LeBron James signs a two-year, $97.1 million agreement with the Los Angeles Lakers, making him the highest-paid NBA player ever
LeBron James Surpass $532 Million Career Earnings
According to numerous reports, LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers have reached an agreement on a two-year, $97.1 million deal extension.
James becomes the highest-paid player in NBA history thanks to the agreement, which features a player option for the 2024–2025 season and a guaranteed $532 million. With guaranteed contracts worth $509 million, Kevin Durant previously held that distinction.
The four-time NBA champion has the option of waiting until 2025 to join with whichever team selects his son Bronny, 17, in the 2025 NBA Draft, who is anticipated to make his debut that year. Bronny, a Sierra Canyon School senior in Los Angeles, has consistently stated his wish to play with James.
James is unlikely to be traded before the deal expires because of the deal's 15% trade kicker. Furthermore, because the second season of his new contract contains a raise of more than 5%, he is actually unable to be traded during the upcoming season, per NBA regulations.
A request for confirmation on the specifics of the contract from DailyMail.com was not immediately answered by Lakers spokespersons.
Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN was the first to break the news of the deal. According to Shams Charania of The Athletic, the agreement could be worth up to $111 million over two years, depending on how the NBA salary cap changes.
James has a $44.5 million salary guaranteed for 2022–2023 when he entered the last year of his contract.
He will now receive $46.7 million for the upcoming campaign while sharing direct control of his future with All-Star teammate Antonio Davis. In 2024 or 2025, both players have the option of becoming free agents.
The Lakers just finished a disastrous, injury-riddled season in which they missed the playoffs for a second straight year and head coach Frank Vogel was dismissed. Darvin Ham, an assistant coach from Milwaukee, took over as coach.
Los Angeles has made the playoffs twice since James joined the club in 2018, losing in the opening round of the playoffs in 2021 and winning an NBA title while being on the COVID bubble in 2020.
James played well last season despite the team's struggles with injuries, including his own. He averaged more than 30 points per game for just the third time in his career and made a career-high 2.9 3-pointers per game.
According to Forbes, James recently passed NBA star Michael Jordan to become the second athlete to reach the billion-dollar mark. Despite doing so while still an active player, James did so. Jordan, 59, was not given a $1 billion valuation until 2014, 11 years after his basketball career came to an end and before he took ownership of the Charlotte Hornets.
Bronny still has one more season of high school basketball left, and he is anticipated to play at least one year of college basketball, which would qualify him for the 2025 NBA Draft.
After On3.com announced on Tuesday that the school had become the favorite to sign Bronny, a 17-year-old, Oregon Ducks supporters had cause to rejoice.
LeBron, though, successfully put an end to the notion on social media before the Ducks supporters could rejoice in their good fortune.
In reaction to the allegation, LeBron, 37, tweeted that he had only made a few calls to coaches and universities and hadn't yet taken any visits. "You'll hear from Bronny when he makes his decision," he said.
High school basketball recruits often make several phone calls to each school that is interested before making an official, NCAA-sanctioned campus visit.
According to 247 Sports and ESPN, Bronny is the 39th-ranked recruit and now has a number of suitors, including storied college basketball programs Duke, Kansas, Kentucky, and North Carolina.
Given Oregon's close ties to Nike and Bronny's father's decades-long professional association with the company, the idea that he would end up there is not improbable.
LeBron has already refuted the On3.com article's claims that Bronny is considering remaining nearby by enrolling at USC or going back to his home state to play for the Ohio State Buckeyes.
Strangely, the Tuesday report was pounced upon by Portland Trail Blazers supporters, who imagined the future Hall of Famer signing with the NBA team to be nearer to Bronny, if he attends Eugene High School. Bronny is one of James' four children, the others of whom will most likely continue to reside in Los Angeles.
Bronny, who might be selected by an NBA team as soon as 2025, has expressed interest in playing with James, a Laker since 2018.
James stated to The Athletic in February that his final year would be spent playing with his son. "I'll be wherever Bronny is," I said. I would go to any lengths to spend a year playing with my son. At that point, it's not about the money.
James wouldn't be the first famous athlete to see their kid play.
In the 1970s, Mark and Marty Howe played alongside NHL star Gordie Howe on the Houston Aeros of the WHA. Prior to and following the WHA and NHL merger, Mark and Gordie also shared the ice with the Hartford Whalers.
Former Major League Baseball All-Star Ken Griffey Sr. joined the Seattle Mariners in 1990, where his Hall of Fame-bound son had already started his professional career.
On September 14, 1990, the father-son team blasted back-to-back home runs against the California Angels.
James is already considering his alternatives for retirement, notably his desire to buy an NBA franchise, as the last years of his playing career take form.
Ric Bucher, a seasoned NBA writer, claims that the Lakers forward is in "pole position" to secure a reported expansion club in Las Vegas.
Bucher was informed by league insiders that expansion teams in Las Vegas and Seattle may appear in 2025, following the expiration of the NBA's current media contracts, as he detailed on his podcast. James would be 40 at the time, which is still young enough to be playing, but NBA regulations forbid any player on a team's roster from holding stock in that organization.
James has stated a desire to buy an NBA team situated in Las Vegas.
James stated, "I want to own a team," in a scene from his HBO program "The in June."
Yes, I need a team.
A team in Vegas would be great, yes. I do want the team to go to Vegas.
Naturally, James is already a partner in the Fenway Sports Group, which entitles him to minor ownership interests in a number of professional sports teams, including the MLB's Boston Red Sox, the NHL's Pittsburgh Penguins, a NASCAR team, and Liverpool FC, in which he first made an investment in 2011.
The upcoming season, may LeBron James Jr. compete in the NBL?
LeBron James Jr. could be moving to Australia, but Australian NBL fans shouldn't get their hearts up just yet, according to a story from Joe Vardon of The Athletic.
Bronny, also known as James Jr., plays for Sierra Canyon High School in California right now.
LeBron James, Bronny's father, has previously stated that he would like to play one season with his son to round out his career. However, he will have to wait until 2024 because Bronny has one more year of high school eligibility before declaring for the NBA draft in 2024.
That sparked intense speculation regarding Bronny's future plans, but it's easy to forget that the young man is still just 17 years old (he turns 18 in October). According to Vardon, who is well-connected in NBA circles, Bronny has three alternatives.
Sydney Kings owner Paul Smith told the Sydney Morning Herald that there was only one obvious destination for Bronny this year after NBL pundit Corey "Homicide" Williams brought up the idea of him visiting Australia as part of the league's Next Stars program.
According to Smith, who spoke to the Herald, "There's only one city that's large enough for LeBron and Bronny, and that's Sydney." Every week, we would fill 18,000 seats.
In an effort to hasten the development of the "future stars of the NBA," the NBL introduced the program for the 2018–19 season. The program enables a player to sign on with an NBL side with an Australian or New Zealand basis as a rostered player with the goal of developing this athlete specifically in a top-tier men's professional league.
Players for the Next Stars are hand-selected by an NBL-appointed panel of professionals and must be eligible to be nominated for the NBA Draft. After being chosen, the Next Stars pool signs a contract with the NBL, and the NBL then assigns the Next Stars to clubs in the league.
The NBL Next Stars program is open to Australian players that are eligible for the NBA Draft.
These athletes will participate in at least one NBL season prior to declaring for the NBA draft.
Terrence Ferguson's signing with the Adelaide 36ers was the catalyst for the creation of the program, even though he wasn't a "Next Star" in 2016 because he arrived in Australia before the concept was made official.
The goal of the program was to provide athletes with a compensated alternative to American college basketball.
Seven players joined the NBL as part of the program this past season, demonstrating that the NBL's growth has not gone ignored.
