Getty Image
The 2024 NBA preseason officially kicked off when the Celtics faced off against the Nuggets in Abu Dhabi last week, which required those teams to make a much lengthier trip than the ones LeBron James recently hopped online to complain about even though it appears he has no one but his own team to blame.
Every team LeBron James has played for over the course of his legendary NBA career has had plenty of incentive to keep the superstar happy, and the Los Angeles Lakers are certainly no exception (it’s hard to imagine any scenario where they would have used a draft pick on Bronny James if his dad hadn’t been on the team).
LeBron is still one of the best players in the NBA ahead of the start of a season where he’ll be celebrating his 40th birthday, and at this point in his career, it’s easy to understand why he’d want to take things easy during the preseason when you consider he’s one of the last players in the league who really benefits from those exhibition games.
With that said, the Lakers are still trying to firm up their roster and get everyone on the same page ahead of their regular season opener with the Timberwolves on October 22nd, and they’ll be relying on the slate of six preseason showdowns that officially kicked off when they hosted Minnesota last Friday.
They followed up that contest with another home game against the Suns to cap off a two-game homestand that preceded a journey to Milwaukee to face off against the Bucks on Thursday night—a road trip LeBron is apparently not a fan of based on the tweet he sent out on Wednesday afternoon.
Can someone please explain to me why we’re getting on a ✈️ and heading to Milwaukee for 1 pre-season game!?!?
— LeBron James (@KingJames) October 9, 2024
James asked for an explanation and got one courtesy of Bobby Marks, who currently serves as an NBA Front Office Insider for ESPN but spent 20 years working his way up the ranks with the Nets before eventually ascending to the position of assistant GM.
He subsequently knows a thing or two about how NBA teams operate, and based on what he had to say, the Lakers are almost certainly making the more than 1,700-mile trip to Milwaukee because they agreed to a home-and-home with a Bucks squad that traveled the same distance for a preseason showdown last year.
As someone who handled this in NJ/Brooklyn, the pre-season schedule is done in-house and not thru the NBA.
The process is similar to how colleges arrange non-conference games.
It looks like the Milwaukee game was part of a home-home arrangement between both teams.
The Bucks… https://t.co/dhjZ9eHxnM
— Bobby Marks (@BobbyMarks42) October 9, 2024
The more you know.