The Los Angeles Lakers face a longer than expected offseason after losing in the first round in five games to the Minnesota Timberwolves. L.A. now has major decisions to make, as the pressure is on to improve their team and build a contender around Luka Doncic. One of the biggest dominos involves the contract of LeBron James.
The 40-year-old superstar has a player option for the 2025-26 season worth around $52 million. However, given that he took a pay cut last season to help the Lakers avoid the second apron hard cap, he is not likely to pick that player option up and instead negotiate a new deal.
The discussion of another pay cut had been in play, same as last year, as a means to help the Lakers improve their roster by opening up the full mid-level exception (worth around $14 million) instead of just a taxpayer MLE (worth under $6 million). But reports indicate that LeBron is not likely to do that, according to Jovan Buha and Sam Amick of The Athletic:
If James returns to the Lakers, though, league sources say he’s not expected to consider the kind of pay cut that was in play around this time a year ago. Last summer, James took a discount of approximately $2.7 million to help the Lakers stay under the second apron and maintain roster flexibility.
James considered taking an even steeper pay cut to help the Lakers land an impact player in free agency, with James Harden, DeMar DeRozan, Klay Thompson and Jonas Valančiūnas on his list, league sources confirmed. The Lakers didn’t land any of them, and James instead signed for closer to his max.
The free agent class in 2025 is nowhere near as strong as the class from last season. So it stands to reason that LeBron wouldn’t consider the same type of pay cut. With James at around $52.6 million and Dorian Finney-Smith at around $15.4 million — the amount of his player option — the Lakers have about $16 million of room below the second apron with 12 players on the roster. That is plenty of space to make trades and use the TMLE without LeBron taking a pay cut.
At the end of the day, James is still a max player. He proved it by being the team’s best defensive player down the stretch and in the postseason. So him taking max money is in no way selfish, just getting what he’s earned without hamstringing his team beyond what they already are.
LeBron James praises JJ Redick
JJ Redick was seen as a risky hire when the Lakers first decided to name him head coach of the franchise. He had zero prior coaching experience, and many were worried about his ability to lead a team with LeBron James — both a friend and someone his exact age — without losing the locker room like previous coaches had.
But it became clear very quickly that Redick knew what he was doing. During bad stretches at the beginning of the season, James and other players were frequently saying that Redick had them prepared and that they simply weren’t executing, a high show of respect for their coach.
Redick also had to redefine the overall identity of the team three different times during the year as the Lakers made major trades. And while the end result was a first round loss to the Timberwolves in five games, and Redick was far from perfect in the playoffs, it’s clear the Lakers’ roster — not coaching — is what needs a touch-up.
LeBron gave his thoughts on Redick’s rookie campaign as the head coach of the Lakers and why he applauds him for what he did throughout the year.
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