{"id":482255,"date":"2026-02-18T04:47:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T04:47:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/482255\/"},"modified":"2026-02-18T04:47:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T04:47:07","slug":"lakers-urged-to-finally-cut-ties-with-101-million-four-time-nba-champion-22-time-all-star","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/482255\/","title":{"rendered":"Lakers urged to finally cut ties with $101 million four-time NBA champion, 22-time All-Star"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportingnews.com\/ca\/nba\/los-angeles-lakers\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Los Angeles Lakers<\/a> have an exciting offseason ahead of them.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Fans should expect the 17-time NBA champions to be active from start to finish, whether that be letting assets walk in free agency, signing versatile contributors, or completing big-time trades.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>According to an anonymous Eastern Conference front office executive, one of the Lakers\u2019 top priorities should be <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nba\/story\/_\/id\/47949695\/why-los-angeles-lakers-quiet-nba-trade-deadline-explosive-offseason-lebron-james-luka-doncic-giannis-antetkounmpo\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">parting ways<\/a> with a four-time NBA champion and 22-time All-Star.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The first thing they have to do is move off LeBron,&#8221; the executive told ESPN\u2019s Dave McMenamin on Tuesday. &#8220;Let him walk and use the space to retool around Luka. Keeping Reaves is critical. (Luka Doncic) plays best with another ball handler\/creator like with Kyrie (Irving) and (Jalen) Brunson.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>While McMenamin said the Lakers will welcome James back if he re-signs in free agency, a split may be best for both parties. James helped Los Angeles win a title in 2020 and has helped bring showtime back to Los Angeles.<\/p>\n<p>However, for Doncic to get a chance to take full control of the Lakers\u2019 organization, Los Angeles will have no choice but to move on from the future Hall of Fame forward.<\/p>\n<p>With James being linked to an offseason reunion with his first NBA home, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportingnews.com\/ca\/nba\/cleveland-cavaliers\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Cleveland Cavaliers<\/a>, it would make perfect sense for the former No. 1 overall pick to explore a new NBA opportunity.<\/p>\n<p>More NBA:\u00a0W<a target=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sportingnews.com\/ca\/nba\/golden-state-warriors\/news\/warriors-sign-6-foot-5-former-lakers-guard-assist-stephen-curry\/1510322288ba07c572b09a60\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">arriors sign 6-foot-5 former Lakers guard to assist Stephen Curry<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Los Angeles Lakers have an exciting offseason ahead of them.\u00a0 Fans should expect the 17-time NBA champions&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":482256,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[434],"tags":[49,48,459,82],"class_list":["post-482255","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482255","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=482255"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482255\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/482256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=482255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=482255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=482255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}