I was digging this Lakers team a lot more before LeBron showed up. Sure, I got caught up in some of the Summer League hype surrounding Lonzo Ball and Kyle Kuzma, but there was a lot of young talent there, and I’m always down to… enjoy young talent.
Then LeBron and his hand-picked collection of misfit veteran role-players showed up, and now all the reasons to watch the Lakers are getting marginalized. I even like these misfit veteran role-players (except Lance Stephenson, what the heck is that guitar strumming celebration), but I like them a lot less when they turn Kuzma from an exciting young talent to underachieving (more like same-chieving, really) sophomore.
It’s not even a matter of waiting it out. LeBron is immortal. He never misses games. He’s never injured, much less for an extended period of time. The Lakers are stuck with him for the rest of his career, and it could be a decade before he’s gone. You know how old Kuzma is going to be then? Frickin’ old as heck. Near retirement age. That means, unless he bolts, that we’re NEVER going to see a prime, unfettered version of him. EVER.