The Lakers have the option and will make a two-year, $97.1 million contract extension offer to LeBron James on Thursday, August 4.
The rumors will begin if LeBron doesn't sign it right away, which is highly unlikely given his history of being patient and using his negotiating position. Speculation will disregard the reality that LeBron is content in Los Angeles, his family is firmly established and enrolled in local schools, his post-career concentration is there, and he is unlikely to leave.
Many of those rumors will center on the Cleveland Cavaliers. Darius Garland, Evan Mobley, Jarrett Allen, and others make up their strong young core (a more robust core than when he returned from Miami), and the Cavaliers would have the cap flexibility to sign LeBron outright without having to give up any of those guys. ESPN's Brian Windhorst has previously highlighted that potential.
However, according to Joe Varden of The Athletic, who is as knowledgeable about the Cavaliers as anybody, they are not thinking that way.
The Cavaliers are not pursuing LeBron James to sign him a third time. I believe that family matters too much in this decision, and staying with the Lakers would be his most straightforward option.
The Cavaliers are creating something unique and authentic that has the potential to be exceptional and that the public is supporting. LeBron alters that dynamic and culture.
Yes, he is just a young man from Akron who will always be welcomed in the city, as was demonstrated at the previous All-Star Game. Still, there are concerns in the league that the front office of the Cavaliers wants to make changes to take advantage of LeBron's immediate contribution.
The odds are in LeBron's favor, and the Lakers reached an agreement on a 1+1 deal, which would keep him with the organization until 2024 but give him the option of departing that summer to play with his son Bronny, who would be eligible for the draught that year. LeBron's son would be the cause for his departure from the Lakers.
None of the Cavaliers.
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