Ja, Kawhi & LaMelo traded, LeBron leaves L.A. and NBA free agency begins!

**Shaun Holkko** (0:29)
Hello, hello, hello. How's everyone doing? Another week, another episode. This is Stats Over Politics. As always, I'm gonna host Shaun Holkko alongside my guy, Mr. Kevin Dent, back for another episode, episode number 194 Kevin, how are we doing this week?

**Kevin Dent** (0:47)
It's a very interesting, interesting day, man. As you guys all know, if you've been watching this podcast, or listening to this podcast for a very long time, you guys know that I am through and through a LeBron fan. Now I've been in DMs, I've been in text messages, FaceTime calls, I'm willing to die behind the LeBron James. This is the greatest player ever in my eyes.
So he is now another free agent. Totty made a very interesting point. The last time he was a free agent, Sean, we were in high school.
So it's very interesting to see. I have a lot of Laker fans in my DMs, screaming and hollering. But it's gonna be a very interesting way to play out. I know everyone's eager to see where he's gonna go. He's gonna take his time. He's not gonna do something today. So hopefully it's in the near future. But I have my thoughts on that. But besides that, man, it's been a great week. Last weekend, a great weekend, I had to go help my mother-in-law and father-in-law move houses. So I was doing that all day Sunday.
So that was very, very long. And then just hanging out Monday, no complaints, had a dentist appointment. As an adult, going to the dentist is a hassle. It's a hassle on a Monday on a day off.
But you know, no complaints. The city of Portland is on fire right now. So it's a lot of good things to talk about. How are you doing, Shaun?

**Shaun Holkko** (2:04)
Yeah, you know, I'm doing well, thank you. Tickets are gonna get a lot more expensive in the Pacific Northwest now. And that is because of a new attraction that has come to town and potentially could be opening the door for more moves to come in Portland as well. As Kevin mentioned, LeBron James, he is on the move. He's going to be leading the Los Angeles Lakers as was announced this morning. It's ironic, Kevin and I were texting about it. For once, I actually got on top of it. I tried to be on top of content early. I was pre-planning and scheduled the broadcast for tonight's stream. Right when free agency's opening, I made the graphic and then quickly the graphic needed to be altered a little bit because Zach LaVine opting into his player option in the middle was suddenly not so important as LeBron James, deciding that he is ultimately going to be leaving Los Angeles.
Yes, so let's get right into it. I wanted to say shout out to the pod father, Mr. Jaevon Totty. He's not with us again this week, but he will be back soon and he will have some exciting news to share when we see Totty again soon. But until then, he's going to be handling pod father duties. But as Kevin likes to say, we got to bring you that content. The show must go on. It's the hottest part of the summer right now before things cool down a little bit. Then Kevin and I are going to be scratching and clawing for content. So let's get right into it, Kevin, as here on episode number 194 of Stats Over Politics.
The headline of today is that LeBron James has decided he's going to come back for another season. He's going to be back for 2026-27, but he will no longer be in a Lakers uniform as we've known him to be since 2018
You mentioned the last time that LeBron was not on the Lakers. I mean, it was nearly a decade ago and I will never forget that day because when the news hit my phone, I just looked down and I saw the woes alert and I was just like, what? Are you serious? LeBron James is a Laker as a Sacramento Kings fan, born and raised. I was just absolutely disgusted because I've always been on the LeBron side of the MJ LeBron debate and Kevin, you are much more of a LeBronologist than I am. But I am at least thrilled that the LeBron James era is over in Los Angeles. The only thing that it could get worse is if he stays in California and goes to the Golden State Warriors, which does seem like a possibility. But Kevin, you are a LeBron expert on this podcast. So what was your reaction to the news and where do you think he goes?