'It's time for the Luka era': Why the Lakers should move on from LeBron James

LeBron James did not mean that he believes that Los Angeles Lakers need to do this low season to improve their title Chans after losing in the first round against the Minnesota Timberwolves, opting to beg the fifth when asked on Wednesday.

Paul Pierce, on the other hand, knows what the Lakers should do below to become a title contender: Make James.

“You have to leave the constructions of the LeBron era,” Pierce said on Thursday “Speak.” “He just had the understanding of the entire organization, hugging them, for so long. He has done some wonderful things for the organization of the Lakers. They will probably build a LeBron statue in front of Crypto, Steples or all.

“But they have to say” LeBron, we appreciate their services. I think we should move on. “It’s a difficult conversation.”

While Pierce’s idea may seem a surprise, his reasoning is quite simple.

“It’s Luka Time [Doncic] It was, “Pierce said.” I don’t know if you can play them together in the future because you have to have a certain type of team around Luka to win. With him and LeBron, I don’t know if you could create that. “

When the Lakers landed Doncic in the surprise exchange with the Dallas Mavericks in February, there was some belief that the agreement marked a change of guard in Los Angeles. Doncic, 26, has been one of the main emerging stars of the game since the change of the decade, being appointed first team All-NBA in five consecutive years before this season. Hello, it also took the Mavericks to the finals of the NBA last season. Meanwhile, James turned 40 in December and has only taken the Lakers to the first round once from his victory for the title in 2020.

But Los Angeles uploaded the classification of the West Conference after Doncic’s trade. He won nine of his first 11 games with Doncic in the initial alignment before his impulse stopped when James suffered an injury in the groin in early March. Even so, the Lakers were able to obtain seed number 3 at the West Conference.

However, James-Doncic match could not work in the postseason. The Timberwolves eliminated the Lakers in five games, with the angels in the 12th position in the offensive qualification (109.1) and the defensive rating (116.7) among the 16 teams in the postseason.

While the star duo put large numbers in the first round series (James averaged 25.4 points per game; Doncic averaged 30.2 points per game), his particular play immersed himself in the fourth quarter through the series. The Lakers were surpassed by 29 points in the fourth quarter in the last three games in the series and fired only 29% from the field in the fourth quarter, door of the series.

Pierce did not offer an idea of exchange for James, but has a $ 52.6 million player option for the next season. James was not a commitment about his future when asked after the defeat of game 5 on Wednesday.

“I don’t know. I don’t have an answer to that,” James told journalists. “Something that will sit with my family, my wife and my support group and their son or simply talk and see what happens. And I only have one conversation with myself about how long I want to play. I don’t know the correct answer

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