Inside the passive-aggressive, sterile dissolution of the LeBron-Lakers marriage

Inside the passive-aggressive, sterile dissolution of the LeBron-Lakers marriageLos Angeles Lakers1hRamona ShelburneSix huge questions after the Lakers' 35-minute flurry of free agent dealsLos Angeles Lakers3dDave McMenaminNBA free agency is here! Updates on deals, trades and latest intel2dESPNWindhorst: NBA execs on the Brown trade, big-money bigs and an unexpected salary cap3dBrian WindhorstFantasy basketball: Jaylen Brown loses volume in Philly, but remains a top-25 pick5dEric MoodyplayPerk can't disagree more with Vincent Goodwill's LeBron statue take (2:17)Ramona ShelburneJul 6, 2026, 07:00 AM ETCloseSenior writer for ESPN.comSpent seven years at the Los Angeles Daily NewsFollow on XMultiple AuthorsEmailPrintOpen Extended ReactionsTHERE ARE, BY one recent count, 46 items banned from the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club during the two-week tournament from Wimbledon.

Among them are selfie sticks, which left superagent Rich Paul with a dilemma as he tried Tuesday afternoon to co-host the "Game Over" podcast he does with Max Kellerman from the venue.Cell phones must be placed on silent during matches, and no calls are permitted from the stands. So earlier in the day Tuesday, when Paul needed to call Lakers president of basketball operations Rob Pelinka to inform him that his star client, LeBron James, would be continuing his basketball career elsewhere, he stepped into the Polo by Ralph Lauren store in the Southern Village to make the call.

For a week, neither James' camp nor the Lakers had exchanged formal or even informal offers, according to sources on both sides of the situation.Nor had they discussed a vision for a future together, or even met face-to-face -- in person or virtually.The Lakers called Paul a week before free agency, when teams could approach their own free agents, to try to arrange a videoconference with James and were told he wasn't available.

Paul didn't say why at the time, but he told ESPN it was because James had already decided he didn't want to return to the Lakers and that there was no need for a call.The Lakers had approached all of their free agents in a similar manner. After an initial videoconference with Austin Reaves, an elaborate pitch meeting was scheduled at the team's facility.

Customized pillows and blankets were designed and presented to Reaves. Steaks were ordered in. His favorite country music was played.

Soon afterward, he agreed to a new four-year, $185 million deal.James didn't want any of that. After the season, sources close to James said the most important factor in him re-signing would be how the Lakers approached him.

He might have been willing to take a pay cut from the $52.6 million he'd made the season before, sources said, if the Lakers explained how they planned to reallocate the money.They never did, and James never made himself available to meet.

He had been a priority enough times in his career to know when he wasn't one.By the time Los Angeles called a week before free agency, Paul said James was already "a thousand percent" certain he was ready to move on from the Lakers. That, Paul knew, was a significant shift from just a few weeks prior, when James told Paul he was "80 percent" sure he'd play another season with the Lakers.

Paul said he didn't press James for the reasons his thinking shifted over the course of the month, but he has some guesses.The 10-day European trip James recently took to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Cleveland Cavaliers' 2016 NBA title certainly provided him a contrast of his recent experience with the Lakers -- of what it was like to play championship basketball; to be celebrated and appreciated at the highest level; to have real, enduring relationships.Or maybe James was finally ready to act on the writing on the wall that had been there for the past year -- when the Lakers declined to offer him an extension on his contract as they'd done twice previously, and started pitching their new face of the franchise, 27-year-old Luka Doncic, on why he should sign an extension with a team built around him.

Pelinka and coach JJ Redick presented those plans to Doncic and his manager, Lara Beth Seager, at L.A. hotspot Craig's on Melrose Avenue, and the group celebrated over a bottle of Opus One.

Left unsaid at that meeting was whether that future included one of the greatest players in NBA history.But the pitch was clear: To build around Doncic, the team would need to use the $52.6 million salary slot James occupied to pursue younger, more complementary pieces.

It was a dilemma that hung uncomfortably over the entire season as James shifted between complementary and starring roles depending on which of his younger co-stars, Doncic and Reaves, was available.It was the final year of an eight-year marriage that was often transactional and cold. In 2018, the most famous sports franchise in the world was mired in dysfunction and losses -- and grappling with its biggest fear as a worldwide brand: irrelevance.

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