Skip Bayless: ‘Jeanie Buss is too smart to start over’ without LeBron James

The biggest question facing the Los Angeles Lakers as they begin their offseason is whether LeBron James will stick around with them. He has a player option for next season that he can decline in order to become a free agent, and although he’s expected to decline that option, the general feeling is that he isn’t going anywhere.

There are quite a few Lakers fans who want James to leave and for the team to hit the reset button. Their reasons range from believing the team has maxed out the potential of its core, to being sick of the challenges that come with having a James-led team to simply having a very strong dislike for the 39-year-old.

But Skip Bayless feels those fans won’t get their wish. He cited how the Lakers aren’t far off from being a championship-caliber team, as well as how James is “still the face of the” NBA and how he still generates boatloads of money for the league and the team he plays for.

For better or worse, the Lakers have always done business by prioritizing big-name superstars and treating them well. That means if James wants to stay, he will end up staying, whether fans like it or not.

Story originally appeared on LeBron Wire