LeBron breaks Lakers fans’ hearts. Fans of the Cavaliers and Heat know that pain.

In the end, just three things remain certain for all of us: death, taxes…and LeBron James curb-stomping another American city’s heart and forcing his fans into debt with the purchase of yet another team’s jersey.

This Video Is Trending Right Now →

Yes, the GOAT of the NBA, LeBron James, has worn at least 54 different primary regular-season jerseys throughout his career across three franchises: the Cleveland Cavaliers, Miami Heat and the Los Angeles Lakers. But he’s also the GOAT of crushing the heart of a city’s NBA fans. Just as LeBron told the Cleveland Cavaliers he would “take my talents to South Beach” in a wrenching and televised gut-punch of a breakup in 2010, told the Miami Heat he was leaving them in 2015 to go back to Cleveland and then told the Cavaliers he was leaving them again in 2018, the King of Pain has now called it quits with the Lakers and will pursue free agency at 41 years and more than 180 days old.

Lakers ownership, team legends and his LeBron’s teammates congenially thanked LeBron and described how lucky they were to be in a committed relationship with him for eight years — four years longer than the heartsick Miami Heat. The ugliness of past jiltings was absent — some Cleveland fans torched his jersey when he first left the Cavs — but he’s leaving many a young fan clutching a purple-and-gold No. 23 jersey autographed by LeBron, feeling abandoned and disillusioned. And wondering how much their gullible parents will be willing to pay for LeBron’s authentic, NBA-licensed jersey when he signs with his next team. 

Signing LeBron at his advanced age would be less of a free-agent acquisition and more an archaeological dig. Even so, the Golden State Warriors and Stephen Curry are among those rumored to be LeBron’s next suitors. Returning for a third time to Cleveland, a bona fide contender in the Eastern Conference, is also a possibility. Whoever  takes the plunge can all but be assured LeBron won’t leave them for anything other than retirement.

While LeBron earned his record 22nd All-Star selection last season and led a Lakers team without the injured Luka Doncic to a first-round upset of the Houston Rockets, he also seemed to confront his own mortality for the first time in his career. He missed the first season opener of his career and the next 13 games with a right sciatic nerve issue. Because he missed 22 regular-season games, he was, also for the first time in his career, ineligible for postseason awards.

Whenever LeBron says goodbye, he does so because he doesn’t believe  his team has what it needs to win it all.

The Lakers, in other words, are no longer attractive to him. And for so many kids with Lakers jerseys with the name “James” on the back, that’s a deep hurt. We’re of course talking about Bronny James, here. That’s right. LeBron didn’t just leave Laker Nation for his next love; he left his own son! Bronny, bless his heart, has blossomed into a nice NBA role player after initially being dismissed as a nepo baby out of Southern California. But what kind of job security will the kid have now that dad is pulling up stakes?

For all the records and titles and insurmountable numbers — he’s won a total of four championships as the best player on three franchises — the LeBron statistic that won’t be mentioned on Basketball-Reference.com will be the total number of Fans’ Souls Crushed. No one has done it longer or more devastatingly.