The type of player that James would be willing to make a financial sacrifice for would be an established veteran playmaker such as James Harden or Klay Thompson, or an established big man to play alongside Anthony Davis — such as Jonas Valančiūnas, sources told ESPN.
LeBron James has officially opted out of his contract with the Los Angeles Lakers, making him a free agent. Most expect him to remain with the Lakers on a new contract.
They can offer him somewhere in the neighborhood of $50 million on a new deal. However, doing so would seriously handicap them in terms of being able to upgrade their roster in free agency, especially given the fact that the NBA’s salary cap has become even more suffocating.
But it looks like James may take a reasonable pay cut to help Los Angeles add a difference-maker via the full mid-level exception.
If LA cannot find an impact player to sign for the full MLE that would be created by James taking a paycut, James will seek the max.
There can only be so much patience on James' part: Team USA camp begins a week from today in Las Vegas and he needs a deal before taking the court https://t.co/lSkfup7YQJ
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) June 29, 2024
Via ESPN:
“The type of player that James would be willing to make a financial sacrifice for would be an established veteran playmaker such as James Harden or Klay Thompson, or an established big man to play alongside Anthony Davis — such as Jonas Valančiūnas, sources told ESPN,” wrote Dave McMenamin.
If L.A. does have that full mid-level exception, it would be able to use it to sign a player to a contract worth up to nearly $13 million for the 2024-25 season.
