No LeBron, no Steph — is that what the NBA needs?

The old Hollywood execs figured it out practically from the day movies first hit the silver screen: The story didn’t matter as much as the people who were in it. Entertainment is not so much a business of plots as of personalities. Stars. Yes, Shakespeare is special, but did you want to see Lady McBeth or Lady Gaga?

The same is true in sports. As the TV people are aware.

A few days ago, before the post-season started, one of the announcers at ESPN said he wanted Steph Curry and LeBron James in the Western Conference playoffs.

Of course, because that’s what the viewing audience wanted to see. The player called one of the greatest of all time, still dominant at age 39, and the best long-distance shooter in history. You didn’t need to care about the Lakers or Warriors, not that being a fan of either team wouldn’t have hurt. All you really needed to be was a fan of basketball.  

Well, Curry — or more correctly his team, the Golden State Warriors — failed to advance to the postseason. And now, after playing only five games, the Lakers and LeBron are done.

Two favorites finished. 

The old guard — and old forward — about to depart. For now. And possibly how LeBron responds to the question on whether he’s played his last game for the Lakers, forever.

Change is inevitable in sports, as everywhere, yet it seems so much more personal and painful when the change is to the athletes we follow.

The NFL just had its player draft, selecting the new who will replace the old. In the summer the NBA will have its own draft. That doesn’t mean we have to replace them in our hearts.

The NBA West once belonged to Kobe Bryant of the Lakers. Then it became the property of Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green. Now it has been usurped by Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets. 

Hard to believe? Not really. 

Hard to accept? Only if you tend to live in the past, recent or distant.

We miss Kobe. We’ll miss Steph and LeBron. Time moves on as the memorable athletes slow down.

Up in Northern California, where we’ve waited and watched, and if you will, suffered the power and championships that went to the Lakers during the Magic, Kareem and Worthy years, we’re prepared for the worst.

But down in L.A., the future is being approached with particular gloom. 

“For the 13th time in 14 seasons, the Lakers have fallen far short in their bid to pile on another NBA championship, and, man, is this getting old,” wrote columnist Bill Plaschke in the Los Angeles Times. “Scream. Sigh. Get used to it.”

In the continuing world of sport it’s hard to get used to anything except nothing and no one stays the same.