LeBron James contract: Lakers star gives himself flexibility with two-year, $104M maximum deal

LeBron James has agreed to a two-year, $104 million contract to return to Los Angeles Lakers, CBS Sports NBA insider Bill Reiter confirmed. The deal will pay James his maximum salary for the 2024-25 season, but include a player option for the 2025-26 season, giving James flexibility about his future plans. The deal also includes a no-trade clause, a contractual perk that James has only ever had once in his career. James is reportedly still talking with the Lakers about potentially leaving $1 million or so on the table to help the Lakers stay below the second apron and retain a bit of roster-building flexibility, but those conversations are ongoing for now, according to Adrian Wojnarowski.

The price here is notable because James had previously been open to taking a significant pay cut in order to give the Lakers the financial flexibility needed to make a meaningful upgrade, either through the non-taxpayer mid-level exception or some other means. Reports indicated that he was willing to potentially leave as much as $20 million on the table to help the Lakers improve and have a chance to win at the highest levels again.

However, his willingness to do so was limited to the team’s ability to find such impact help. He was reportedly open to doing so to help the Lakers get a player like Klay Thompson, James Harden or Jonas Valanciunas, but the Lakers missed out on Thompson after a pursuit early in free agency as he decided to join the Dallas Mavericks. Harden and Valanciunas were off of the market by that point, and while the Lakers were reportedly interested in DeMar DeRozan, he, to this point, was not willing to sign for the non-taxpayer mid-level exception. James’ offer to leave money on the table was based on specific timing. He has to be at Team USA camp on Sunday and wanted a deal done by then. The Lakers couldn’t find the help he wanted, so he decides to take the max.

The no-trade clause is a rarity for James, but most of the time, he hasn’t been eligible for one. A player needs three things in order to qualify for a no-trade clause: eight…

Source link : https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/lebron-james-contract-lakers-star-gives-himself-flexibility-with-two-year-104m-maximum-deal/

Author : Sam Quinn

Publish date : 2024-07-03 13:10:13

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