The Lakers’ top goal next season is to bring back LeBron James
The Lakers want LeBron James to return on any terms he desires, as ESPN’s Dave McMenamin explained on the Rich Eisen show this week. (Los Angeles can offer LeBron a contract of up to three years and $164 million; no team can offer more than three years due to the over-38 rule.)
This was a basketball decision — he was the Lakers’ best player, a primary shot creator and still playing at an All-NBA level at age 39. Furthermore, he was a barometer of his ability. team volume — when LeBron speeds up part or all of a game, the level of play of everyone else on the team increases as well.
This was also a business decision — LeBron helps fill seats at Crypto.com Arena, sells sponsorship deals, attracts TV audiences and remains the biggest player brand in the sport. Regardless of how much the Lakers pay LeBron, he is worth the money he brings to the club.
If one of the conditions for LeBron to return is to select his son, Bronny James, the Lakers are also willing to do that as reported by Shams Charania of The Athletic.
The Lakers won’t use the No. 17 pick in the first round to select Bronny, as that’s too high for a player who scouts told NBC Sports has potential but isn’t ready for the NBA and needs years of development development (Lakers want to trade that pick for a player who can help now). The Lakers also have pick No. 55 and could trade up for an additional second-round pick.
Is this best for Bronny and what does he want? These are the questions that you and your family/representative need to answer. He could spend time developing with an NBA team (i.e. play in the G-League), or he could use the transfer portal to go to another college and develop his game there with more opportunities, and possibly in his traditional role as lead coordinator, which he didn’t get a chance to play at USC last year.
The takeaway from this is that if LeBron really wants it to happen, the Lakers will do everything they can to make it happen and keep him on the team. That’s why Tyronn Lue’s name kept coming up in the Lakers’ coaching search discussions while he was still under contract with the Clippers — that’s LeBron’s guy. (If you think Steve Ballmer and the Clippers would let Lue out of his contract to coach their crosstown rival, maybe you think birds aren’t real.) LeBron won’t be directly involved in this coaching search, but you can be sure the Lakers wouldn’t hire anyone he doesn’t agree with.
LeBron has historically used the leverage in this free agency to make the changes he wants to see in the organization, and although he may be less meddling now than he was before, the Lakers are very conscious of trying please him.
