The Los Angeles Lakers regular season this year has not gone according to their plans. In the midst of abysmal performances and dwindling faith in the roster, new pressures arise, this time from within the team. As the NBA trade deadline approaches, the Lakers find themselves in a weird situation as they are being pressured by their own star player, LeBron James.

His recent strategic maneuvers, such as wearing a New York Knicks towel after a victory over the Knicks, indicate James’s efforts to influence the Lakers’ front office to make some roster upgrades. While Bron’s agent Rich Paul has come out to say that there is no personal move to the Big Apple for LeBron, we now have an update from the Lakers’ front office.

According to ESPN’s Brian Windhorst, the Lakers have not reacted to James’ moves. Windhorst said, “The Lakers to this point, have not reacted to LeBron’s maneuvers, including wearing the Knicks towel last night, and they have kind of held firm in their talks. The issue with the Lakers is they have only a couple of draft assets left, and they just want to hold onto them.” So, despite James’ apparent attempts to garner attention, the Lakers are still keeping a cool demeanor, refusing to give in to his pressure.

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The biggest reason why the Lakers are reluctant to make substantial roster adjustments is because they want to preserve their remaining draft assets. Due to that, the Lakers’ front staff is struggling to try and balance the 39-year-old star’s aspirations for immediate championship contention with the franchise’s future.

While the Knicks towel is the latest one of LeBron James’ attempts, this past week has seen the veteran drop more. This has led to fans making up their own speculations about James leaving the Lakers for his championship aspirations if they don’t succumb to his wishes.

LeBron James hinting at leaving the Lakers and going to the Knicks

As the Lakers have been very inconsistent with their performances recently, the 4x NBA champion has been giving subtle hints about having options before the trade deadline. He has taken to social media and made some cryptic tweets that have a hidden message in them that everyone in the NBA community is trying to decode. Like this tweet, for example:

However, nobody knows for sure what James meant to say through his tweet, and he refused to explain it in a talk with the media later that week. But when the L-Train made another tweet in a couple of days, it somewhat confirmed their theory.

The Statue of Liberty, along with the Crown (synonymous with King James himself) could only mean one thing. The kicker was that he was replying to a fan’s apple emoji. However, nothing of great substance has materialized out of these tweets. Maybe LeBron was having some fun adding fuel to speculation? We will never know.

But for now, all that we can focus on is the Lakers making some important moves to add more value to the roster instead of losing a cornerstone like LeBron James.

So, do you believe in these speculations and think that James might move away from the Lakers, or do you think the Lakers will succumb to his demands and upgrade their squad? Let us know in the comments below.

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