Magic's Plan: The Lakers don't want this LeBron team to look anything like his Cavs teams

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The memes and the jokes wrote themselves. Shortly after LeBron James announced he would sign a four-year, $153 million deal with the Los Angeles Lakers Sunday evening, his longtime ear-whisperer Lance Stephenson agreed to become his teammate.

Then came the signing of JaVale McGee, who'd been reimagined as a rim-protecting alley-ooper with the Golden State Warriors after spending much of his career one wrong move away from Shaquille O'Neal's lowlight reel.

And on Monday, the coup de grace, one of the only point guards in the league whose shot was as fluky as the Lakers' current point guard Lonzo Ball (who shot 36 percent from the field and just 30.5 percent from behind the 3-point arc), arrived with the famously prickly Rajon Rondo (46.8 percent FG, 33.3 percent 3-pointers).

Everything you thought you knew about the type of cast James preferred to play with -- good shooters to stretch the floor around him, high basketball IQ veterans who could match wits with him -- suddenly seemed off.

Just what in the hell were the Lakers doing?

Here is the answer: exactly what James and Lakers president Magic Johnson planned when they met for more than three hours on the first night of free agency. According to multiple sources within the Lakers and close to James, this is the rollout of a plan Johnson outlined for James the night of June 30 at James' home. The signings, which sources say James has consulted on but have been executed at Johnson and Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka's direction, follow this vision.

It may seem to be an unconventional plan considering current trends. It may be a plan that takes time to come together, especially early in the season when new habits will be tested. It may, in fact, be a plan that ultimately fails.

But the Lakers are indeed attempting to chart a new course for James' Lakers future, one that is vastly different from the style of basketball he'd played with the Cleveland Cavaliers.

"Unlike most free agents changing teams, LeBron is arriving with the Lakers as an all-time great," a source close to James said. "He doesn't have pressure to prove anything. He wants some changes and he can afford to let the process breathe."

The Cavs were a team of specialists -- many of them shooters -- who were placed around the league's ultimate Swiss Army knife. But at times, especially during the playoffs, it did have the feel that James was playing 1-on-5 and needing to play 48 minutes because he was the team's only true creator and playmaker.

Cleveland also prioritized shooters and offense-minded players ahead of defenders and steadily sunk in the defensive rankings over the past three seasons, bottoming out as the No. 29 defensive efficiency team last season. This became a liability at times, particularly against the juggernaut Warriors.

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What Johnson pitched to James was a team stocked with tough-minded playmakers like Stephenson and Rondo who could free up James to finish in the lanes and from the post, rather than having to create the lion's share of the offense himself. Rondo and Stephenson are also defensively versatile as their length enables them to be effective defenders in switches. That also follows with the talents of the 6-foot-6 Ball, who showed the ability to be an elite rebounder and defender for a guard in his rookie year.

"I know some people are rolling their eyes but I like what the Lakers have done," a rival Western Conference executive said. "You can find shooters. They've taken some in the last few drafts. Playmakers matter and are harder to find."

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