There is ‘SOMETHING UNUSUAL’ about LeBron’s player option – Brian Windhorst | Get Up

There is ‘SOMETHING UNUSUAL’ about LeBron’s player option – Brian Windhorst | Get Up

but the fireworks started yesterday lebron James exercising his 52.6 million player option for next season his agent left the door open for a possible departure from the Lakers take a look at what Fletch Sports CEO Rich Paul told our Shams Shirania quote “LeBron wants to compete for a championship he knows the Lakers are building for the future he understands that but he values a realistic chance of winning it all we are very appreciative of the partnership that we’ve had for eight years with Jeanie Bus and Rob Pelinka and consider the Lakers as a critical part of his career we understand the difficulty in winning now while preparing for the future we do want to evaluate what’s best for LeBron at this stage in his life and career he wants to make every season he has left count and the Lakers understand that are supportive and want what’s best for him so this is why opting in to your contract doesn’t necessarily mean everything it sounds like it says because why would the agent Wendy put out a statement like that if it was that simple take us through what this all means
yeah there’s something going on here and I can be honest with you I don’t completely know what it is um I I talked to Rich Paul yesterday he reiterated essentially what he’s told Shams um what I can tell you is I do not think LeBron James is going to be traded either today or tomorrow or in a month or in three months because number one he makes $53 million and doing a trade like that um to a competitive team that has a high payroll is going to be very difficult and secondly he has a no trade clause which would mean he would control all sides of a trade um not only where he would want to go but what he would want to get traded for and those parameters uh just make it unlikely a deal like that would ever happen so while it is fascinating to think about I don’t think that’s an avenue here also I will point out that the Lakers finished as the number three seed in the Western Conference last year now it was tightly bunched the difference between the three seed and the seven seed wasn’t that big but this is not a team that is not competitive for a championship and I would expect in the next two days they add a player or two to their core that would improve their hand a little bit so the way that the that LeBron’s operation has approached this is an indication that he is not happy um and I’m not sure what the Lakers can do to make him happy in the next couple of days that they hadn’t done the last six months and I’m not sure what his next move would be after that we’re all going to want to wait and watch how this plays out
yeah bobby how do you think this plays out is there is there if they if he wanted to be traded is there even a market for him at this point
you know to be sensitive to LeBron who’s considered one of the greatest of all time there isn’t and here’s why Dan he’s making $53 million season his last year of his contract he’s 40 years old and I talked to numerous teams yesterday and and asked that same question would you give up basically the farm and basically you’d have to give up four or five players to go get LeBron James for one year and the unanimous answer was no they wouldn’t now the the stakes change a lot if LeBron James ever became a free agent and did some type of buyout in Los Angeles there you would have 29 teams lined up for him but from a trade perspective and here’s a hypo here’s a hypothetical his for his former team the Cleveland Cavaliers who are in this second apron and have spent a lot of money they would basically have to trade about six players Dan just to go out and get him for one year and as one team told me that’s not smart business
well and the other thing as Brian pointed out the the thing about this too is because LeBron has a no trade clause he controls all parts of any kind of trade so not only does LeBron get to say “Hey I want to go to a certain team.” He also gets to say “Hey these are the guys I want to come back for me in a trade because this is what I want to have left on the team when I get there.” Right if you go back 20 years ago Kobe Bryant had a no trade cause he was on the Lakers remember he wanted to go to the Chicago Bulls there were negotiations about whether Lu Deng should be in the trade all these different guys eventually Dr jerry Bus sat down with Kobe and said “We’re not going to trade you this is not worth it you’re going to be on the Lakers.” That’s where I think this is going to end i don’t know if that conversation is going to happen but there’s just not a realistic way to get LeBron somewhere else by a trade so I think we’re going to see him in the fall with Luca Donuch and the Laker uniform
and just so the viewers are clear if they can’t trade him and he does want out is there any kind of avenue at all for that for him to get bought out and become a free agent
i mean in theory the Lakers could wave him and say “Hey you can go be a free agent.” I don’t see any reason why the Lakers would do that particularly because LeBron James two days ago had the opportunity to be a free agent and opt out of his contract and elect to test the open market and he chose to take the 52.6 6 million that were available to him so to me if I’m the Lakers this is very simple i put out a statement i say “We’re thrilled LeBron James has opted in he’s one of the best players of all time and we’re going to be excited to have him and Luca Donuch on the court at training camp with coach JJ Reic in the fall.”
You know what Dan yeah they haven’t put out a statement
so um you know it’s not it’s not a rule that you put out a statement announcing when a player picks up an option but it is customary uh and the Lakers did not do that unless it went to my spam folder and I didn’t see it guys i I did not see the Lakers put out a statement he did i had to actually check with the team in the league i said “Did LeBron actually opt in?” And they said “Yes the the paperwork went through he opted into his contract.” Last year when LeBron signed a contract extension Rob Pelinka had about a 115word quote talking about how wonderful LeBron James is and what he means to the Lakers and what he means to their their franchise yesterday there was no statement that the Lakers reaction to the way this was announced and um you know I I will say this I talked to Rich Paul luca Donuch was informed that this was going to be LeBron’s decision uh the Lakers were informed that this was going to be what was going to be said luca was informed that this was going to be said so this didn’t catch uh you know them by surprise but you know who did catch us by surprise the rest of the league because as I considered which teams that LeBron would ever want to play for I thought well maybe there’s some sort of something a foot here and so I went sort of team by team and these the teams didn’t know that this was coming so Luca was more aware than the potential other teams so again there’s something that’s unusual here and it’s just unusual for LeBron to be in this spot Dan um he has signed nine contracts in his illustrious career eight of them have had player options in them not once in the eight years has he ever take or the eight times has he ever taken that player option he has ne he has always opted to sign a new contract this is the first time in 23 years he’s ever been on a contract that is in its last year and so um that is a unique position
that’s the point here this is something is weird about this Bobby because it should be cut and dried he opts in you say they can’t trade him like he’s probably gonna end up on the Lakers and yet there are these other little aspects of this that make it strange what do Bobby what do you do if you’re running the Lakers right now what’s the right way for them to handle it
i’m bringing him back i’m I’m not entertaining a buyout there’s no there’s no benefits of of doing a buyout and yes you don’t want a player that’s that that’s not happy and I’m and certainly how this ro how this roster is built moving forward and if that’s where LeBron is but by doing a buyout Dan it you’re going to have the non- tax mid-level exception with a buyout or without a buyout now you could have make you can make the argument that the Lakers would have had $35 million in cap flexibility if LeBron James had opted out of his contract and that would have made it easier as far as how you navigate this situation here but as I said there there’s no benefit doing a buyout with LeBron James especially if if he’s going to go to a Western Conference team now going east changes the dynamics a teeny bit here but if you’re in if you’re in the Lakers organization today you’re focused on getting a center maybe multiple centers using that non-tax mid-level exception and trying to improve this roster right now
it’s kind of Tim we talked a little bit last week about this the Lakers are on almost kind of two different timets right now lebron doesn’t have much time left and wants to win again meanwhile they bring in Luca Donuch last year they’ve got to build the team around him for the future so how do they strike that balance where where does this all end up
where it winds up is with LeBron James playing on the Los Angeles Lakers next season in my opinion and with the Lakers being in frankly the best possible position they could be in with LeBron James on a one-year deal going into next summer when by the way next summer when Luca Donic can also be a free agent the Lakers right now have one contract on the books jared Vanderbilt is making about $12 million next summer that’s it so they have a completely blank canvas to go to Luca Donuch the face of their franchise going forward say “Hey Luca obviously we want you to extend he can extend his contract on August 2nd they would love for him to do that then even if he doesn’t though because there’s no financial difference between doing it then or next July go to him for next summer and say “Luca who do you want on the team what do you want the team to look like?” We can remake it however you want in your image around you and by having LeBron on this expiring contract they could both win as much as they can this year and then also have the flexibility to get Luca Donuch the help he wants next summer
so Wendy you mentioned that Luca was aware this move was coming do you think it has any impact on what his decision ends up being
well I’m sure he’s scratching his head a little bit too because this is not something that anybody expected but when Luca makes his decision in a month give or take on whether he wants to extend his contract with the Lakers I don’t think LeBron figures into that because that’s for the next you know three or four years i don’t think the Lakers can count on LeBron either being in the NBA or being there a year from now so if anything like Bontm said Lucco can look at this contract decision basically as a vote of confidence in the Lakers franchise which frankly historically has been a smart decision being in Los Angeles voting for the Lakers believing the Lakers can draw talent they’re going to have new very deep pocketed ownership all of those things don’t change and so I I I don’t want to assume how Luca reacted to this but I don’t think it really materially affects his extension decision

On Get Up, Brian Windhorst, Bobby Marks and Tim Bontemps join Dan Graziano to discuss LeBron James opting into his $52.6M player option for the 2025-26 season with the Los Angeles Lakers and what that means for his future with the franchise.

0:00 LeBron opts in
1:07 What does LeBron opting in mean?
4:20 Can LeBron get a buyout to become a free agent?
6:58 What is the next move for the Lakers?
8:11 How should Lakers approach the rest of the offseason?

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