Where Every NBA Team Ranks as a Free-Agency Destinationhttps://t.co/g69JoRJBSb via @BleacherReport
— LakerTom (@LakerTom) October 6, 2020
1. Los Angeles Lakers
LeBron James has played in 10 NBA Finals, reaching the championship round in each of the last nine seasons in which he’s been healthy. If winning matters at all to free agents, the best place to play is wherever James is.
At the moment, he’s with the Los Angeles Lakers. So is Anthony Davis, which is perhaps the best evidence of James’ ability to attract talent to his team. AD wasn’t even a free agent, and LeBron tractor-beamed him in anyway.
We could embrace oversimplification and end the analysis there, but everyone knows L.A. has more to offer than the best odds to compete for a title. There’s the storied tradition, the widest availability of off-court business and entertainment opportunities, the weather, the prestige, the media coverage and the colossal and devoted fanbase.
The organization has sometimes been guilty of believing its own hype, of trusting that Lakers exceptionalism can make up for shaky management and style-over-substance personnel decisions. Yet, much to the frustration of the rest of the league, the Lakers are exceptional. They do attract talent for reasons that often amount to little more than “mystique.”
Maybe that’s not fair, but that’s the way it is. And LeBron’s presence only reaffirms the Lakers’ mythological status in the league.
Add in this year’s NBA championship and you can see the Lakers are going to have a great opportunity to upgrade the team this offseason. There’s another Lakers dynasty coming!