Giannis Antetokounmpo being traded by Milwaukee to Miami<\/a>. <\/p>\nThe next step for James is hearing from interested teams \u2014 Golden State, Miami and Cleveland were among the clubs expected to make pitches, a person with knowledge of the plans said \u2014 before he picks a landing spot. How long the process will take is anyone\u2019s guess, and the person made clear to The Associated Press that money won\u2019t be a factor in James\u2019 decision.<\/p>\n
The Lakers released a statement Tuesday thanking James for his eight seasons with the club.<\/p>\n
\u201cLeBron James is one of the greatest athletes in history,\u201d said Jeanie Buss, part of the Lakers\u2019 ownership group. \u201cWe will always be thankful for his eight years with the Lakers, including the title he led us to in 2020 under the toughest imaginable circumstances, and the countless records he broke in purple and gold. We wish him all the best in the future, both on the court and off. He will always be a cherished part of the Lakers family.\u201d<\/p>\n
ESPN, citing James\u2019 longtime agent and Klutch Sports CEO Rich Paul, first reported James\u2019 plans.<\/p>\n
What happens now for James<\/p>\n
The free agency period in the league opened at 6 p.m. EDT on Tuesday, which meant James and Paul could start taking those meetings. James will not be able to sign with a new team until the league\u2019s offseason moratorium is lifted on July 6.<\/p>\n
The momentum toward Golden State seemed to pick up when longtime Warriors forward Draymond Green did not exercise his $27.6 million option for this coming season earlier this week, in large part to allow his team flexibility to make other roster moves. It doesn\u2019t mean Green won\u2019t be back in Golden State \u2014 all indications are that he will \u2014 but it gives the team options.<\/p>\n
\u201cPersonally, I\u2019m always willing to work with the team on whatever is best, especially at this point in my career,\u201d Green said on the latest episode of his podcast, which was released Tuesday. \u201cSo, my decision to opt out was for a few reasons. As you all know, I\u2019ve always taken the approach of working with the organization. I\u2019ve been in one place for 14 years. It\u2019s more of a family to me than anything.\u201d<\/p>\n
Golden State is a franchise James faced four times with Cleveland in the NBA Finals. He also has close relationships with Green, Stephen Curry and Warriors coach Steve Kerr; Curry was his teammate and Kerr was his coach for the United States\u2019 run to the gold medal at the 2024 Paris Games.<\/p>\n
James\u2019 tenure with the Lakers was the longest he spent in one stint with an NBA team and he led them to the 2020 NBA championship. He became the NBA\u2019s career scoring leader while wearing a Lakers uniform and surpassed a slew of other records while in purple and gold.<\/p>\n
He spent the first seven years of his career in Cleveland, then left for four years in Miami, where he won the first two of his four championships. That was followed by another four-year stint with the Cavaliers (so he had 11 years there total), and in 2018 he joined the Lakers.<\/p>\n
A career like none other<\/p>\n
James is the NBA\u2019s oldest active player; he turns 42 in December. He was the first player in league history to log 23 seasons; he\u2019ll add at least one more to that this season. He also became the first player in the league to have a son as a teammate, with Bronny James playing alongside him with the Lakers.<\/p>\n
The list of James\u2019 accolades to this point are beyond comparison.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s a 22-time All-Star, a 21-time All-NBA selection, a four-time Most Valuable Player, a four-time NBA Finals MVP, a three-time All-Star Game MVP, and was part of the NBA\u2019s 75th anniversary team. He\u2019s coming off a season where he averaged 20.9 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 7.2 assists per game, and for his career, he\u2019s averaged 26.8 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 7.4 assists in more than 1,600 games.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe created a whole new era for the Lakers, including leading us to an NBA Championship in 2020 and all the milestones he surpassed in a Lakers jersey,\u201d Lakers Hall of Famer Magic Johnson wrote on social media. \u201cI\u2019ll always love and be grateful for him and wish him all the best in the next phase of his life, on and off the court!\u201d <\/p>\n
NBA sets cap, tax lines for 2026-27<\/p>\n
As is custom, the NBA revealed the salary cap for this coming season shortly before the formal start of the free agency window. The cap was set at $164.961 million, with the tax level at $200.428 million.<\/p>\n
Other numbers released by the league:<\/p>\n
\u2014 The minimum team salary is $148.465 million.<\/p>\n
\u2014 The first apron level is $209.015 million.<\/p>\n
\u2014 The second apron level is $221.686 million.<\/p>\n
\u2014 The non-taxpayer midlevel salary is $15.044 million.<\/p>\n
\u2014 The taxpayer midlevel is $6.064 million.<\/p>\n
\u2014 The room midlevel is $9.366 million.<\/p>\n
Hardaway Jr., Fontecchio to Heat<\/p>\n
Tim Hardaway Jr. grew up in Miami, where his father\u2019s jersey sways as one that the Heat retired. And now, he\u2019ll follow in his father\u2019s footsteps \u2014 agreeing to a $6.5 million deal to join the Heat and be one of the shooters around soon-to-be formally acquired Antetokounmpo. Miami also agreed with Simone Fontecchio on a deal that will only cost Miami $2.5 million against the cap.<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
AP NBA: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/NBA<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LeBron James is leaving the Los Angeles Lakers, which means another decision awaits. A mere 16 years after…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":904566,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[10],"tags":[29011,276,13593,2389,3368,85531,3363,3141,380,1260,6326,27841,190436,62,2732,3366,18767,93799,67,132,68,4714],"class_list":["post-904565","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-bronny-james","tag-california","tag-cleveland","tag-draymond-green","tag-giannis-antetokounmpo","tag-jeanie-buss","tag-lebron-james","tag-los-angeles-lakers","tag-miami","tag-nba","tag-nba-basketball","tag-rich-paul","tag-simone-fontecchio","tag-sports","tag-sports-transactions","tag-stephen-curry","tag-steve-kerr","tag-tim-hardaway-jr","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us","tag-victor-wembanyama"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116842683964894448","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/904565","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=904565"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/904565\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/904566"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=904565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=904565"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=904565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}