ESPN Dave McMenamin: What It’ll Take for LeBron James to Return to the Lakers

There was one game ball available on the night the Lakers needed three. ESPN's Dave McMenamin wrote about it, and what happened next has set the stage for LeBron James' offseason.

McMenamin walked Rich through the moment that started the Lakers tension piece.

The date was March 31. The Lakers beat the Cavs to complete a 16-2 stretch over 32 days. LeBron James earned the most combined wins in NBA history. Luka Doncic hit 15,000 career points. Rui Hachimura hit 5,000. The win locked in back-to-back 50-win seasons and Reick's 100th win as a head coach.

"In the postgame locker room, JJ Reick, doing a good job, kind of recognizing this group accomplishment, is listing off all the things that were done by his team that day," McMenamin said.

Rob Pelinka took the floor and presented the game ball to Reick.

"Shortly thereafter, LeBron James, who, of course, arrives to the arena wearing like an outfit and then showers and changes and stuff and leaves in that outfit, while this night was still in the practice shorts, ice bags on his knees, slide sandals on his feet, walked right out," McMenamin said.

Rich asked the obvious follow-up. Did LeBron leave with the ice bags still on?

"I saw with my own two eyes, the bags of ice were still on his knees," McMenamin said.

This was not about LeBron not respecting JJ Reick.

"He has a great relationship with, and it was a beautiful moment," McMenamin said. "The video of his children saying, congratulations Dad, beautiful moment. It was taken by LeBron to be another example of the Lakers not appreciating him and everything that he does."

Rich asked where the resentment came from.

"I think it's from an eight-year relationship that has had a lot of stuff build up now," McMenamin said.

He read directly from his own reporting. After Game 4 against the Thunder, with LeBron leaving the arena wearing his arrival outfit, McMenamin asked him directly.

"I said, is there, in order for you to come back to play for the Lakers, I understand you're going to have to figure out whether you want to play, both sides will have to figure out what the money, but that aside, is there any static that needs to be cleared up in order for this to move forward?" McMenamin said. "And he said, there's no static from me."

The static, in McMenamin's framing, may still exist. But it does not prevent the return.

"Even though he had this moment that was a real moment of indignation is what he felt, it's not something he can't get over in order to keep playing for the Lakers," McMenamin said.

Rich pushed back. LeBron is the highest-paid guy on the team at $50 million. That is the form of respect that matters in sports.

"That's what the money is for," McMenamin agreed.

But the soft form of acknowledgment matters too.

"In many ways, in many metrics, in sports for sure, the biggest respect you can get is your paycheck," McMenamin said. "That's number one, I understand."

The Luka trade question came up. Whether LeBron's resentment is sourced from how he learned about Luka coming to LA.

"I haven't been told that specifically," McMenamin said. "LeBron has on the record said that of course, if that trade comes across your desk, you make it. He understands. As close as he is with Anthony Davis and is to this day. I don't really think it's more about, once the trade occurred, the way the Lakers went about their business."

Rich painted the alternate-universe version. Pelinka standing next to LeBron at the postgame, handing him the game ball.

"How would it be if you gave him the game ball?" Rich said. "I think it might mean a lot to him."

McMenamin agreed.

"That sounds like a wonderful idea," McMenamin said. "It might mean a lot to the group. But they don't have that relationship clearly."

Rich pushed it further. This is what management is.

"That's how you manage a room," Rich said. "Does Rob not have this chip? Does he not care? How does something like this happen?"

McMenamin called it self-inflicted.

"It seems like a self-inflicted wound," McMenamin said.

He recalled a green-room conversation with Ramona Shelburne about which accolades matter and which do not.

"Can they know which are the accolades that matter and which don't?" McMenamin said. "I don't know. Maybe. But this one, the most wins in all-time, that seems to be like one that you might want to underline."

He landed on the symmetry of the night.

"And you get it against the Cavs, where you're the team of your youth and the one you started for," McMenamin said.