Now this? THIS? This is the song of (my) summer. Fuck all that Spend Dat shit. When I think, "song of the summer", I think lighthearted, upbeat and, most importantly, DANCEABLE. Spend Dat is none of those things. Thank goodness Baby Chief Do It gave us Ghetto Love Story 💕
I've been saying it since 2020: Rob Pelinka quietly sabotaged LeBron's legacy.
After winning a championship with Dwight Howard and JaVale McGee anchoring the center rotation, the Lakers let both walk. Then we're supposed to believe they couldn't find another true big to play alongside AD after the Marc Gasol experiment failed?
They already had two who fit perfectly—they just chose not to keep them.
Instead, the front office chased a different direction, prioritizing more offense, spacing, and playmaking with Marc Gasol and Montrezl Harrell. That decision gutted the Lakers' interior defense, rebounding, and physical identity.
Rob Pelinka gets almost no criticism for one of the most damaging roster decisions of the LeBron era. That's basketball malpractice.
The Lakers never deserved LeBron James. Some of us remember the summer of 2018. When LeBron James, the best player in the world, chose to sign with a franchise that was the laughing stock of the league. They hadn’t sniffed the playoffs in five years. And they welcomed the best player in the world by surrounding him with the infant versions of Lonzo Ball, Kyle Kuzma and Brandon Ingram as his teammates. He helped bring in Anthony Davis. The same Anthony Davis that helped bring in Luka Doncic. They won the Cup. They won a championship. Their first title in a decade. Over the course of the next eight seasons, we watched as Lakers fans blamed LeBron for everything when their season fell short even though he was playing at an All-NBA level. His loyalty was questioned, even though he fulfilled every contract to the end. We saw the front office sit on their hands with draft capital. We saw the front office prioritize future cap space instead of rolling the dice every year. We saw them waste prime years with AD. Now, we see Lakers fan celebrating as he walks out the door after bringing the franchise back to relevancy. He was never appreciated as much as he should have been.