LeBron James agreed to sign a two-year, $104 million max deal with the Los Angeles Lakers, and he will get his wish of playing alongside his son Bronny. However, the max contract will challenge the team regarding roster improvement if they don’t get under the second apron.
Check out the initial reaction from social media following the news.
Fun fact: LeBron James and Bradley Beal are the only two players in the NBA with a no-trade clause in their contracts 😲 pic.twitter.com/CWB8f80G4O
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) July 3, 2024
I forgot that D’Angelo Russell has a $700K unlikely bonus.
So, the Lakers are actually about $12M over the first apron and $1.2M over the second apron.
And Bronny James could sign for more than the rookie minimum too, via the Second Round Pick Exception.
TL/DR: Lakers are over… https://t.co/6hj9KUb3j8
— Keith Smith (@KeithSmithNBA) July 3, 2024
The “take $1M less” gesture by LeBron James is fine. It sounds nice, and it could make things easier. But that is literally 0.5% of the second apron. That is threading the needle in a really tricky way, and you leave yourself with almost no wiggle room moving forward.
That’s how…
— Keith Smith (@KeithSmithNBA) July 3, 2024
this means the Lakers are probably trying to make a trade for somebody where they aggregate salary (Jerami Grant? Cam Johnson?), and if they can pull one off, LeBron will take slightly less so they can fit it under the second apron https://t.co/isghr0XXmZ
— Jason Patt (@Bulls_Jay) July 3, 2024
remember during the trade deadline… when Lakers fans was BEGGING Robbery Pelinka to make a move… ANY move… & he said it was best to stand pat that particular moment in time… cuz they had 3 FRPs available to aggressively try to improve the team in the summer… now here we are pic.twitter.com/aanRCnFYDM
— ♕𝕕𝕒𝕧𝕠𓅓 (@shpillo_) July 3, 2024
This 2 path approach the Lakers were talking was always bs.
Nobody “contends” while “building for the future” at the same time, successfully.
One OR BOTH routes end up suffering.
The Lakers are in a rebuild. They just don’t wanna tell the truth about it.
— Ricky (@MrRickySpanish) July 3, 2024
There’s not really a way to sugarcoat how bad of an offseason this has been for Rob Pelinka and the Lakers.
— Daniel Starkand (@DStarkand) July 3, 2024
Lebron must not think the Lakers roster is as bad as Twitter thinks it is.
He wouldnt just punt the end of his career when he could have left.
— LakersSpin (@LakersSpin) July 3, 2024
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