It’s the NBA offseason, and the free agency period is in full swing. Every day brings new trades and free agency signings. Fans are either excited or despondent, and the only sure thing is that most of them are wrong about what they think these moves mean for their teams.
We do know one thing for certain, however. LeBron James, four-time NBA champion, the league’s all-time leading scorer, and the oldest active player in the NBA, is leaving the Los Angeles Lakers, the team he played for the last eight seasons, including the pandemic-truncated 2020 season when he led the Lakers to their 17th NBA championship.
As a life-long Lakers fan, I am sad that LeBron will likely not be retiring as a member of the team. He brought the team back to relevance after some lean years, and won a championship. He was also part of the team’s legacy of employing the greatest players in the history of the game. George Mikan, Elgin Baylor, Jerry West, Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, Shaquille O’Neal, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, and now Luka Doncic represent a legendary chain of greatness that no other NBA team can claim.
But I am glad that LeBron will be be continuing his NBA career elsewhere. And I think his decisions to both join and leave the Lakers offer a great illustration of the principles of my, Reid Hoffman, and Ben Casnocha’s book The Alliance.
In the Alliance, we argued that the most common metaphors for employment are out of date and no longer serve us well. A company is not a family, because becoming part of a company isn’t permanent and irrevocable. Anyone who believes that their company will provide guaranteed lifetime employment is deluding themself. But at the same time, a company isn’t simply a collection of free agents, switching jobs whenever a more lucrative offer arrives. Anyone who believes that loyalty is for suckers sociopathic, not savvy.
Instead, we believe the right metaphor is that of an alliance–an explicit and voluntary agreement between two independent parties that encourages mutual trust and investment for the sake of mutual benefit. These alliances should be organized based on tours of duty, with specific goals in mind. And in the case of the best alliances, the relationship can and should continue long after the employment relationship ends.
When I look back on the alliance between LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers, I see all the same elements we wrote about in The Alliance. When LeBron James joined the Lakers in 2018, the core motivations were simple. The Lakers had missed the playoffs five seasons in a row, and wanted to content for NBA championships again. It didn’t hurt that LeBron also brought fame and media attention; don’t forget that the Lakers’ catchphrase is “Showtime”. Meanwhile, LeBron was leaving a Cleveland Cavaliers team that had just competed in the NBA finals, but was old, getting older, and had little draft capital to bring in young talent. The Lakers offered a team stocked with talented young players (Brandon Ingram, Lonzo Ball, Josh Hart, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Kyle Kuzma, plus a couple of young prospects named Ivica Zubac and Alex Caruso that would go on to become good players) and a front office that was willing to work with LeBron and his team (signing Klutch Sports client KCP was one way to signal this to LeBron). It didn’t hurt that LeBron wanted to live in Los Angeles and build a media empire.
Ultimately, both parties achieved their goals, though I think both felt that the final results could have been better. At LeBron’s urging, the Lakers traded much of that talent for Anthony Davis, and the James/Davis pairing immediately won the 2020 NBA Championship. I would argue that they had a decent shot to repeat as champions in 2021, but a Davis groin pull that occurred when they were leading the eventual Western Conference champion Suns in their playoff series ended that possibility. The team also made it to the Western Conference Finals in 2023 before losing to the eventual champion Denver Nuggets. Meanwhile, LeBron’s personal star rose even further as he expanded his media empire, become the NBA’s all-time leading scorer, and even got the Lakers to draft his son Bronny so the two could play together. Would both sides have been happier if the team had won a more championships during that time? Of course! Should the Lakers have refused to make the disastrous Russell Westbrook trade that James insisted on? Absolutely! But during the LeBron/Lakers era, eight different teams won an NBA championship, and one of those was the Lakers.
Which brings us to LeBron’s departure. On February 2, 2025, the Lakers shocked the world by trading Anthony Davis (and Max Christie) for Luka Doncic. It was the first time in NBA history that two All-NBA players had been traded for each other midseason. More importantly for the Lakers, they were able to acquire a 25-year-old superstar in his prime. He is the only player in NBA history to be First-Team All-NBA five times before the age of 24 (he was First-Team All-NBA again this year). Suddenly, the Lakers were focused on the future, and given LeBron’s age and likely retirement, a future without LeBron.
This massive change also changed the nature of the relationship between LeBron James and the Lakers. For the first time in his NBA career (and likely in his entire life), LeBron was not the most important player on his team. For both LeBron and the Lakers, their focus rightly shifted to figuring out a good concluding Tour of Duty that would allow LeBron’s time as a Laker to end on a high note.
LeBron adapted his game to fit with the Lakers’ new direction. He took the fewest shots per game in his career, even less than his rookie season. He was the third-leading scorer on the team, behind Doncic and Austin Reaves. He kept his status as a free-agent-to-be from becoming a distraction. And when Doncic and Reaves were injured at the end of the season, LeBron held the team together and even led them to an upset of the Houston Rockets in the first round of the playoffs.
In return, the Lakers continued to celebrate and praise him publicly. They gave LeBron chances to play with his son Bronny in both the regular season and the playoffs. And they kept silent on LeBron’s future other than to say that of course they hoped he would return.
While this final Tour of Duty didn’t result in a championship, I would still consider it a success for both parties. LeBron was able to go out on a high note after upsetting the Rockets, and the Lakers are now free to rebuild the team around Luka Doncic.
Even the public communications reflected a desire to celebrate the prior tours of duty and preserve a different relationship going forward. LeBron’s agent (and best friend) Rich Paul announced that LeBron wouldn’t be returning to the Lakers, which signaled that the departure was his choice (even though it was likely a mutual decision). The Lakers then released a “THANK YOU LEBRON” statement praising James. Here are the exact words: “LeBron James is one of the greatest athletes in history. We will always be thankful for his eight years with the Lakers — including the title he led us to in 2020 under the toughest imaginable circumstances and the countless records he broke in purple and gold. We wish him all the best in the future, both on the court and off. He will always be a cherished part of the Laker family.”
LeBron then replied, “No, THANK YOU! Truly a honor to wear the [purple and gold] while trying to continuing the greatness & legacies that came before me! Hope I made a few proud during my stint.” As if to make my point about concluding a tour of duty, he even included a “salute” emoji in his reply.
I don’t know what LeBron will do next, though my hope is that he joins his great friend and rival Steph Curry with the Warriors. I doubt they would win another championship together, but it would be fun to see them try.
What I do know is that someday in the next few years, a crowd will be watching in person and by video as LeBron and the Lakers unveil a LeBron statue outside the Lakers’ arena, to join the existing legends who are commemorated there: Elgin Baylor, Jerry West, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, Pat Riley, Chick Hearn, Kobe Bryant, and Shaquille O’Neal. LeBron’s statue, and the 2020 championship banner will be permanent monuments to a remarkable alliance that may not have achieved its optimal outcome, but still achieved greatness.