And now that? That is the question that encompasses all questions in the environment of the Lakers, who have had to watch on television until play inseparated even from a tenth place in the West very cheap: the Spurs tied him with only 34 wins (34-48): And now who is going to coach this team? And now what happens to Russell Westbrook? How can you make it easier for Anthony Davis to return to being the player he was two seasons ago? How are you going to complete a completely poorly built squad last season? A lots of and now that? what include one more, one decisive. Absolutely momentous: now what about LeBron James?
During the next season, LeBron James will be 38 years old and 20 in the NBA. He has one year left on his contract for $44.4 million and next summer he will be a free agent. Unless he signs an extension with the Lakers that could be for two years and $97.1 million. This could not be sealed before August, and LeBron played with that in his appearance before the media on the last day of work before going on vacation without playoffs for the second time in his four years in LA, an unstable and very complicated section with very low points and one as high as a ring: that of 2020, in the Florida bubble. With a worryingly (for the Lakers) neutral tone, almost disinterested or at least enormously distant, LeBron said that “it will be seen”, that it will be discussed “when the agreement allows it” because “technically” it cannot be negotiated now.
The reality, and the constant Sam Amick, in a revealing article in The Athleticis that LeBron was leaving measures of doubt about his future, perhaps a warning to the Lakers, a very real display of doubt or a sign that he needs to see (?and now that?) where the franchise is trying to go. It’s a testament to the mess the last season and a half has been for the Lakers. How bad it all had to go so that LeBron is not clear that there is no better place, on and off the track, than LA and the Lakers to finish his career, look for some more ring and beat, with the mythical yellow and purple as well, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s points record.
“This is looking more and more like a marriage of convenience.”, assures an Amick who calls LeBron’s attitude on that last day a “I only work here”. When asked about the management of the offices, including the goodbye of Frank Vogel and his communication, LeBron was so unclear that he was crystal clear: there are things that can be done better, decisions never leave everyone happy, this is what it is, I control what I can control.
LeBron, says Amick in the mouth of his sources, he seriously considers not expanding with the Lakers, leaving in the summer of 2023 or moving to an annual contract format in the style of his last years in Cleveland to fully control your future. Your desire to play with your child also comes into play. bronny, who will enter the 2024 draft and with whom LeBron has repeated a thousand times that he wants to play. He has been partly to blame for the mess, and his pressure brought Russell Westbrook decisively closer to a team he has never fit in with. But on other things he has not been listened to: the lack of agreement with Tyronn Lue is the clearest example.
In February, LeBron left a public farce at the All-Star in his city, Cleveland, which seemed to drive him away from Los Angeles. At the end of that month, a meeting of his agent, Rich Paul, with Jeanie Buss and Rob Pelinka seemed to fix things… but after that everything has been such a disaster that from LeBron’s side, he is mistrusted shed that they have set up in the Pelinka offices and the highly criticized Kurt Rambis, whose influence seems assured as long as Buss continues to lead the franchise and whom only she seems to continue to support. Of those decisions: offices, bench, staff, Westbrook’s departure, she will depend largely what will or will not do LeBron, who at this moment seems delighted to air that, right now, he is not exactly passionate with his situation in the Lakers.