When LeBron James decided to leave the Cleveland Cavaliers in free agency for the second time, he was not met with as much pushback or criticism as the first time around.

But, the choice to join the Los Angeles Lakers was clearly a bold one. 

And it might have been made mainly for non-basketball reasons.

James owns a home in Los Angeles and clearly has Hollywood aspirations, as indicated by his film company, past cameos in movies and commercials and future starring role in Space Jam 2. Despite the fact that he went to eight-straight Finals while representing the Eastern Conference as a member of the Miami Heat and then the Cavs, it was clear that he sought a new challenge and change of scenery.

Since he agreed to sign in LA, the team has added a number of veterans to their young core in order to better position themselves to win in 2018-2019, but it’s safe to assume that the Lakers will not contend at the top of the Western Conference due to the presence of the Golden State Warriors and Houston Rockets.

On the Uninterrupted platform, King James explained his decision for the first time.

His thought process

“You look at the Lakers,” he said. “Being able to play for a historic franchise with so much history, and now being able to partner with Magic Johnson, someone I kinda like looked up to when I was younger and wanted to make no look passes like Magic, wanted to get on the break and be Showtime like Magic and then for it to all come to fruition at this point…”

Therefore, his idolization of Magic clearly played a role in his decision, as did his appreciation for the rich championship-winning history of the franchise.

He went on, “I think timing is everything. For me to be in this position now, the excitement that I have to be a Laker, I’m happy to be apart of it because I believe the Lakers is a historical franchise, we all know that, but it’s a championship franchise and that’s what we’re trying to get back to. I’m happy to be a part of the culture and be a part of us getting back to that point.”

While he could have made another choice, it's clear that he wanted to make sure he wore the purple and gold at some point in his legendary career.