NBA Rumors: Los Angeles Lakers ‘long shots’ to sign LeBron James

By Josh Hill | Jun 24, 2014

Jan 23, 2014; Miami, FL, USA; Miami Heat small forward LeBron James (6) dunks the ball during the second half against the Los Angeles Lakers at American Airlines Arena. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports /

With LeBron James now becoming a free agent for the second time in his career, the entire NBA will looking inward to see if they have what it takes to land the best player on the planet. In years past, all eyes at this point would immediately dart west to Los Angeles and while there are indeed eyes on the Clippers in the infant hours of LeBron’s free agency, not many are looking at the Lakers with much enthusiasm.

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But let’s not forget that the entire idea of pairing LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony was started in large part thanks to a piece in USA Today about the Lakers thinking they could make it happen.

According to NBC Sports and Pro Basketball Talk scribe Kurt Helin, the Lakers will no doubt be mentioned with LeBron James but the bottom line is that they’ll have a hard time landing him since their brand has been so badly damaged.

"The Lakers have the cap space and they have the best brand in basketball in a major market. They have whatever’s left of Kobe Bryant. But they are in the Western Conference which means just to get back to the Finals the Lakers have to get past the Spurs, Thunder, Clippers, Grizzlies, Rockets, Warriors and Blazers. They could in theory get Carmelo Anthony and LeBron, but again that big three has to fight its way out of a brutal West. Long shot at best."

Let’s not count the Lakers out entirely though, as they have an abundance of cap space and could very well pair LeBron James with Carmelo Anthony and Kobe Bryant plus add someone like Marcus Smart or Elfrid Payton with the No. 7 overall pick.

That would be one heck of a way to rebound and it’s something that the Lakers might actually shock the world and make happen.