From LeBron James' perspective, the ball is in the Lakers' court.
LeBron may be vacationing with family and talking about not making a decision on what is next for him until July or August, but the reality is he is no longer the player the entire market will wait for. He is not the first domino to fall (that's Giannis Antetokounmpo). Instead, he and the Lakers need to work out whatever is going on between them before the NBA Draft in less than a month (June 23), so both sides can plan and make their next moves. Free agency moves fast now and, unless LeBron wants to play for the minimum, he doesn't get to watch the market play out and then make a call.
For LeBron, that all starts with the Lakers coming to him with an offer — and he wants to start talking max deal, reports ESPN's Brian Windhorst on The Hoop Collective podcast.
"The Lebron side, from what I am told, is would like the Lakers to come and say, 'Lebron, here's our plan for you,' or 'here's what we were offering,' and if they're offering less than the max, here's why. Because we're going to use this cap space to sign these players, and this is where you slide in."
Max is where LeBron will start negotiations, what he feels he has earned (and in terms of the revenue he drives for a team, he's not wrong). Good luck finding anyone around the league who thinks that's his salary next season. The real question is how big a pay cut he is willing to take, because — as he showed in the playoffs — he still brings real value on the court, too. Does he demand $30 million? The non-taxpayer mid-level exception of $15 million? The taxpayer mid-level exception of $6 million? Less?
Windhorst is also very clear that this conversation between the Lakers and LeBron has to happen early in the summer, like before the draft. The Lakers have made it clear that they want to retool their roster around Luka Doncic and his skill set, which includes re-signing Austin Reaves. To do that remake, the Lakers want to use their estimated $50 million in cap space — but that cap space depends on LeBron not being on the roster. He has a $59.5 million cap hold, which is a little more than the max that is supposed to be around $58 million for him for one season.
The Lakers need to either reach a deal with LeBron to know how much cap space they have, or tell LeBron they are going to renounce his rights so they can spend all that money on other players.
If LeBron wants to play somewhere else — Cleveland, Golden State or any other team that might interest him — for more than the $3.9 million veteran minimum, he and his management need to work with the Lakers to find a sign-and-trade that works for everyone. Again, this is stuff that has to be agreed to, and the process started before the draft because by July 1, when free agency officially opens, most teams have two-thirds of their free-agent signings and trades already agreed to (if not public).
All of that starts with LeBron and the Lakers sitting down and having an honest conversation about what's next. And LeBron believes that the ball is in the Lakers' court.
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COVERS INTEL: Looking back at the last 21 times Wembanyama took 15 or fewer FGAs (without injury impact), he’s followed those quiet efforts by averaging 28 points in the next game. He’s topped 30 points in nine of those outings.
