Former Laker and Basketball Hall-of-Famer Gary Payton has weighed in on where he thinks LeBron James should finish his career, amid a week of wild rumors.
ESPN this week dropped the bombshell news that the Warriors enquired about LeBron at the trade deadline, a deal which LeBron and the Lakers weren’t willing to explore.
James did the right thing by staying in purple and gold, according to Payton, who also thinks LeBron will undoubtedly finish his career right where he is.
“LeBron did what he wanted — [what] he was supposed to. He said, ‘I’m staying where I’m at,’” Payton told Yahoo Sports.
“He’s been traveling too many times, been to Cleveland, you know. He been to Miami, went back to Cleveland. This is his last stop, man.”
James won the Lakers a championship during the bubble season in 2020 and Payton says that LeBron runs the show in LA, so why would he leave?
“LeBron is not going nowhere. L.A. is his city right now, his town,” Payton said. “Kobe is really … it’s Kobe’s city. But LeBron is taking over now.”
The Glove also weighed in on the LeBron to Golden State situation.
“Golden State would have to give up everybody. So you only would have been playing with [LeBron] and probably Curry,” Payton said. “They’d have to give up their whole team. They would have been only LeBron and Curry.
“And then [Golden State] would have to bring in somebody else. They would’ve had to throw people in. So I don’t think that would have happened.”
ESPN‘s Zach Lowe also this week reported that the Warriors aren’t done trying to get LeBron.
So, watch this space.
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