Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - LeBron James Picks Up $52 Million Option, Sends Message to Management. What's Next?

Starting point is 00:00:00 Hey, everyone, welcome to special bonus episode of Lockdown Lakers. Brian Kaminetsky here. LeBron James opts into his $52 million option for this season with the Lakers. But it comes with some strong messaging from team LeBron. Get to that next. You are Locked on Lakers. Your daily Los Angeles Lakers podcast, part of the Locked on Podcast Network. Your team, every day. Thanks to everybody for making Lockdown Lakers. Your first listen to every day Monday through Friday. and sometimes on Sundays. No matter how or where you get your podcast, this one's always free and not behind a paywall. Lockdown Lakers on YouTube is where probably you're catching this. And over 35,000 other subscribers are all wondering how LeBron James opting into his $52 million player option for this season will impact things going forward.

Starting point is 00:00:55 This was not unexpected news necessarily. The reporting over the last few weeks has been that LeBron is going to opt into that deal. He is not going to do another one of the one on one on one, uh, one-and-one contracts that have been kind of the hallmark of how he's approached his time with the Lakers since his first initial big deal that got him to L.A. in the first place. So he is going to be a Laker. He will be on the roster for $52 million and a little bit of change. But what really makes news here is the quotes that came from Rich Paul.

Starting point is 00:01:32 This from ESPN reporting this. Rich Paul says, 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're very appreciative of the partnership that we've had for eight years with Jeannie Bus and Rob Polinka and consider the Lakers as a critical part of his career. We understand the difficulty in winning now while preparing for the future.

Starting point is 00:01:57 We do want to evaluate what's best for LeBron at this stage of his life and career. He wants to make every season he has left count, and the Lakers understand that, and are supportive and want what is best for him. So a lot to unpack here. First of all, from a practical standpoint, this is actually among the semi-realistic options that were there. Like everybody, you know, I think there were some fans who hoped that LeBron might go ahead and take less money

Starting point is 00:02:25 and the Lakers could open up the larger mid-level exception and do all that kind of stuff. That was never going to happen. So setting that aside for a minute, This is actually the best result, I think, for everyone, but certainly for the Lakers, because what this gives is clarity to win a potential end. If that's what everybody wants, if it's what the Lakers need, if it's what LeBron needs, whatever it is. But the Lakers have clarity on when a potential end of the LeBron era comes, how it could move forward from here with LeBron becoming a free agent after next season. It doesn't necessarily mean he doesn't come back.

Starting point is 00:02:59 But again, it just creates an ending point for the Lakers. So at the very least, if they decide that it's time to move on in their rebuilding around Luca, they have the ability to do that without LeBron exercising leverage over them. For LeBron, I think it's better too because it gives him more flexibility. It allows him to kind of dictate what he wants to do and how he wants to do it. I happen to think his options for where he might go are relatively limited, but that's time for a different show. What this also will do, though, is revive, and I'm not sure how effective it will be this go-around,

Starting point is 00:03:37 but it will revive the conversation about LeBron James putting pressure on management, that LeBron is making sure they go out and try to field a winner, because if they don't, he's not necessarily going to stay. And with that in mind, that, you know, that, you know, it's interesting to think about it because what he's essentially saying is if the Lakers aren't aggressively trying to build a team that can contend, LeBron might go somewhere else, which is totally understandable. Except it's also a bit of a moot point because the Lakers are going through this exercise

Starting point is 00:04:16 right now to try to make sure they can show Luca Danschich that they are committed to winning, that they're committed to building a team around him that can compete and compete quickly. There's no indication that Lakers are going into a full rebuild. anyway. So I'm not sure how much this really changes the Lakers summertime. They, I'm sure, have been planning for what it means for them financially if LeBron opts in. Again, that's been the signal that's being sent throughout the offseason is that is what was coming. And so that's where the Lakers are. I think what this really does is it changes the long-term outlook for LeBron. in Los Angeles and what this might mean for him going forward.

Starting point is 00:05:03 If is he going to come back for another year, is he going to come back for two years? How long is he going to play? Is this going to be his last season? It certainly sounds like based on what Rich Paul is saying, that LeBron intends to play beyond this season. So that is another bit of subtext, I think, that comes with this announcement on Sunday morning.

Starting point is 00:05:25 So we'll see what happens from here. We'll see if they get any more clarity, this might mean. It doesn't mean LeBron is even open to being traded this season that he would waive the no trade clause that he has to move to a team that he feels is a better contender. That obviously would open a can of worms.

Starting point is 00:05:41 It would be fascinating to unpack. As many regular watchers of the show know, Andy and I have discussed at length the challenges of trading LeBron and trying to get any kind of equal value back. The market for him would be quite small. I think the market for teams

Starting point is 00:05:57 he would want to go to is quite small. It starts with a C and ends with a D. And I'll let you figure out the letters that come in between. I do not think that market extends farther beyond the caps. So this would be almost like a piece of nothing news had it not come with the quote from quotes from Rich Paul about this in terms of watching the front office, the language that sounds so much like past tense. and not present tense. There's no language in there about looking forward to continuing to build a championship caliber team together or any of that stuff. It's very distant. I don't think that necessarily is reflective of LeBron his relationship with Luca, his understanding or approval of the

Starting point is 00:06:48 direction the team is going in. I think he understands that the Lakers made the Dantwich trade in part, not even part entirely, because it resets their future. And when you have a 26-year-old superstar, you build around that guy and you cater to that guy's needs more than you do. Your 40-year-old superstar. I do not think that is unexpected from Team LeBron. It just does impact potentially how he views the future. Again, whether he's going to play for one more year, two more years, three more years. That statement seems to open the door for a bit of a longer thing.

Starting point is 00:07:26 I think if he's going to quit after this year, we'll hear about it soon. Anyway, we are going to have a much more extended show on this. Domen Rangula, a friend of the show, who you guys, Lakers fans all know from his social feeds. He's going to be joining me. And he's still on vacation for one more day. So I have a great show with Domyn later to go. And other news, and this is probably more practically important for the Lakers in terms of what happens this summer. Dorian Finney Smith, it was reported on Sunday morning, will be declining his 15.4 million player

Starting point is 00:08:01 option for next season. That will put him in free agency, but it also potentially gives the Lakers more avenues into what they might do. Bobby Marks noting that if DFS opts out and signs with another team, the Lakers open up the 14.1 million. non-taxpayer mid-level. So plenty to discuss there. It would be very interesting to see how the Lakers handle this because DFS is going to get some interest. He feels a need for this team that they don't necessarily, but it won't necessarily

Starting point is 00:08:38 be easy to replace. But letting him go offers the opportunity to use that larger exception. So plenty more to come later this afternoon. Leave questions, leave comments. Do you want to let people know first, though, that today's episode. It's brought to you by Fanduel. Summer sports are in full swing. And whether you are all about baseball under the lights, golf, and the green or high-stakes soccer action, Fanduel is the best way to make every game even more exciting.

Starting point is 00:09:04 You're already following the action. Go ahead and make it a little more thrilling with Fanduel. You can get in on the game while your friends are getting sunburn on the beach or theoretically you both, I guess. So go to fandual.com. New customers can get $5 and get $150 in bonus bets if that first bet wins. open up the Fandual app today. Visit Fandual.com. If you don't want to use the app, go to fandual.com to get started.

Starting point is 00:09:30 We will see everyone tomorrow.

Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - LeBron James Picks Up $52 Million Option, Sends Message to Management. What's Next?

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.