'It's time for the Luka era': Why the Lakers should move on from LeBron James

LeBron James didn't want to say what he thinks the Los Angeles Lakers need to do this offseason in order to improve their title chances after losing in the first round to the Minnesota Timberwolves, opting to plead the fifth when asked on Wednesday.

Paul Pierce, on the other hand, knows what the Lakers must do next in order to become a title contender: move on from James. 

"You have to get out of the constraints of the LeBron Era," Pierce said on Thursday's "Speak." "He's just had a grasp of the whole organization, bear-hugging them, for so long now. He's done some wonderful things for the Lakers' organization. They're probably going to build a statue of LeBron in front of Crypto, Staples or whatever y'all call it. 

"But they have to say, ‘LeBron, we appreciate your services. I think we should move on.’ It's a tough conversation."

While Pierce's idea might come off as a surprise, his reasoning is quite simple.

"It's time for the Luka [Doncic] Era," Pierce said. "I don't know if you can play them together moving forward because you have to have a certain type of team around Luka to win. With him and LeBron, I don't know if you'd be able to create that."

When the Lakers landed Doncic in the surprise trade with the Dallas Mavericks in February, there was some belief that the deal marked a changing of the guard in Los Angeles. Doncic, 26, has been one of the game's top emerging stars since the turn of the decade, being named first-team All-NBA in five straight years before this season. He also led the Mavericks to the NBA Finals last season. James, meanwhile, turned 40 in December and has only led the Lakers past the first round once since their title win in 2020.

But Los Angeles climbed the Western Conference standings