.
That sounds like his approach when looking at the rosters he’s been on through the years.
He’ll poke, instigate, initiate and post on Instagram or Twitter when he really means business. In the day leading to the trade deadline, James spoke of a fog being around the team — it might as well have been train smoke coming out of a tunnel headed straight toward this proud franchise.
It’s not a birthright for James or the Lakers to be contenders, it just feels like it. In a season that often feels so disjointed and out of rhythm, the standings in the Eastern Conference going topsy-turvy every few days, we’ve come to expect James will save the NBA’s day — to reset the course, to be part of some machination in a personnel move that would have us complaining about the unfairness of it all while simultaneously clamoring in curiosity.
But when the NBA watched as the latest player empowerment caper went bad — the predictable result when aligning Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and James Harden — one wonders how this will affect things in the future.
The checks and balances could swing back wildly, balance out or move not one iota. There’s no proof James leaving the Lakers to their own devices would leave them in better shape. After all, there’s been infighting and indecision well before he arrived.
But if the Lakers are forced to watch the league move on without them this spring, you wonder if they’ll be more careful with who they listen to as opposed to trusting what they see.
