Let’s be real.
The Lakers need LeBron James. And he needs them.
Why is this taking so long?
There’s no better free agent on the market than James, who pretty much single-handedly carried the Lakers past the Rockets in the first round of the playoffs.
Of all the stars on the team, it was the 41-year-old whose body was healthy come playoff time. While Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves were sidelined with injuries, James led the team to a 3-0 series lead over Houston. He’s still a superstar. He still has unparalleled durability.
How many playoff games has James missed over his 23-year tenure in the NBA?
Zero.
It’s shocking. But James is as reliable as they come, even as the oldest player in the league.
James embodies a lot of things the Lakers lack on their current roster, headlined by Doncic and Reaves.
He’s a big body. He has championship experience. He can impact things on the defensive end. And above all else, he can be counted on during the postseason, something invaluable to a franchise that has won 17 championships and considers anything short of a title as a failure.
As for James, he’s not going to find a better situation than the Lakers.
He wants a chance to win his fifth title. There was proof in concept of how successful the trio of James, Doncic and Reaves could be in March, when they went 15-2 and looked like one of the NBA’s best teams. Who knows how far they could’ve gone during the postseason had they all remained healthy.
He doesn’t want to leave his family. He wants to be able to attend as many of his 11-year-old daughter’s volleyball games as possible. He wants to play alongside his son, Bronny, who has a partially guaranteed contract with the Lakers next season.
And during his free time he wants to play golf, his latest obsession since turning 40. That pretty much eliminates Cleveland, which is a frozen tundra for much of the year.
It’s hard to imagine he’d want to start over with new teammates and a new coach in the sunset of his career, even though as you may have read in this column, him teaming up with Steph Curry on the Warriors would be thrilling and him returning to the Cavaliers would put a neat bow on his illustrious career. James cares about narratives. He has been with the Lakers for eight seasons, the longest consecutive stretch he has been with any franchise. A new start at this point seems unlikely.
Things might not be all sunsets and rainbows between James and the Lakers. He may have felt disrespected as they’ve shifted to making Doncic their priority. He may have been stunned when he was asked to be the team’s third option, knowing that he could be No. 1 or No. 2 on many teams around the league. Things may be a bit stilted between a franchise that’s firmly focused on its future instead of James, who has been the sun for two decades.
But the Lakers need James. And he needs them.
He averaged 20.9 points on 51.5% shooting, 6.1 rebounds and 7.2 assists last season. He’s still him.
And of all of the destinations that would make sense for him, the Lakers could pay him the most. They have about $50 million in cap space. They could offer James, say, something in the ballpark of $25 million to $35 million and still have room to build out their roster.
Yes, James would have to take a significant pay cut from the $52.6 million he made last season. Yes, he still plays like a maximum contract player. But he’s not going to command that type of money anywhere he’d want to go.
As currently constructed, the Warriors could only pay him the $15.1 million non-taxpayer mid-level exception. The Cavaliers have even less money on their books, something in the ballpark of around $4 million unless they make some major moves, according to ESPN.
James and the Lakers both need to just rip the Band-Aid off. They’re not going to do better than each other. The sooner they work out a deal, the quicker general manager Rob Pelinka will be able to build out a competitive roster around the team’s stars.
If they drag their feet, it’s only going to hinder both of them. It could mean the Lakers are forced to act as though James isn’t returning, and they could potentially have even less money to offer him later in the summer. It could mean that James gets fed up and takes his talents elsewhere. It could mean both parties are worse off.
The bottom line is this might not be the perfect marriage. But it’s the one that makes the most sense.
The Lakers are better with James.
And for what he prioritizes, he’s not going to find a better situation.