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Brian Winhorst Says LeBron James Has A Habit Of Wearing Teams Out: “I Call It Organizational Fatigue”

Every team that signs LeBron James has no choice but to enter a win-now mode to maximize his ability to compete and maximize their title window. But that strategy doesn’t seem sustainable as every-LeBron led team has seen a gradual decline by their fourth year with LeBron. 

It happened with the Miami Heat in 2014, the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2018, and it seems to be happening now with the Los Angeles Lakers. Don’t get it wrong, LeBron has brought a championship to every single franchise he’s been to, so not all people would give him a lot of flak about it.

But at the end of the day, one should keep in mind that franchises will have to deal with the consequences of extracting their future resources in order to build a short-term championship-level team around LeBron, who doesn’t have much interest in taking part of the rebuild.

Media personality and sportswriter Brian Windhorst recently talked about how a LeBron-led team usually operates on a four-year cycle. As one who has closely followed the four-time NBA champion, Windhorst said that LeBron has a habit of wearing teams out, calling it organizational fatigue.

Per Sports Illustrated:

“LeBron’s career operates in four-year increments. He wears his team out. I call it organizational fatigue,” Windhorst said. “It happened the first time in Cleveland. They ran out of draft picks, they had a bunch of guys in their mid-30s. Shaq close to the finish line, Antawn Jamison.

“He goes to Miami, four years, great run, they run out of draft picks. In his last game, three guys retired after the game. He goes to Cleveland, four years, great run. They run out of draft picks. They got old guys. Here we are in L.A., fourth year. The oldest team we’ve seen in NBA history, they’re out of draft picks, they’re exhausted.”