It came with a little surprise this offseason when LeBron James signed his extension with the Lakers without much fanfare or pressure. A man who has often used any sort of leverage he can to keep pressure on a team to compete opted not to do that and signed an extension with the Lakers, letting them off the hook in some capacity.
So, while the team may have made assurances that they would be competitive this season, there’s nothing really keeping that pressure on them. The result is a franchise that has waited and waited and waited for the right deal in the months that have followed.