According to NBA insider Chris Haynes of Bleacher Report, LeBron James is giving the Los Angeles Lakers one more week to make a big move before signing his new contract.
LeBron declined his 2024-25 player option with the Lakers worth $51.4 million. He’s willing to take a pay cut so that Los Angeles has its full mid-level exception to offer a player.
The Lakers are interested in DeMar DeRozan, but DeRozan won’t play for the full mid-level exception, per Haynes. Los Angeles would have to acquire DeRozan from the Chicago Bulls via a sign-and-trade deal.
The Lakers are also talking to the Portland Trail Blazers about a Jerami Grant trade. Grant has the same agent (Rich Paul of Klutch Sports Group) as LeBron and Anthony Davis.
If the Lakers can’t acquire an impact player, LeBron will sign a max contract worth $162 million over three years.
LeBron, 39, averaged 25.7 points, 7.3 rebounds, 8.3 assists, 1.3 steals and 0.5 blocks for the Lakers in 2023-24 in 71 games while shooting 54.0% from the floor, 41.0% from 3 and 75.0% from the free-throw line.
The Lakers lost to the Denver Nuggets in the first round of the 2024 playoffs in five games. Denver also beat Los Angeles in the 2023 Western Conference Finals.
The leading scorer in NBA history, LeBron joined the Lakers in 2018. He and Davis helped the franchise win the 2020 championship at the Walt Disney World bubble.
LeBron is a four-time MVP, a four-time Finals MVP and a four-time champion. He’s arguably the best player in NBA history.
A future first-ballot Hall of Famer, LeBron has career averages of 27.1 points, 7.5 rebounds, 7.4 assists, 1.5 steals and 0.7 blocks with the Cleveland Cavaliers, Miami Heat and Lakers.
LeBron is the only player in NBA history to rank top five all-time in points and assists, the only player to win three Finals MVPs with three different teams, the only player with 30,000 points, 10,000 rebounds and 10,000 career assists and the only player to score 40,000 points.
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