For the sake of transparency, I am a Kobe Bryant fan who screams Mamba Mentality on a daily basis. But obvious biases aside, if you are a fan of the Los Angeles Lakers, the LeBron James signing is the best thing to happen to them in the past five years.
Now for most teams and fan bases, five years of futility is nothing. For a heritage franchise like the Lakers, it’s been a lifetime in the desert.
Adding the league’s most polarizing and celebrated player instantly makes the Lakers a team to watch for this upcoming season. It also effectively restores the NBA’s status quo. Sadly, not all Laker fans are this enthusiastic about The King choosing the Staples Center as his new castle. Their loyalty to what they view as the “Laker Way” along with their fierce allegiance to Kobe Bryant makes it nearly impossible to embrace LeBron.
However, shouldn’t the Lakers winning trump all personal preferences? Can’t we all put our feelings aside for 82 games plus the postseason?
Most fans would love it if their franchise constructed a rebuild by drafting well and attracting the top free agent on the market who just so happens to be the best player in the world—especially when taking into consideration how Jim Buss and Mitch Kupchak tried their very best to bungle the early stages of this process before Magic Johnson and Rob Pelinka took over.
So far there’s been two destroyed murals and people who once bled purple and gold are now suddenly questioning their loyalties. LA Bron has his work cut out for him as he wades into the deep seas of the second largest media market in the U.S. and much like everything else he’s been involved with since the now legendary “Decision” 8 years ago, you will either love him or hate him.
