Collin Sexton has a weird LeBron James problem. He keeps showing up right after James leaves. And now it’s happened a second time.
The guard signed with the Los Angeles Lakers this offseason as a free agent. He walked into a locker room that just watched LeBron walk out. James left the Lakers in free agency, heading elsewhere after a Western Conference Semifinals loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
This is familiar territory for Sexton. Really familiar.
Back in 2018, the Cleveland Cavaliers drafted him 8th overall. That same offseason, LeBron left Cleveland to join the Lakers. Sexton spent years in Cleveland without ever getting to run a pick-and-roll with arguably the best player of his generation. Now history basically repeated itself.
“He’s just leaving every time I arrive,” Sexton said, according to Khobi Price of The California Post. “One of the other coaches made the same joke yesterday. I’ve always wanted to team up with him for sure, but it’s definitely cool knowing him.”
It’s a funny kind of bad luck. Sexton has never been in the same building as LeBron during any of his prime years. Twice now he’s walked into a franchise the moment James walked out the back door.
The Lakers’ New Look
Los Angeles had to fill a massive hole. James is gone. So the Lakers went out and grabbed a handful of guys. Not stars. Just bodies who can play.
Walker Kessler came over. Quentin Grimes. Sandro Mamukelashvili. Jaden Hardy. And Sexton. That’s the group the Lakers brought in to try and keep things from falling apart completely after losing in the playoffs to the Thunder.
Sexton spent last season split between the Charlotte Hornets and the Chicago Bulls. He played 68 games, started 22 of them. Mostly he came off the bench and scored. That’s his game. Instant offense. He’s not a point guard who runs an offense for 35 minutes. He’s a bucket-getter who can heat up fast.
That role probably doesn’t change in L.A. He’ll be a sixth man type, getting buckets when the starters sit. The Lakers need scoring off the bench. Sexton can do that.
But the timing thing. It keeps coming up. Two different franchises, two different eras of LeBron’s career, and Sexton keeps missing him by a few months. It’s almost impressive at this point.
Sexton laughed it off. What else can you do. He’s 25 years old, on a new team, trying to prove he can be part of something that works. And somewhere out there, LeBron is on another team. Again.
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