{"id":131360,"date":"2025-03-28T19:15:59","date_gmt":"2025-03-28T23:15:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=131360"},"modified":"2025-03-28T19:19:09","modified_gmt":"2025-03-28T23:19:09","slug":"lakers-lebron-james-player-option-likely-decision","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/03\/28\/lakers-lebron-james-player-option-likely-decision\/","title":{"rendered":"Report: Lakers Star’s ‘Likely’ $53M Decision Revealed"},"content":{"rendered":"

NBA teams will have plenty to look forward to as the offseason <\/span>salary cap increases by 10%<\/span><\/a> this summer. Playoff squads will look to fortify their contention status no matter this year\u2019s outcome, and that includes the purple and gold<\/span>. The Lakers<\/a> may have little room to spare with <\/span>LeBron James<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>Luka Doncic<\/span><\/a> on the books. That is, unless one of them is willing to put his money where his mouth is.<\/span><\/p>\n

Report: Lakers Star’s ‘Likely’ $53M Decision Revealed<\/b><\/h2>\n

Siegel on James\u2019 Player Option Verdict<\/b><\/h3>\n

While explaining how the increase in cap space would affect teams\u2019 summers, <\/span>ClutchPoints\u2019 Brett Siegel<\/span><\/a> addressed how there may be little to no movement of star players, beginning with James and the Lakers.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>LeBron will likely opt out of his $50.6 million player option, but he is not expected to leave Los Angeles, league sources told ClutchPoints. This has been James’ strategy through the years, <\/span>signing those unique \u201c1+1\u201d contracts<\/span><\/a> which give him and the Lakers flexibility to adjust their cap numbers accordingly.<\/span><\/p>\n

Last offseason, James made it clear to Rob Pelinka and the Lakers front office that he would be willing to take a slight pay cut if it meant them targeting impactful talents who could increase the team’s championship odds. <\/span>He will very likely do the same this summer<\/span><\/a>, allowing Los Angeles to add more talent around him and Luka Doncic. Bringing back Jaxson Hayes has also become a priority for the Lakers, along with evaluating an underwhelming pool of frontcourt talent.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

When LeBron made that same decision last offseason, his agent, Rich Paul, <\/span>said<\/span><\/a> that James was \u201c<\/span>adamant about exuding all efforts to improve the roster.” Now, no one could have foreseen that \u201croster improvement\u201d meant trading for a global superstar, but that was improvement nonetheless.<\/span><\/p>\n

Fast forward to this season\u2014post-trade deadline\u2014and it\u2019s clear the Lakers have their hands (and pocketbooks) full. James is currently in the middle of a <\/span>two-year, $104 million deal<\/span><\/a> that includes the $53M player option for next season. Doncic, meanwhile, is making $43 million this season and nearly $46 million the next (not to mention his $48.9 million player option ahead of 2026-27).<\/span><\/p>\n

No Brainer for LeBron and the Lakers<\/b><\/h3>\n

James\u2019s talk of a pay cut is clearly nothing new. That decision\u2014if it holds\u2014would not have better timing than this summer, when the Lakers prepare for a full year of \u201cLeBroncic\u201d under their belts. Aside from retaining LeBron, Rob Pelinka and co. will also need to ensure that the supporting cast is upgraded, coaxing <\/span>Dorian Finney-Smith<\/span><\/a> to pick up his player option, giving <\/span>Jaxson Hayes<\/span><\/a> a well-deserved payday (as Siegel mentioned earlier), or bringing new faces into an exciting era of Lakers basketball.<\/span><\/p>\n

Of LA\u2019s 15 guaranteed contracts, only three players\u2014Hayes, <\/span>Markieff Morris<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>Alex Len<\/span><\/a>\u2014are on expiring deals. The rest are set to become free agents after next season, giving the front office some security and flexibility, especially if trade opportunities come up.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Lakers extended both their title window and James\u2019s career when they acquired Luka. Now, LeBron could return the favor (while maintaining high expectations) by re-signing on a team-friendly contract that allows the Lakers to continually compete for championships.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a9 Jonathan Hui-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NBA teams will have plenty to look forward to as the offseason salary cap increases by 10% this summer. Playoff squads will look to fortify their contention status no matter this year\u2019s outcome, and that includes the purple and gold. The Lakers may have little room to spare with LeBron James and Luka Doncic on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4265,"featured_media":131371,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,26,62],"tags":[38,1133,297,4557,759],"class_list":["post-131360","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-lakers","category-nba","tag-lebron-james","tag-luka-doncic","tag-nba-free-agency","tag-nba-offseason","tag-rob-pelinka"],"modified_by":"Jordan Pagkalinawan","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131360","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4265"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=131360"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131360\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":131378,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131360\/revisions\/131378"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/131371"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=131360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=131360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=131360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}