Report: LeBron consulted on Lakers' moves, wants to reimagine playing style

The Los Angeles Lakers are putting together a strange, unconventional supporting cast for LeBron James, and that's reportedly not an accident.

The Lakers' free-agent signings in the wake of their addition of King James were made with his consultation, and with a very specific vision in mind, sources told ESPN's Ramona Shelburne and Brian Windhorst.

According to those sources, in their three-hour-long meeting on the first night of free agency, James and Lakers president Magic Johnson laid out a plan to surround James with players that would allow him to cede some playmaking duties, spend more time off-ball, and operate out of the post more than he did with the Cleveland Cavaliers.

That translated to the signings of Rajon Rondo and Lance Stephenson, who will join a roster that already features a high-end playmaker in Lonzo Ball. The flip side is that those players won't do much to improve the Lakers' poor spacing. For better or worse, the roster looks markedly different than the ones James typically played with in Cleveland, where he was surrounded with knock-down outside shooters as the team's primary creator.

"He doesn't have pressure to prove anything," a source close to James told Shelburne and Windhorst. "He wants some changes, and he can afford to let the process breathe."

That said, both James and the Lakers' front office are reportedly in agreement that the team needs to add more shooting. They have several avenues to do so, including the remaining free-agent pool, where they can use the full mid-level exception to sign a 3-point marksman.