LeBron James was willing to give the Los Angeles Lakers a massive discount on his new deal. The condition, however, was that LA would use the money they saved on LeBron’s deal to sign a key player via free agency.
The Lakers failed in their pursuit of one of their biggest targets after Klay Thompson chose to sign with the Dallas Mavericks. This now begs the question: what’s next for LeBron?
Los Angeles Lakers News: Will LeBron James Demand Max Deal?
You have to note that it’s not just Thompson who the Lakers lost out on over the past couple of days. James Harden and Jonas Valanciunas were the other two names that were linked to LA, and both have agreed to deals with the Los Angeles Clippers and the Washington Wizards, respectively.
According to a report by ESPN, this turn of events could force LeBron to walk back on his offer to take less money from the Lakers. This comes via Legion Hoops on X, formerly Twitter:
“LeBron James could demand the Lakers offer him a 3-year, $162M max contract after missing out on Klay Thompson, via ESPN,” read the report.
This only makes sense considering how this will likely be LeBron’s last big-money deal. Now that the Lakers failed to sign the players that he wanted, then it’s only logical for the NBA’s all-time leading scorer to demand the money he deserves.
The silver lining here is that apparently, all hope is not lost. DeMar DeRozan is the name that is now being linked to the Lakers, and it appears that James is also willing to take a pay cut if it means bringing the Chicago Bulls star to Hollywood.
Let’s just hope the Lakers don’t strike out on DeRozan as well.
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