Magic and some other extraneous factors (Bronnie's HS ball, Hollywood shit) were the reason LeBron ended up in LA. If it were about basketball, he'd have gone to the Sixers or forced his way to another favorable situation, likely in the East. That's also an FA signing where the Lakers gave up nothing.

Here, they give up a lot of assets for a guy who essentially came out and said he'd only play there. Rich Paul putting it out there that a deal to Boston would be a rental left the Lakers as the only game in town. It's true that in some cases the health of Ball and Ingram would have further dissolved the possibility of this deal, but he still ended up *adding* to the deal, not subtracting, putting in the #4 pick in place of Kuzma and adding the pick swaps. He also just bungled a coaching search. I am willing to give Magic and I guess even Pelinka a good amount of credit for LeBron, which was a coup of a signing, but this deal is all LeBron's camp and Pelinka's part seems unimpressive.