Report: Lakers' 'microaggressions' signaled shift from LeBron James to Luka Doncic

When the Los Angeles Lakers made their seismic trade for Luka Doncic on Feb. 1, some immediately sensed that it signaled a sea change for the franchise and that LeBron James and his camp wouldn’t be No. 1 in its plans any longer.

Much of that sentiment came from the fact that Anthony Davis was shipped out in that trade and that both James and his agent, Rich Paul, were reportedly not notified about the trade until it happened.

Now, there is a feeling that James’ time with the Lakers is truly coming to an end, one way or another, especially after Paul’s cryptic statement on June 29 when James exercised his player option for this coming season.

According to an ESPN report by Ramona Shelburne and Brian Windhorst, the Lakers let James and his camp know that they started to shift the focus of their personnel moves to Doncic through a series of “microaggressions,” the first of which was the manner in which they went about the Doncic trade.

“They did not give him significant notice that they were trading Davis for Doncic — a transgression James forgave, sources said, because of his respect for Doncic and understanding of the franchise’s reasoning for making the trade and for keeping it under wraps for as long as possible,” wrote Shelburne and Windhorst.

By now, many seem to understand that keeping the negotiations of the trade, which reportedly went on for several weeks, secret was necessary, especially given how much Dallas Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison has been crucified for executing it.

Before the trade, Davis and James had wanted the team to acquire a true center so that Davis could play more often at the 4, where he spent a considerable amount of time during the 2019-20 season when it won the NBA championship. Nothing was done in that regard, but almost instantly after landing Doncic, the Lakers were aggressive in looking for a true 5.

“Within days of acquiring Doncic, Pelinka attempted to pair him with [Mark] Williams, an athletic young center. Davis and James had for years been asking the franchise to acquire a true center, to no avail.”

A few weeks ago, the Buss family agreed to sell a majority stake of the franchise to Mark Walter, who has been a minority owner since 2021. Doncic was notified, but James wasn’t.

“When the Buss family agreed to sell a majority stake in the franchise to Mark Walter on June 18, Doncic was given a heads-up and notably posted a congratulations on social media afterward. James was not given the same notice and did not post any public acknowledgement afterward.”

James needed to let the Lakers know by June 29 what he intended to do with his player option for the 2025-26 campaign. According to Shelburne and Windhorst, the team didn’t offer the superstar an extension.

“Then of course, the coup de grĂ¢ce: The Lakers, by not offering James an extension, indicated they were comfortable having him on the roster as an expiring contract, a rare position for a superstar player of his caliber.”

This is the first time in his basketball life that James isn’t the sun that his team revolves around, which means he isn’t being feted for the first time ever by his team. It remains to be seen how he deals with that reality, especially since he continued to play at a superstar level this past season, and especially now that the Lakers have apparently solved their center problem by signing Deandre Ayton.

This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: Report: Lakers’ ‘microaggressions’ signaled shift from LeBron to Luka

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