LeBron James’ future with the Los Angeles Lakers remains up in the air as he has to decide in the coming days whether he wants to opt in to the final year of his contract or opt out and either sign an extension or test free agency.
There have been no indications that James will be leaving the Lakers although the 39-year-old has not tipped his hand or given any indications of what his plans are for the rest of his playing career.
One option that has been floated around is James joining the Phoenix Suns to play with Kevin Durant, Devin Booker and Bradley Beal. The reason that became a thing is because Bronny James is only working out for the Lakers and Suns in the pre-draft process.
The agent for both LeBron and Bronny, Rich Paul of Klutch Sports, put an end to those whispers though as he came out and said that playing with his son is no longer a priority for James and he certainly will not be going to Phoenix on a minimum contract, via Jonathan Givony of ESPN:
“LeBron is off this idea of having to play with Bronny,” Paul told ESPN on Wednesday. “If he does, he does. But if he doesn’t, he doesn’t. There’s no deal made that it’s guaranteed that if the Lakers draft Bronny at 55, he (LeBron) will resign. If that was the case, I would force them to take him at 17. We don’t need leverage. The Lakers can draft Bronny, and LeBron doesn’t resign. LeBron is also not going to Phoenix for a minimum deal. We can squash that now.”
The Suns have gone all-in in recent years, which means they don’t have many assets or cap space at their disposal this summer. With that being the case, they can effectively cross LeBron off their wishlist as a minimum deal was their only realistic pathway to getting him.
The most likely scenario for James is re-signing with the Lakers on a two or three-year max contract, but he may wait to see what the team does in the draft and free agency before making a decision.
Udonis Haslem doesn’t see LeBron James leaving Lakers
Someone who recently commented on LeBron James’ potential free agency is his former teammate with the Miami Heat Udonis Haslem. He feels that at the end of the day, James will choose to stay in L.A. with the Lakers to finish out his career.
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