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<\/p>\nLAS VEGAS \u2014 LeBron James shook hands with Rob Pelinka, joked with JJ Redick, talked golf with Austin Reaves and posed for pictures with his team\u2019s newest players, Jake LaRavia and Deandre Ayton. At the Thomas & Mack Center on Monday night, James did everything you would expect a member of the Los Angeles Lakers to do.<\/p>\n
In the sections filled with employees from other teams, scouts and executives around the NBA buzzed with speculation about where else James might play, tossing around trade and buyout scenarios that, league and team sources told The Athletic, have never been discussed between James and the Lakers.<\/p>\n
Amid the constant speculation recently about his future, both the Lakers and people close to the NBA\u2019s all-time leading scorer expect that he will be with the organization for training camp once the season begins this fall, league sources told The Athletic.<\/p>\n
Those same sources said the Lakers have received no indication from James or his representatives that he would request a trade or ask to be bought out of the final year of his contract, which will be his eighth season with the Lakers, the longest consecutive stretch spent with one organization in his career.<\/p>\n
When James\u2019 agent Rich Paul, CEO of Klutch Sports, said last month that \u201cLeBron knows the Lakers are building for the future, and he also wants to compete for championships. We understand the difficulty in winning now while preparing for the future. We do want to evaluate what\u2019s best for LeBron at this stage in his life and career,\u201d it set off a tornado of speculation that James might try to leave Los Angeles, even though he had just picked up his $52.6 million contract option to stay.<\/p>\n
Those same league and team sources pointed out that Paul has made similar comments in the past, when James was playing for either the Cleveland Cavaliers or Lakers, when it was time to renegotiate a contract. The difference in this case: James had a deadline of June 29 to pick up his option or decline it and become a free agent, and there was only one team \u2014 the rebuilding Brooklyn Nets \u2014 with the cap space to even approach James\u2019 salary.<\/p>\n
A second difference: For the first time in his career, James is not the focal point of the team. That role belongs to Luka Don\u010di\u0107, whom the Lakers acquired in one of the most shocking trades in NBA history last season. In fact, the Don\u010di\u0107 trade perhaps gave some oxygen to the latest round of LeBron rumors, because if a player like Luka \u2014 who is only 26 and is one of the best players in the NBA \u2014 can be traded, then anything could happen.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
James and Don\u010di\u0107 share the court in February. (Ronald Martinez \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n
But the realities of NBA salary cap rules, the state of the Lakers\u2019 roster and the state of James\u2019 career are roadblocks to his Lakers tenure ending with a surprising exit, should James even decide he wants that.<\/p>\n
As an example, one of the teams regularly linked to James as a possible destination in a hypothetical departure from Los Angeles is his former franchise in Cleveland. Except, because the Cavs have one of the highest payrolls in the league and are over the dreaded second apron, they are barred from trading for James right now because they do not have any players making $52.6 million. Teams over the second apron may not aggregate salaries in trades.<\/p>\n
If James had wanted to rejoin Cleveland, which posted the best record in the Eastern Conference last season and has a deep roster, the easiest way would have been to decline his player option and sign with the Cavs for a fraction of what he makes now. And if the Cavaliers wanted to deal for James, they would first need to get under the second apron by sacrificing players and assets and then would need to sacrifice key pieces in their rotation to match James\u2019 salary.<\/p>\n
If the Lakers were to buy him out of his contract before the start of training camp, he would be free to sign with the Cavs. But if the Lakers were to buy him out during the regular season, he would be barred from signing with Cleveland because of restrictions on teams above the second apron.<\/p>\n
Again, team and league sources said no discussions about a buyout have occurred between the Lakers and James, the option merely being a pathway discussed by rival teams as they survey the situation.<\/p>\n
The Lakers would also have no real reason to buy James out of his contract, as the team is still aiming to contend while formulating the best long-term roster around Don\u010di\u0107. They could trade James, but that would potentially put them in danger of fouling up one of their other chief goals \u2014 creating salary flexibility for next summer. The team has been resistant to taking on longer-term contracts in an effort to maintain flexibility.<\/p>\n
James\u2019 $52.6 million contract comes off LA\u2019s books at the end of the 2025-26 season; if the Lakers were to, hypothetically, trade James to the Golden State Warriors for Jimmy Butler, who is nearly 36, they would have Butler under contract for the 2026-27 season at nearly $57 million. If the Lakers were to, hypothetically, trade James to New York for Karl-Anthony Towns, they would have Towns under contract for three seasons and more than $170 million.<\/p>\n
In addition to the Lakers\u2019 roster concerns, any team that trades for James must weigh the assets it gives up to acquire him against how many years he has left; James is still one of the best in the league but is nevertheless entering his 23rd season and has acknowledged retirement is a possibility. To trade for James is to envision winning an NBA title this June.<\/p>\n
One team linked to James \u2014 the Dallas Mavericks \u2014 does not have interest in gutting its roster to match James\u2019 salary in a trade, a team source told The Athletic.<\/p>\n
And if there were a potentially better trade out there for the Lakers \u2014 one that would create cap flexibility while also addressing some of the team\u2019s other needs \u2014 James has a full no-trade clause in his contract and could veto any deal that would send him somewhere he doesn\u2019t want to go.<\/p>\n
There remain a few variables that could yet swing this saga in another direction. Don\u010di\u0107 is eligible to sign a lucrative contract extension on Aug. 2 and remains the Lakers\u2019 most pressing priority. There is also the chance of a trade offer materializing that could suit both James and the Lakers \u2014 certainly not impossible, but also more complicated to pull off than talking heads might have you believe.<\/p>\n
The Lakers have additional roster work to do. The team can create a roster spot by waiving guard Shake Milton, and team sources have said that improving the team\u2019s point of attack defense is a priority. But the addition of Ayton answers the Lakers\u2019 questions at center at least in the short term \u2014 the most obvious area of growth from last year\u2019s team that finished third in the West before being bounced in five games by the Minnesota Timberwolves in the first round.<\/p>\n
On Sunday, Paul joined SiriusXM\u2019s NBA Radio and echoed what he\u2019s said in numerous private conversations recently: LeBron should, and will enjoy his summer. It means, among other things, that if there is a big, controversial decision for James to make, it would come in the build-up to the regular season.<\/p>\n
In the meantime, there has been strenuous rehabbing of James\u2019 injured left knee. He\u2019s played golf and hosted friends in Akron, Ohio. There was a trip to Puerto Rico to see Bad Bunny. And there was his stop in Las Vegas, where he spoke with teammates and assistant coaches on Saturday before coming back to watch a second game with his wife and daughter.<\/p>\n
Among the summer league Lakers whom James and teammates were watching was Bronny James, LeBron\u2019s son, who is under contract in Los Angeles for three more seasons and who is improving under the organization\u2019s developmental plan.<\/p>\n
At the end of last season, James called playing with his son the top achievement of his career.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is not even close. To be able to play the game that I love and to be able to be along with my son this whole year has been one of the most gratifying, satisfying journeys I\u2019ve ever been on,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
And over the past week, as fake trades and free agency scenarios played out in the stands, one of the biggest reasons for James to stay played well on the court.<\/p>\n
The Athletic\u2019s Sam Amick contributed.<\/strong><\/p>\n (Photo: Luke Hales \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LAS VEGAS \u2014 LeBron James shook hands with Rob Pelinka, joked with JJ Redick, talked golf with Austin…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":67504,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[3141,1260,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-67503","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-los-angeles-lakers","9":"tag-nba","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-united-states","12":"tag-unitedstates","13":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67503","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67503"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67503\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67504"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67503"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67503"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67503"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}