The Toronto Raptors, less than 48 hours after winning their first National Basketball Association championship, were still partying in Las Vegas on Saturday night when LeBron James, in his own incomparable way, broadcast his gravitational pull on the rest of the league.

On Instagram, James took a break from posting photographs of his children, his agent and his luggage to share a new one - an illustrated portrait of himself standing next to Anthony Davis, his incoming teammate, with the both of them wearing Los Angeles Lakers uniforms.

"Just the beginning," he wrote.

The beginning of a huge experiment, of an enormous gamble, of frenzied speculation about next season, even before the embers had cooled on the last one.

It was a deal with the New Orleans Pelicans they needed to make. Not only did it please James, whose career has an expiration date, but it also gave the team a chance of vying for championships after months of dysfunction.

Forgotten, for now, is the team's play-off-free year - their sixth in a row - and all the front-office infighting and the fan protests.

The Lakers have more work to do, of course. It is unclear if they have enough cap space to sign a top-line free agent like Boston Celtics guard Kyrie Irving or Charlotte Hornets guard Kemba Walker to a maximum contract this summer.

But next season is shaping up as something of a free-for-all. The Golden State Warriors dynasty has crumbled. The Raptors could lose Kawhi Leonard in free agency.

And the Lakers, in a move fitting with the team's past, are seizing an opportunity to throw their weight behind a superstar partnership, even if that requires mortgaging much of their future.

James exerted a unique pressure on the Lakers to win now, to trade for another top-shelf star, no matter the long-term costs - they had to give up three of their most promising young players - Brandon Ingram, Lonzo Ball and Josh Hart - and three first-round picks.

Those costs could be significant. Are they worth it? That depends. Davis is an ascendant star at 26.

He will presumably be one of the faces of the Lakers for years to come. However, they will now be leaning on free agency to round out their roster well into the next decade, a perilous strategy.

As for the James-Davis pairing, the championship dream hinges in large part on whether the former can maintain his level. He will enter next season, his 17th, as the active leader in minutes played.

To state the obvious, they could be a fearsome duo. But the Lakers also desperately need depth, shooting, a point guard and continued development from forward Kyle Kuzma, the one promising player they managed to retain in the trade.

They also need James to keep his limbs intact. The team would perhaps be wise to adopt the "load management" strategy that the Raptors used this season to preserve Leonard for the play-offs.

That would be asking the Lakers to exercise prudence, though, something they have steadfastly avoided not just in recent seasons, but going back decades.

For a team who have always seemed bent on big moves at any price, it might be a nice change of pace.

NY TIMES