By Shams Saranis, Des DeMeyer, Jovan Buha and John Hollinger
LeBron James plans to sign a two-year, $104 million max contract to return to the Los Angeles Lakers, league sources confirmed Wednesday. Sources said he will have a player option and a no-trade clause next summer.
Athletic James previously announced he wanted to opt out of his $51.4 million player option for next season.
It’s no secret that both James and Anthony Davis want significant improvements on the Lakers’ roster. According to agent Rich Paul, LeBron It was even willing to take a substantial pay cut An effective non-taxpayer intermediary exemption can help facilitate signing. But that didn’t happen, and James eventually agreed to a two-year max deal with a second-year player option. Athletic Shams Saranya.
With each passing hour, and with each transaction elsewhere, improving the Lakers roster becomes a little more challenging.
Through three days of free agency — and, in fact, until last Wednesday, when they finally had access to three trade draft picks — the Lakers made no moves outside of re-signing Max Christie for four years, $32 million. Agreement. With summer league just days away, they have yet to hire assistant coaches around JJ Redick.
It’s not for lack of trying. The Lakers aggressively pursued Klay Thompson, but Thompson turned down an offer of more years and money from the Lakers to join the Dallas Mavericks, according to league sources. While the Miami Heat are currently considered the slight favorite to land the 15-year veteran and six-time All-Star, they have now turned their attention to DeMar DeRozan, according to league sources.
The Lakers have also been active in their talks on the trade market. as Athletic As reported earlier Tuesday, the Lakers have held recent trade talks with Portland, Brooklyn and Utah, among other teams.
“I think we’ve always been aggressive,” vice president of basketball operations and general manager Rob Belinka said. , where all the GMs get together and other deals are made, but we’ll be aggressive.
James’ re-signing would bring the Lakers’ roster to 15 players — a league maximum. The Lakers will have $190 million in guaranteed salary and $1.1 million in $188.9 million in second cap space, limiting the team’s ability to make additional moves.
The new deal comes after news broke that James’ son Brony, who was taken 55th overall by the Lakers last month, signed a new four-year contract with the Lakers worth $7.9 million and includes a team option for a fourth season. League sources.
LeBron has long expressed his desire to play with the 19-year-old Broney. Athletic On 2022: “My last year (in the NBA) will be played with my son.” The superstar forward changed that feeling in 2023, telling ESPN that the goal of playing with Broney “in the same uniform or in a match against him” would also be felt.
If it wasn’t already obvious, the Lakers might have to throw some bodies overboard and pay a team like the Pistons or Jazz with second-round picks.
Quite simply, LA could land Christian Wood and Cam Redtish on another team’s doorstep, re-sign Darian Prince for up to $5.5 million and keep the 14-man roster on the second apron.
To get a player like DeMar DeRozan with the non-taxpayer midlevel exception, the Lakers would have to part with big contracts — Gabe Vincent, Rui Hachimura and/or D’Angelo Russell. Max Christie’s new contract, which occupies an estimated $7.2 million on their cap sheet, remains a thorn in the Lakers side in this regard.
Because of an NBA salary-cap quirk known as the “over-38 rule,” Los Angeles couldn’t offer James, who turns 40 on Dec. 30, a contract longer than three years.
In his six years as a Laker, James averaged 27.0 points per game in the regular season, 9,436 points shy of his NBA-record 40,474 career regular season points. In his four seasons with Los Angeles, he averaged 26.1 points per game and helped lead the Lakers to the NBA title in 2020.
The Lakers went 47-35 last season before being eliminated in the first round by the Denver Nuggets.
James is a 20-time All-Star, four-time MVP and four-time Finals MVP. The upcoming season will mark his seventh year with the franchise, tying his first seven years with the Cleveland Cavaliers for the longest streak of any team in his career.
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(Photo: Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
