On April 30, Beijing time, after the Lakers lost to the Nuggets today and went out in the first round of the playoffs with a big score of 1-4, there was a problem that received widespread attention from netizens: that is, James's next home. To be sure, James will certainly not retire next year, and he currently has a one-year player option left on his contract with the Lakers, and James has the right to jump out of his contract and become a free agent this summer.
According to Shams, the Lakers are ready to go all out to keep James, and the following four contracts may be taken for this purpose.
Step 1: Provide a three-year, $164 million renewal contract. For a 39-year-old veteran, getting a 3-year 164 million sky-high contract is crazy, and after fulfilling this contract, James will be 42 years old. To add up, the NBA's 38-year-old clause is for contracts of 4 years and above, so the Lakers' 3-year, $164 million contract for James does not trigger the 38-year-old veteran clause. Of course, judging from James' current state and influence, he is also worthy of this contract, after all, the average annual salary of this contract is only more than 50 million, and the average annual salary of Brown's contract is already 60 million.
Step 2: Pick brownies. At the end of his career, James had two wishes: one was to compete for the championship, and the other was to share the stage as father and son. Earlier, Bronny had announced that he would be selected in the 2024 draft, but judging by Bronny's performance in his freshman season, the probability of him being selected is unlikely. But now, because of James, Bronny's chances of being selected have increased dramatically.
Step 3: Find the 3rd giant. With James Mei relatively healthy this season, the Lakers still have to play the play-offs this season and are out in the first round of the playoffs, and the biggest problem is that the team does not have a third giant. And there is news that the Lakers will have a very active move this summer, looking for a third giant to team up to reduce the pressure on James. It is reported that this person may be Trae Young.
Step 4: Hamm gets out of class. Let's just say that the Lakers' current lineup is actually not bad, and head coach Ham is their weakest link. One thing to say, judging from the situation this season, Hamm's on-the-spot scheduling and adjustment are really not very good, and he does not like to use timeouts and challenges.