The Los Angeles Lakers saw their season come to an end at the hands of the Denver Nuggets for a second consecutive season. And once again, the main questions following their playoff exit surrounds LeBron James.
Of course after 21 NBA seasons, there is always the possibility of retirement, but LeBron also has an option on his contract and can become an unrestricted free agent this offseason as well. And ESPN’s Brian Windhorst expects the Lakers superstar to do just that and outlined a number of reasons why:
“I do think that LeBron intends to opt-out of his contract and become a free agent for the first time since 2018. I think that will apply a little bit of pressure to the Lakers, I think he’s doing it for three reasons. No. 1, because I think he wants to see what the Lakers do around the draft. They have potentially three first-round picks that they can trade. A couple of contracts that they could package with it to upgrade the team. You remember that they did not make any significant upgrades to this team at the trade deadline. LeBron did not forget that and I do think he likes to have that pressure on them. No. 2, as you may have heard his son Bronny may be, and I expect to be, in this draft. The Lakers I think will keep their draft pick. The New Orleans Pelicans have the option to either take this year’s pick or defer to next year. I believe the Pelicans will defer to next year so I think the Lakers will go into this draft with the 17th overall pick and the 55th overall pick. LeBron has expressed an interest in possibly playing with his son, the Lakers will have potentially two chances to draft him. And No. 1, I think that there’s some features that he could put in a new contract. No. 1 if he opts in he would only get one year at $50 million, he could potentially get multi years. And also he does not have a no-trade clause in his contract. There’s only out there in the NBA it belongs to Bradley Beal, I wouldn’t be surprised if he’d like to lock that in as well. I do think we’re going to hear some silence from LeBron between now and June as we watch what the Lakers do as a team.”
Throughout his career, LeBron has always been known to put pressure on the front office of the team he plays for in order to make the necessary moves to compete for a championship. That will be no different with the Lakers and he wants to be sure franchise is willing to do what it takes to compete.
As Windhorst noted, the Lakers will have some pieces that could potentially be packaged together in a big offseason trade. The possibility of Bronny James entering the draft and LeBron wanting to play with his oldest son, and locking in some extra money for himself with another year on a deal and a no-trade clause all combine to make him opting-out a very likely possibility.
Lakers open to ‘any deal’ that would bring LeBron James back
One thing that seems for certain, regardless of what LeBron James decides to do with his contract, is that the Lakers themselves want him back in the purple and gold next season.
A recent report stated that the Lakers would be open to ‘any deal’ to bring LeBron back to the franchise. And that includes a three-year maximum extension worth $164 million that would keep him under contract until he is 42 years old.
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