Inside the Big 12's bet on private equity to close revenue gap, compete in the NIL era
Big 12 partners with private equity to tackle revenue challenges amid NIL costs.
LeBron James has had a remarkable eight-season tenure with the Lakers, becoming the all-time leading scorer and winning an NBA championship. His future is uncertain as he enters free agency after a strong postseason performance.

If this is it for LeBron James as a Laker, he can walk away with pride.
After signing in 2018, he played eight wildly successful seasons and became the all-time leading scorer, passing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in 2023. The 41-year-old won an NBA championship in six playoff runs and reached the conference finals twice, all without missing a single playoff game. Individually, he took home a number of accolades, including eight All-Star nods, seven All-NBA appearances and even a 2019-20 assist title by averaging a career-high 10.2 assists per game.
For most NBA players, an eight-year heater like that would be the stuff of dreams. But after the Game 4 loss against Oklahoma City on Monday night, Jamesâ future is uncertain. He is set to be an unrestricted free agent and his days in LakerLand could be in the rearview mirror. LeBron told reporters following the loss: âI donât know what the future holds for me.â
Even in his age-41 season, James rated as one of the best players in the league, averaging a team-high 23.2 points, 7.3 assists and 6.7 rebounds this postseason for the short-handed Lakers. With Luka DonÄiÄ and Austin Reaves (also a free agent) struggling to stay healthy, the need for Jamesâ versatility, leadership and production remains high. He could re-sign with the Lakers or pick up elsewhere with the Golden State Warriors, Cleveland Cavaliers or other title-aspiring teams needing a veteran impact.
But hereâs the crazy thing that really puts LeBronâs Lakers tenure in perspective:
LeBron James became the all-time leading scorer for the Lakers and won an NBA championship during his eight seasons with the team.
In the recent postseason, LeBron averaged 23.2 points, 7.3 assists, and 6.7 rebounds per game.
LeBron James could potentially re-sign with the Lakers or join other teams like the Golden State Warriors or Cleveland Cavaliers.
LeBron James did not miss a single playoff game during his eight seasons with the Lakers.
Big 12 partners with private equity to tackle revenue challenges amid NIL costs.


Arsenal's Ben White sidelined for the season and World Cup due to injury
See every story in Sports â including breaking news and analysis.
If you isolate Jamesâ stint with the Lakers and look at just his age-34 to age-41 seasons, he would almost certainly be a Hall of Famer based on those eight seasons alone.
And we can prove it.
LeBron's career in purple and gold has been more impressive than you might realize. (AP Photo/Nate Billings)
(ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Think about the hardware that James earned as a Laker. In those eight seasons in purple and gold, he earned more All-NBA appearances than the entire Hall of Fame careers of Jason Kidd, Carmelo Anthony and Clyde Drexler. He won more playoff games than Hall of Famers Mitch Richmond, Bernard King and Yao Ming if you look at just Jamesâ Lakers tenure.
This isnât just an exercise in cherry-picking stats. We can look at the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame voting history for something more comprehensive. The proprietors of the indispensable Basketball Reference studied the numbers and found that when it comes to Hall-worthy player careers, there are a series of key statistics and accolades that are statistically significant. That is, they are predictive barometers of Springfield immortality based on those who are in the Hall and those who are not.
When it comes to NBA careers, Basketball Reference determined there are five significant factors (in no order):
Win shares, by the way, is an advanced metric that estimates the number of wins that a player contributes to his team based on their box score statistics. The other stuff is pretty self-explanatory. In the end, it answers the question: If this player retired today, what is the probability he would be elected to the Hall of Fame?
Another thing to keep in mind, this only considers whether a player is Hall of Fame worthy based purely on a playerâs NBA rĂ©sumĂ©. European stalwarts like Dino Radja and Ć arĆ«nas MarÄiulionis would not have been deemed Hall-caliber based on their abbreviated NBA careers. But LeBron in L.A.? We can pull that up.
Leaderboard appearances? With the Lakers, he was top-10 in points in 2019-20 (8th), and assists in 2019-20 (1st), 2023-24 (6th) and 2024-25 (7th). Title? Check. All-Star appearances? Heâs had eight of them. The highest win shares total of his Lakers tenure came in the championship season in which he registered an impressive 9.8 figure.
When we type in Jamesâ rĂ©sumĂ© and apply the model, we can calculate the Hall of Fame probability based on his production in those eight seasons. So, what was his Hall of Fame probability as a Laker according to Basketball Referenceâs handy HOF probability calculator? Would he be a HOF in purple and gold only?
Without further ado âŠ
Yup, Hall of Famer. Itâs 86.5%.
A near lock.
We can say with pretty good certainty that James would be a Hall of Famer if we just looked at his Lakers run. Thatâs a crazy notion on the surface. Then we peel back the layers and realize that, since he turned 33, he has as many All-NBA appearances as Tracy McGrady, Patrick Ewing and Allen Iverson did in their entire careers. And they never won a title.
Another way to illustrate Jamesâ dominance is to compare his Lakers rĂ©sumĂ© on paper to other full Hall of Fame careers. Take Mitch Richmond, for instance. The Hall of Fame scorer enjoyed a fine 14-year career in the league, achieving six All-Star appearances and regularly appearing among the scoring leaders. James earned more All-Star (and All-NBA) appearances in just his Lakers stint and had a much bigger hand in the Lakersâ championship than Richmondâs 2002 ring with the team. Jamesâ Lakers career also looks favorably compared to Joe Dumars, Jo Jo White and Earl Monroe.

Lakers LeBron vs. HOF Careers
And thatâs just a handful of notable comps. This is where it gets even crazier.
If we can establish that James had a Hall of Fame worthy career as a Laker, it means something even bigger. It means he has stacked four separate Hall of Fame careers on top of each other, demarcated by the three offseasons in which he switched teams.
During the 2023-24 season, when I first looked at this possibility, Jamesâ tenure with the Lakers didnât quite clear the bar. At the time, he had reached âonlyâ five All-Star teams and hadnât yet finished among the league leaders in assists in 2023-24 and 2024-25. But with the three extra All-Star notches on his belt and those extra leaderboard appearances, Laker LeBron would reach Springfield based on his rĂ©sumĂ©.
And believe it or not, both his first Cavs stint (with no titles, but just about every other accomplishment) and his second Cavs stint (with a title) were HOF-worthy, as well as his Miami stint in which he raised the Larry OâBrien trophy twice and dialed up his advanced metrics to historic levels. So that leaves us with â count âem â four Hall of Fame careers.

LeBron's Four HOF Careers
When James signed a four-year deal with the team in 2018, no one would have blamed him for hanging it up after that deal. (Well, maybe some people; itâs LeBron, after all.) He had already played 15 seasons in the league, which was as many as Michael Jordan played and more than Wilt Chamberlain, Jerry West and Larry Bird.
And then he played eight seasons after that. Complete with enough glory to earn a Hall of Fame spot alone. His fourth such golden run of his career.
We canât ask for much more.
Well, thereâs one thing: How about a fifth Hall of Fame career?