This story was originally published by Dead Spin
On Saturday morning, LeBron James officially opted out of his $51.4 million contract with the Los Angeles Lakers for next season.
James will officially become a free agent and has the opportunity to do the funniest thing ever.
There’s no secret that everything surrounding this Lakers offseason has been to appease James. They have barely even tried to hide this.
When they attempted a big swing at landing Connecticut coach Dan Hurley, the thought process was landing one of the best developmental coaches in basketball to work with Bronny James.
After the Lakers whiffed at Hurley, they settled for LeBron’s close friend, business partner and podcast co-host, JJ Redick, as their next head coach.
Even after that, Rich Paul ensured that Bronny would wind up in Los Angeles after reportedly telling opposing teams not to draft the 19-year-old because he’d go play in Australia.
So, the stage is set for the greatest player of this generation to return to the Lakers and ride off into the sunset, right? Well, it seems like it. But he will be an unrestricted free agent, free to meet and discuss a new contract with other teams.
After drafting his son and hiring his friend as head coach, James has to return to the Lakers. But it would be so funny if he didn’t.
The Western Conference is very tough. James knows this. According to reports, both James and fellow Lakers star Anthony Davis have put pressure on the organization to find a third superstar.
LeBron will be 40 years old in December. With four championships under his belt, he still needs two more to tie Michael Jordan’s six rings. Pulling that off in a Lakers uniform will be very hard. Perhaps LeBron could look to the Eastern Conference for an easier path back to the NBA Finals.
Let’s be real for a second, though. There’s almost no way he’s leaving the Lakers.
Maybe the bottom falls out in these next few weeks and he opts to play elsewhere. As a free agent, that’s always a possibility. But according to ESPN’s Dave McMenamin, James is willing to be flexible with this next contract to secure another star.
If anything, this could be his last NBA contract to retire in the purple and gold. Remember, Los Angeles loosely contemplated trading James at last season’s deadline. Perhaps he makes one more demand this offseason: a no-trade clause.
