EL SEGUNDO, CA – Thanks to signing 2020 NBA Finals MVP LeBron James and Anthony Davis to new megadeals that tie both to the purple and gold for the next three years, could hoops fans be seeing the birth of another Los Angeles Lakers dynasty?
James, fresh off his fourth NBA title, inked a two-year $85 million extension and Davis, fresh off his first NBA title finalized a five-year $190 million deal to stay in Los Angeles. With how both deals are set up, both LBJ and AD will be together for at least three more years.
About turn 36 on Dec. 30th, James shows no signs of slowing down, and thanks to the Lakers off-season additions of point guard Dennis Schroeder, center Marc Gasol, shooting guard Wesley Matthews and power forward/center Montrezl Harrell, the Lakers are the prohibitive favorites to claim the franchise’s 18th overall NBA title—13th in Los Angeles—and break the tie with their hated archrivals, the Boston Celtics.
It’s no secret that the LBJ-AD deals give the Lakers a minimum of breaking the 17-17 tie with Boston, but it also gives The King a chance to stand on equal footing with His Airness, Michael Jordan. Yes. I went there. And any smart and knowledgeable hoops fanatic sees through the same lines that I do in that it is no coincidence that LBJ’s deal is for two years, as he sits currently at four rings compared to MJ’s six.
While he may never win the oft-heated barbershop debates in terms of Finals losses, if James ties MJ with six, you best believe that James will sign one last one-and-one deal with the Lakers and go for his seventh.
James is not only smart and shrewd in not publicly stating the obvious, but he does want to tie and surpass Jordan—especially after the latter’s tour de force documentary, The Last Dance—won him a lot of present-day Millennial/Gen Z fans who never saw him play.
Hypothetically, if the Lakers are able to keep this current group together and defend their current title this season and win again in 2022, that will give James six rings with what may be his final year in—you guessed it!
2023. See how everything comes together.
All great things come together thru a subtle and smart design, and the sheer brilliance of James and Davis signing deals that give them at least three good chances of winning more titles is yet another example of why the King is The King and why the Lakers are the preeminent glamour franchise in all of basketball.