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Wow! LeBron James Is Joining the Los Angeles Lakers

Jul 1, 2018  •  Post A Comment

Basketball great LeBron James “will be playing for the Los Angeles Lakers on a four-year, $153.3 million contract,” reports ESPN.

The story continues, “James’ fourth year is a player option. It’s the longest deal he has signed since inking a six-year deal with the Heat in 2010. His previous three deals were all three years or shorter.”

According to the Lakers Nation website, “Here is the breakdown [for the four years of] the LeBron James contract with the Los Angeles Lakers: $35.65M, $37.43M, $39.21M and $41M. He is not eligible for a no trade clause.”

Writes Rohan Nadkarni at the website of Sports Illustrated magazine, former Lakers star Magic Johnson, who is currently president of basketball operations for the team, and Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka “deserve credit for landing James. The duo didn’t exactly sell him with an elaborate pitch, but Johnson and Pelinka reversed course after mistakes from L.A.’s previous regime, and did a noble job of keeping space open for this summer—something many other teams have failed to do. As a result of Pelinka and Johnson’s maneuvering, the Lakers had two max-salary slots, as well as the assets to potentially engineer a trade for [San Antonio Spur star Kawhi] Leonard. (Kawhi’s preference to play in L.A. certainly helps, but so does nailing draft picks like Kyle Kuzma and Josh Hart.)”

The SI story concludes, “LeBron’s decision to (likely) form a new superteam of sorts in Los Angeles is a win for everyone. It’s a win for the NBA’s bottom line. It’s a win for a storied franchise looking to resurrect itself. And it’s a win for fans who want to see the Warriors eventually challenged at their highest level. In that case, James signing with the Lakers didn’t only make the most sense for him. It made the most sense for everyone.”

Here’s a James highlight reel that lasts about six minutes that we found on YouTube. It was posted in May, 2017, and has been viewed over a million times:

One Comment

  1. Does he get to pick his coach and teammates like Cleveland?

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