Don’t Let Avery Bradley and Dwight Howard’s Possible Absence Alter LeBron’s Legacy

Every team that is built to win a championship has a few components in common: effective coaching, superstar talent, and really good role players that fill in where necessary and come up big in a playoff game or two. For the Lakers, they have all three of these key factors in place to power a possible championship run if and when the NBA season starts back up.

While the country has been flooded with social and political controversy surrounding racial injustice and the global pandemic of COVID-19, NBA players have decided to take a step back and look at the bigger picture of the world rather than just the league’s proposed "bubble" down in Orlando. Two of those players are LA’s Avery Bradley and Dwight Howard, who are both willing to sit out the rest of the season.

Off the court, their perspectives and reasoning are justified. On the court, this will have an effect on the Lakers' chase for their first ring in a decade.

All told, if this leads to the Lake Show falling short of championship glory, don't let that take a single thing away from LeBron James' amazing season or his all-time body of work.

LBJ clearly wants to play, and is a great enough talent where he has done more with teams that have a lot less. He still has prime running mate in Anthony Davis and supporting contributors like Kyle Kuzma and former NBA champions Danny Green, JaVale McGee, and Rajon Rondo.

If LA falters at the finish because they are missing two key role players, do not fault King James, full stop. Bradley and Howard are standing up for something much bigger than themselves, the Lakers, or the NBA. If they feel the need to make an executive decision to make change, then holding that against LeBron and his overall greatness in the context of his long basketball career is the wrong thing to do.