What Do the Lakers Owe LeBron James? Is Rob Pelinka Not Keeping Promises?

The 2022-23 Lakers are in deep trouble, but are also, by all indications, in a holding pattern when it comes to making deals to try and rescue this season. As they head into Tuesday's tilt with Orlando seven games under .500 and staring down a long stretch without Anthony Davis, the prospect of another disaster of a season has people asking whether the Lakers are wasting the best/rest of LeBron James's career.

What do they owe him? Did Rob Pelinka really make a commitment ahead of training camp to do anything to try and win while he's here?

How big a commitment did James make to the Lakers, really? Yes, he signed an extension, but just for a year, plus an option. It's not like he created some sort of blood pact with the team. But all of this begs more questions. Are the Lakers correct in holding tight, even if it makes them look bad in the reflection of their own history, with Team James, and in some media circles? If they're correct about this, does it change the basic calculus about whether the operation is, you know, competently run?

(Spoiler alert: It does not.)

Even if the Lakers are doing the right thing, currently, we don't really know if they're doing the right thing for the right reasons, or if it's by accident. We certainly don't know if the current braintrust can be trusted to repair the damage that put the team in this predicament to begin with. (Actually, we do, and it can't.)

Finally, fans are getting really angry with the stewardship of Jeanie Buss in ways that eclipse previous poor stretches. It's not a stretch to say that a segment of fans is giving up hope... which can quickly move into apathy. Which is a bad place for the Lakers to be.

HOSTS: Andy and Brian Kamenetzky

SEGMENT 1: What do the Lakers owe LeBron James?

SEGMENT 2: What kind of commitment has James made to the Lakers? What difference does that make?

SEGMENT 3: The fans are turning on Jeanie.

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