Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James has an important decision to make this weekend with his contract situation remaining up in the air.
It’s hard to imagine James leaving the Lakers after they drafted his son Bronny with the 55th overall pick, but the organization also has some work to do with the roster in order to get back into championship contention.
If James opts out of the final year of his contract, he can sign a max deal worth around $160 million over three seasons with a full no-trade clause, something the Lakers are said to be willing to offer.
But if LeBron opts in at $51.4 million and then signs an extension worth $162 million over three seasons, he would get a little more money but no no-trade clause.
The only other scenario would be James taking less than his max, which could help the Lakers open up a full mid-level exception in free agency if D’Angelo Russell were to opt out and sign with another team. While it’s hard to imagine LeBron turning down money, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst reported on the ‘Hoop Collective’ podcast that he will listen to the Lakers’ plan:
“If Russell opts out, the Lakers will have a window to do something. If LeBron takes less than the max… this is not my idea, I didn’t come up with this. If LeBron is willing to take less money than the max, they could open the possibility of using the full mid-level. Now it’s not gonna be $1 million, it’s quite a few million. Like around $10 or $12 million. I think he would take around $38 or $39 million instead of $50 million. It may be a non-starter. It definitely would be a non-starter if they didn’t draft Bronny… It would not surprise me if when LeBron opts out, he doesn’t sign right away. That he sees what can happen… And, look, LeBron may shut the door shut. But I do think if they had a plan of who they could sign for the full midlevel, they could take it to LeBron and he would at least listen. So that’s another thing we’re gonna watch over the weekend.”
If Russell opts out, James takes and pay cut and the Lakers open up the full mid-level, some potential options on the free agent market are Jonas Valanciunas, Tyus Jones, Kelly Oubre Jr., Buddy Hield, Gary Trent Jr., Caleb Martin and Derrick Jones Jr.
While those are all solid options and would help improve the Lakers, it’s hard to imagine James taking less money unless it leads to the team landing an All-Star caliber player.
While the decision is Russell’s, the best-case scenario for the Lakers would be him opting in at $18.7 million for the 2024-25 season. That would allow L.A. to keep its starting point guard that is coming off a career season or explore trade options using his salary.
With all of these decisions needing to be made in the next couple of days, James and the Lakers will have more clarity on their options shortly.
LeBron James gave emotional toast after Lakers drafted Bronny
This week has been a special one for LeBron James and his family as he will finally get to live out his dream of playing with Bronny in the NBA. After the Lakers drafted his son, LeBron reportedly gave an emotional toast while celebrating with his family in New York.
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