Lakers’ mess complicates LeBron James’s extension decision
For all the ink spilled about Kevin Durant’s trade request and the challenges ahead for the Brooklyn Nets, LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers have had it worse. There’s no honor in comparing catastrophes, but it’s a useful exercise given that James will soon face his latest “Decision”: whether to sign a contract extension.
James and Durant each missed more than 25 games with injuries last season, but the Nets qualified for the playoffs and didn’t feel the need to fire their coach. When it comes to co-stars, Kyrie Irving and Russell Westbrook both presented unresolvable problems, though Westbrook possesses the more onerous contract and therefore holds less trade value.
Meanwhile, Brooklyn has a more talented roster and better young players no trivial matter given that James, 37, and Durant, 33, are in the win-now phase of their careers. Despite the chaos surrounding their centerpieces, the Nets managed to add two players in Royce O’Neale and T.J. Warren who are more likely to aid a 2023 playoff push than any of the Lakers’ budget-friendly newcomers.
Given that side-by-side appraisal, it’s amusing that Durant sought to hit the eject button while James has been conspicuous in his absence from headline-making drama. Besides his annual jaunt to Las Vegas Summer League, a well-received cameo at the Drew League and some backlash to his comments about Brittney Griner’s detention in Russia, James has kept a low profile this offseason. Crucially, the four-time MVP will become eligible to sign a two-year, $97 million extension on Aug. 4 but has yet to hint at his intentions.
Perhaps James’s relative silence can be explained by a lack of anything nice to say. Since sidestepping questions about the extension during his April exit interview, James watched Stephen Curry, a chief rival, win a fourth title, and then endured a month of unconsummated rumors involving an Irving-for-Westbrook swap. As the Lakers continue to scour the league for a Westbrook deal and pin their fading hopes on a bounce-back campaign from Anthony Davis, the crosstown Clippers are preparing to reenter the title conversation with a healthy Kawhi Leonard and Paul George. These are trying times for James, who has insisted that winning drives him but now finds the Lakers stuck without the trade capital needed for a quick fix.
James last faced a contract decision in December 2020, and he signed an extension because there wasn’t much to think about. The Lakers had just won the title in the bubble, James had just been named Finals MVP and Davis had just looked ascendant in his first season in Los Angeles. “Space Jam: A New Legacy” was headed for theaters, and James’s dream of playing in the NBA with his teenage son, Bronny, was still several years away.
Much has changed in the two seasons since, as James has battled nagging injuries, seen his supporting cast turn over and flirted with a possible return to the Cleveland Cavaliers. Should he choose to ink a new deal with the Lakers that would run through the 2024-25 season, it would be a matter of financial and familial comfort. Los Angeles is an unmatched base for his off-court investments in media and entertainment, and it could remain home until after Bronny, who is now a rising high school senior, becomes eligible for the 2024 draft.
On the court, staying put would be far less desirable. Even if the Lakers landed Irving, they would still trail the West’s top contenders by a considerable margin in depth and cohesion. Alternatively, if Westbrook stays, the Lakers would be looking at the prospect of another lost season given his poor fit with James and Davis. In that scenario, Westbrook’s contract would come off the books next summer, but the resulting cap space almost certainly wouldn’t be sufficient to address all of the Lakers’ roster holes.