LeBron James’ spotty LeGM resume appears to influence JJ Redick’s hiring, Bronny’s draft pick would be a mistake for Lakers

LeBron James is perhaps the best basketball player of all time. He is a great teammate, an expert on the field and smart in his business dealings off the field. However, that doesn’t mean it’s perfect. Like Michael Jordan, he has a poor track record when it comes to influencing personnel moves.

That should be a huge red flag for the Lakers, who have been down this road many times before during LeBron’s six seasons with the team. They already made one of their two big decisions in June, selecting JJ Redick as their next head coach. They will also have to decide whether to select Bronny with the 17th or 55th pick in the draft.

James’ agent Rich Paul has insisted his star client did not influence the hiring and never endorsed Redick as his preferred candidate. That doesn’t pass the sniff test.

Former Laker Carmelo Anthony once called James the team’s GM, as did Kyrie Irving. Agents have grumbled that players cannot be signed to the team without his approval. His former Cavs GM David Griffin once said, “You’re not doing your job if you don’t talk to him about players.”

Every star has some level of influence on front office decisions, and James is certainly among that group. But if Rob Pelinka gives him too much of a role in the decisions, he is failing in his duty as a steward of the team. Redick could end up being a great coach for the team, and Bronny could be a fun role player. Those would be rare wins on a very spotty LeGM resume.

LAKERS RENTAL JJ REDICK

LeBron James’ poor track record as a LeGM

The Lakers need to learn from their past mistakes. Instead, it seems that history is doomed to repeat itself.

Listening to James on personnel decisions has taken the team from a championship selection in 2020 to where they are today. It was he who reportedly wanted the Lakers to trade for Russell Westbrook instead of Buddy Hield in 2021. Westbrook’s tenure with the Lakers was predictably disastrous. The spacing between the team’s three stars was abysmal, and James later complained about the roster’s lack of shooting, which was largely his fault.

MORE: Why LeBron James deserves blame as ‘Lakers GM’ for trading Russell Westbrook

Hield would have taken care of that shooting if the Lakers had gone with their feelings. He was one of the highest volume 3-point shooters in the league, hitting 40 percent of his 3s. More importantly, the Lakers didn’t have to trade Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and a first-round pick to get him. The asking price for Hield was reportedly Kyle Kuzma and Montrezl Harrell.

James would have compounded Westbrook’s mistake even further if the Lakers had listened to him again. He was reportedly upset that the team didn’t try to offload Westbrook and trade their 2027 first-round pick to acquire a clearly declining John Wall at the 2022 trade deadline.

That would have ended even worse than his deal with Westbrook. Wall played only 34 games after that date and was quickly out of the competition. Instead of pulling the trigger on Wall, the Lakers were able to salvage that situation somewhat by picking up D’Angelo Russell, Jarred Vanderbilt and Malik Beasley and getting the depth pieces needed to make a Western Conference Finals run to make.

James also hasn’t been a particularly good judge of coaches. He once tried to get Erik Spoelstra fired in Miami. It’s not easy coaching one of his teams; Redick becomes the tenth head coach of his career.

MORE: Is JJ Redick the right person for Lakers head coaching job?

Redick could find himself in a sticky situation due to his pre-existing relationship with James, according to longtime veteran and former teammate of the Lakers star, Udonis Haslem.

“If it’s JJ (Redick), it’s going to be a cynical locker room,” Haslem said on ESPN’s NBA Today show. “You’ll see guys saying, ‘Is the coach going to do a podcast after the game with LeBron?’ You’re going to have a cynical locker room with guys who will dismiss everything JJ says because they’ll wonder, ‘Is it JJ’s message or LeBron’s message?’

The Lakers could further complicate matters by selecting Bronny James in the draft later this month. With apologies to Luis Scola, Patty Mills and Aaron Wiggins, the 55th pick has typically not produced rotational players. It would be fair to use that pick on Bronny. But if the team trades for him or uses their No. 17 pick on him, it would be nothing short of a disaster.

Standing up to James is no easy task, but Pelinka and company are getting paid a lot of money to do it. They have to do their job, or the team has to find someone else who can.

Just don’t ask LeBron for that next recommendation.