LeBron James’ Lakers career can now be viewed as a timeline, with each stop telling a different part of the story: the arrival, the injury, the Anthony Davis trade, the bubble championship, the Kobe Bryant grief, the scoring record, the NBA Cup, the Bronny James moment and, finally, the Luka Dončić pivot that now looks like it was the beginning of the end.
2018: The arrival in Los Angeles
James came to Los Angeles in 2018 after opting out of his contract with the Cleveland Cavaliers. He signed a four-year, $153.5 million deal with the Lakers, joining a franchise that had missed the playoffs for five straight seasons and was still trying to rebuild around young talent.
2018-19: The injury and missed playoffs
The Lakers started slowly, and James’ first season in Los Angeles was derailed by a Christmas Day groin injury. He missed 17 straight games, and the Lakers fell out of the playoff race. It marked the first time James had missed the postseason since 2005.
2019: The Anthony Davis trade changes everything
The Lakers’ timeline changed when Los Angeles traded for Anthony Davis, giving James the superstar partner he needed. The Lakers immediately became contenders and opened the 2019-20 season 17-2.
January 2020: Kobe Bryant, grief and responsibility
On Jan. 25, 2020, James passed Kobe Bryant for third place on the NBA’s all-time scoring list. Bryant congratulated him publicly that night. The next day, Bryant, his daughter Gianna and seven others were killed in a helicopter crash in Calabasas.
Days later, James stood at center court before the Lakers’ first home game after Bryant’s death and delivered an emotional speech in a No. 24 jersey.
2020: The bubble championship
After the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the season, the NBA resumed inside the Orlando bubble. James and Davis led the Lakers through the Western Conference and into the NBA Finals against the Miami Heat.
James finished the clinching Game 6 with a triple-double, delivering the franchise’s 17th championship. He was named Finals MVP for the fourth time, becoming the first player in NBA history to win that award with three different franchises.
2020-22: Records, injuries and uneven team-building
The next two seasons were defined by individual history and team frustration.
In 2020-21, James became the first player in NBA history to score in double figures in 1,000 consecutive games and reached 35,000 career points. But an ankle injury cost him 20 games, and the Lakers lost to the Phoenix Suns in the first round.
The following season, James became the only player in NBA history with at least 10,000 points, 10,000 rebounds and 10,000 assists.
He also scored 56 points against the Golden State Warriors, one of the great late-career scoring nights of his Lakers run.
The Lakers, however, missed the postseason.
2023: The scoring record and one more playoff push
On Feb. 7, 2023, James passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to become the NBA’s all-time leading scorer. The fadeaway jumper against the Oklahoma City Thunder at Crypto.com Arena lifted him past a record once thought untouchable.
That season also produced one of his best Lakers playoff runs. James had 22 points, 20 rebounds and seven assists in an overtime win over the Memphis Grizzlies, becoming the oldest player in league history with a 20-20 playoff game. He later helped close out the Warriors in the second round, sending the Lakers to the Western Conference finals.
2023-24: The NBA Cup and 40,000 points
James added another first when the Lakers won the inaugural NBA In-Season Tournament, later renamed the NBA Cup. He was named tournament MVP.
That season, he also became the first player in NBA history to reach 40,000 career points.
2024: The Bronny James moment
The Lakers drafted Bronny James with the No. 55 pick in 2024. On Oct. 22, 2024, LeBron and Bronny became the first father-son duo to play together in an NBA game.
For James, it was the fulfillment of a goal he had spoken about for years. For the Lakers, it was another historic moment attached to one of the most unusual superstar tenures the franchise has ever had.
2025-26: The final records and the Luka Dončić pivot
James became the first player to play in 23 NBA seasons. He passed Abdul-Jabbar for the most career field goals made, passed Robert Parish for the most games played and reached 12,000 career assists.
Still, the biggest moment of the season may not have been one of his records.
It was the Lakers’ trade for Luka Dončić.
The February 2025 deal, which sent Anthony Davis to Dallas in a stunning three-team trade, gave Los Angeles a younger franchise centerpiece and signaled that the post-LeBron era had already begun.
In retrospect, that move marked the end of James’ Lakers era. The franchise was no longer built primarily around him. Dončić became the future.
2026: The end of the Lakers era
Now, James is leaving Los Angeles after eight seasons, one championship, one Finals MVP, one NBA Cup, the league scoring record, the first father-son game in NBA history and a long list of milestones that may never be matched.
LeBron James came to Los Angeles to write the final major chapter of his career.
He ended up writing one of the strangest, most decorated and most debated chapters in Lakers history.
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