It’s official: LeBron James is sticking with the Los Angeles Lakers for the near future.
According to The Athletic’s Shams Charania, James intends to sign a two-year, $104 million max deal with the Lakers, less than one day after they signed his son, rookie Bronny James, to a two-year guaranteed deal.
James opted out of his previous deal on Saturday, with his agent Rich Paul telling ESPN that James was willing to discuss a deal below the maximum he was eligible for to allow general manager Rob Pelinka to sign an “impact player.”
The 39-year-old is the oldest active player in the NBA but shows no signs of slowing down: James averaged 25.7 points, 7.3 rebounds and 8.3 assists in 35 minutes per game in the 2023-2024 season.
James joined the Lakers in 2018, signing a four-year, $154 million deal to go west. He signed a two-year, $97.1 million extension with Los Angeles in 2022, which included the player option he declined for this upcoming season.
During the 2024 All-Star Weekend in February, James said that he wanted to retire as a Laker.
“I am a Laker, and I’ve been very happy being a Laker the last six years, and hopefully it stays that way,” James said, just before making a record-breaking 20th All-Star appearance.
Another consideration was James’s son, Bronny, who was drafted by the Lakers with the No. 55 overall pick on Thursday. James has said repeatedly that he hopes to play his final NBA season with Bronny, and now that Junior has reportedly signed on with the Lakers, that dream is set to become reality. LeBron and Bronny will officially be the fourth father-son duo to play together in professional sports history.
James helped lead the Lakers to a championship in the NBA bubble in 2020, collecting his fourth overall championship. In the years since, the Lakers have struggled. They were eliminated in the first round of the 2021 and 2024 playoffs and missed the postseason altogether in 2022. James and the Lakers reached the 2023 Western Conference finals but were swept by the eventual NBA champion Denver Nuggets.
By returning to the Lakers, James will push for another run at the championship under the leadership of new head coach JJ Redick, who signed a four-year contract with the Lakers on June 20 and who replaces Darvin Ham.
