Die-Hard Lakers Fan O’Shea Jackson Jr: LeBron Should NOT Sign with Warriors

O'Shea Jackson Jr. had a clear message about where LeBron James should not go. If the four-time champion insists on chasing one more ring, Golden State is the wrong postcard to end on.

"What a weird ending to your movie," Jackson said when the Warriors scenario came up. "Go to the Eastern Conference." Rich pushed him on it. Why not Golden State, with Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, a healthy Jimmy Butler, Kristaps Porzingis, Al Horford, and Steve Kerr on the bench? To Jackson, the history got in the way. "You was talking crazy in 2016," he said, recalling James and the Cavs going to war with those Warriors teams. Signing up now would just feel off.

His preference was a return east. The Cavaliers had been dismantled by the Knicks, but Jackson figured James could help drag that group back into contention. And in the end, he threw up his hands. "I really don't care where he goes, Rich. It doesn't matter anymore." He was tired, he admitted, of doing the political thing.

What Jackson did care about was the Lakers finding their footing without their franchise centerpiece. He framed it as a genuine test for JJ Redick. Without James on the floor as the de facto player-coach, the spotlight swings fully to the man on the sideline. Jackson, a Duke fan, gave Redick his backing anyway. "I need you to lock in," he said. "Because it's an ugly taste in our mouth right now, and we the Lakers, and they need to remember that."

Then came the line that doubled as a mission statement. "We are the logo of the damn league, and we need to start acting like it."

Jackson was not shy about the state of the NBA either. He took a shot at the parity era, the sense that titles are getting handed around freely. Rich turned it into a bit, casting Adam Silver as the Oprah of commissioners, everybody gets one. Jackson leaned in, insisting the Lakers, the team that started it all, need to get back to the front of that line. "I'm ready to lock in," he said.

The segment closed on a friendly needle. Rich reminded Jackson that the Knicks, led by a former Dallas Maverick drafted in the same class as Luka Dončić, had just won it all. Jalen Brunson beat Luka to the trophy. "May you get yours, O'Shea," Rich offered. Jackson took it in stride, with one condition on any future banner. "Anybody but Brogdon," he said. Unfortunately for him, Brogdon already got his.