Lakers’ fans are being held hostage by LeBron James and his agent Rich Paul.

The Lakers have had an active off season, once it was determined King James would not be returning.  

LeBron, facing a big paycut from his (50M) salary, is looking at potential offers from 6-different teams, but all with limited salary cap space.  Should he have stayed here?  

The 76ers seem to have the best firepower to put around LeBron.  Miami has Pat Riley and Eric Spoelstra plus the addition of Giannis Antetokounmpo.  Minnesota has talent but you wonder how LeBron fits in financially and style wise.  Cleveland and its homecoming potential makes sense, but the Cavs are over the cap and would have to shed salary.  Denver has a critical need to find good players around Nikola Jokic.  Golden State, with all its aging veterans, makes little sense.

So we have to wait for LeBron and his agent to tell us all where he is taking his talents next.  A bit of a turnoff I think.

The Lakers hit the floor running, once King James made his decision.  

They made 4-deals in a 35-minute span once free agency opened on July 1st.

Walker Kessler, a big (7’2-C), young skilled passer seems like a good fit to play with Luka Doncic.  It cose them two #1 picks to get a post player from Utah, but he is solid

LA turned the rest of the roster upside down, trading away underachieving center DeAndre Ayton, letting guard Marcus Smart leaves as a free agent, losing 3-point shooter Luke Kennard, letting center Jaxson Hayes walk, not re-signing forward Rui Hachimura, and allowing backup Maxi Kleber go to Europe.

All this on top of LeBron’s exit, which means 7-in all have left.

What they have replaced them with is youth, some defense at affordable contracts.

Rookie guard Cam Carr was impressive in the Las Vegas Summer League and may be the first guard off the bench.

Who knows about the rest: ex-76ers guard Quentin Grimes (13P)…former Cleveland-Chicago shooting guard Collin Sexton (15P)…and Sandro Mamukelashvill (13P), a 3-point shooter from Toronto.  Yes they can score, but they are not complete, and other clubs have let them go, so how solid are they?

LA also is bringing in guys who have defensive qualities on their resume, 6’7-F-Matisse Thybulle-from Portland….6’7-foward Zaire Williams of New Orleans.  

2-younger players, who toiled on the G-League team, had strong summer league weeks on offense, worth watching 6’7-F-Arthur Kaluma and 6’7-F-Adou Thiera, will be interesting.

That being said, what if the Lakers had asked LeBron to wait before opting out.  Wouldn’t King James, with Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves and the big center Kessler been a pretty good package to play in the Western Conference.  Losing Hachimura to the Clippers on top of LeBron’s exit, means alot of firepower is now gone.

Just does not seem what’s on the roster at this hour is better than the roster they could have had on opening night.

Yes you can play ‘What If’ with all of GM-Rob Pelinka’s decisions over the years trying to find the right fits for the guys he has brought in.  Seems to be the same again this year.

And so we wait to see LeBron’s landing spot, and if he winds up in a better situation than the one he left behind in LA.

NBA Fans…Lakers Fans…sitting and waiting to see if the Lakers will ever be a winner again too.

=============