LeBron James joining the Los Angeles Lakers sent shockwaves through the league, and they are now renewing their merchandise game as a result.
LeBron James decided to join the Los Angeles Lakers in free agency this summer. That obviously has implications from a basketball perspective, but the business side of things will be in play as well for L.A.
The Lakers are rebranding ‘Showtime’ in the wake of James coming to the franchise. Check out the obvious changes made in the last year.
Do you notice a difference between the Lakers jersey shirts from last season and the ones that were just released today? What do you think? pic.twitter.com/Dg1yYDLrc9
— Arash Markazi (@ArashMarkazi) July 24, 2018
Clearly, Magic Johnson is okay with this move, but it’s unclear at this point what the Kobe Bryant fans who have been defacing murals out West feel about this. Hopefully, they’ll get over themselves once their team is back in the playoffs again.
LeBron signing with the Lakers sent tremors through the league, and some stars recognize the hugeness of this.
“It’s a very big moment for L.A. fans to have a talent like that come to L.A. and represent the Lakers,” said Minnesota Timberwolves center Karl-Anthony Towns to FanSided at the 2018 Gatorade High School Athlete of the Year awards. “I think for everyone in L.A., they’re very excited for the possibilities with him here in L.A. It’s going to be a fun place to be and play.”
Towns might have just been saying nice things because he wants to join LeBron in a successful movie career and be in Space Jam 2, but we’ll take the big man’s word for now.
The marketing opportunities for LeBron will be endless in the next four years, and the main question many have is whether or not he’s focused on championships anymore.
It’s fine if he’s not. He’ll never catch Michael Jordan’s 6-0 record in the NBA Finals, but it seems like a lot of Laker fans are nervous that he’ll hit five rings with Los Angeles and become the all-time leading scorer in league history. That would be quite impressive for a player who prides himself more on passing than scoring, and it probably scares the Kobe purists the most.
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The Lakers are going to sell a lot of LeBron jerseys next season. That is for certain, and there is nothing LaVar Ball or anyone else can do about it. James may not be the King of L.A. yet, but he’ll make them a lot of bread with all of this throwback ‘Showtime’ gear.