LeBron James Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Pacific Notes: Wiggins, Westbrook, Kyrie, LeBron

August 18th, 2022 at 5:52pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Fresh off his first NBA title and All-Star selection in 2021/22, Warriors starting small forward Andrew Wiggins is hoping to prove his mettle as one of the NBA’s best defensive players, as he told Vince Carter on the retired eight-time All-Star’s podcast, The VC Show with Vince Carter (h/t to Andrei de Guzman of TalkBasket).

“One thing I’m really gonna strive for this upcoming season is being on the [All-]Defensive Team,” Wiggins said. “That’s a big goal of mine, and hopefully I opened some eyes in the playoffs and I can be on the radar. I ain’t get not one vote this year! I took it personal in the playoffs!”

There’s more out of the Pacific Division:

With Lakers All-Star forward LeBron James newly signed to a lucrative extension that will at least keep him in Los Angeles through 2024, it’s possible that L.A. will be more receptive to including draft capital in a trade to get off the contract of embattled point guard Russell Westbrook, opines Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report. Pincus suspects that Westbrook could be moved to the Nets, Pacers or Spurs, should the Lakers indeed be willing to part with their 2027 and 2029 first-round draft picks. Pincus notes that the Jazz also have the assets to possibly pique the interest of the Lakers’ front office in a deal. During his first season with his hometown team, the 33-year-old veteran proved to be an awkward on-court fit alongside James as a ball-dominant guard without a jump shot or much defensive effort.
Prior to his inking the aforementioned extension with the Lakers, James was “privately adamant” about wanting the Lakers trade for his former Cavaliers teammate Kyrie Irving, writes Jovan Buha of The Athletic. Whether such a transaction for the seven-time All-Star, currently with the Nets, comes to pass remains to be seen.
The new two-year, $97.1MM contract extension James signed with the Lakers can benefit both James and Los Angeles, opines Dave McMenamin of ESPN (YouTube video link). By opting to commit to the Lakers at this juncture (the extension could have been signed as late as next summer), James has given the team the green light to make moves around him in order to hopefully resume deep playoff runs. In turn, the 17-time championship-winning Lakers want to showcase themselves as a desirable landing place for marquee free agents in the years to come. McMenamin adds that, should L.A. prove unable to compete at a championship level within the next two seasons, James is able to retain some of his future flexibility to an extent by making the second year of the deal, the 2024/25 season, a player option.

LeBron James Signs Extension With Lakers

August 18th, 2022 at 3:10pm CST by Luke Adams

AUGUST 18: The Lakers have officially signed James to an extension, the team announced (Twitter link via Marc Stein).

AUGUST 17: Superstar forward LeBron James has agreed to a contract extension with the Lakers, agent Rich Paul of Klutch Sports tells Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.

It’ll be a new two-year, maximum-salary deal that includes a second-year player option, per Wojnarowski. That means James is now under contract with the Lakers through at least the 2023/24 season, with an option on ’24/25. The agreement also includes a 15% trade kicker, Woj adds.

James is earning $44,474,988 in 2022/23, which exceeds the standard maximum of $43,279,250 for a player with 10-plus years of NBA experience. Because he’s still eligible for a 5% raise on a new extension, LeBron’s 2023/24 salary will likely be $46,698,737. His ’24/25 player option will be worth $50,434,636, an 8% raise on the first year of his extension, for a total two-year value of $97,133,373.

The value of James’ extension could increase further if the NBA salary cap for ’23/24 comes in higher than anticipated. The cap is currently projected to be $133MM, but if it ends up exceeding $133,425,000, LeBron’s starting salary on the extension would instead be worth 35% of the cap.

James became eligible for a new two-year extension on August 4. He was ineligible to sign a deal longer than that due to the NBA’s Over-38 rule.

Despite his new eligibility, there was a sense that James wouldn’t rush into a new deal right away. The four-time MVP would have been able to retain leverage and perhaps wield more influence on the Lakers’ roster moves by holding off on that commitment. Taking that route would also have given LeBron a chance to assess the team’s roster additions – and new head coach Darvin Ham – during the 2022/23 season.

However, it appears that James was comfortable renewing his commitment to the Lakers despite last season’s disappointing 33-49 showing and lingering questions about the roster. The new deal will give LeBron the opportunity to become an unrestricted free agent at age 39, at which point he’s expected to try to team up with his son Bronny James, who would be draft-eligible no earlier than 2024.

While the Lakers almost certainly wouldn’t have considered moving him anyway, James’ extension will make him ineligible to be traded during the 2022/23 season — he can’t be dealt for six months after signing the contract, since it exceeds the NBA’s “extend-and-trade” restrictions.

As Bobby Marks of ESPN (Insider link) previously noted, the Lakers’ potential 2023 cap room won’t be affected in any real way by James’ new extension, since his free agent cap hold would have been equivalent to his extension salary. Los Angeles projects to have over $20MM in room next summer when several contracts – including Russell Westbrook‘s – expire, which will open up some options for the team but won’t be enough for another maximum-salary player.

James’ new deal makes him the highest-paid player in NBA history in terms of total earnings, at least for the time being, Marks tweets. Assuming LeBron’s deal ends up being worth $97.1MM, he’ll be at $532MM in career earnings, surpassing Kevin Durant‘s $508MM.

Pacific Notes: Wiggins, LeBron Extension, Kings

August 17th, 2022 at 11:00pm CST by Arthur Hill

Appearing with Taylor Rooks on her Bleacher Report show, Mavericks owner Mark Cuban cited Warriors forward Andrew Wiggins as the difference in the Western Conference Finals. Wiggins was outstanding in the five-game series, averaging 18.6 points and 7.2 rebounds per night while shooting 46.2% from the field.

“It was just guys who knew their roles, like an Andrew Wiggins,” Cuban said. “I think he was the one who beat us. And I told him that after the series, you know? We knew what to expect from Klay (Thompson), from (Stephen Curry) and from Draymond (Green). We didn’t know what to expect or how Wiggs would step up, and he did.”

Cuban doesn’t believe there’s a huge talent disparity between his team and the eventual NBA champions, but he said Golden State benefited from having its core together for so many years.

“I think the Warriors deserve a lot of credit because they had played together so long, their execution was phenomenal,” he said. “… That wasn’t as much talent as it was corporate knowledge, the experience of having played together for all those years and been in crunch situations knowing what to do.”

There’s more from the Pacific Division:

Now that LeBron James has agreed to an extension, the Lakers‘ best strategy may be to commit to trying to win a championship this season instead of targeting 2024 or 2025, contends Jovan Buha of The Athletic. Buha believes James’ decision on the extension was tied to a promise from management to be aggressive about improving the roster. Sources around the team had been confident that James would eventually commit to a longer stay with the Lakers, Buha adds.
The Lakers may have doomed themselves to more years of mediocrity with the James extension, writes Bill Plaschke of The Los Angeles Times. He argues that James isn’t good enough to carry a team to a title anymore, while Anthony Davis is too injury-prone and James’ deal ensures that the franchise won’t have enough cap room to add another star while he’s still around.
Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee examines the Kings‘ schedule to see whether it will help or hurt their effort to reach the playoffs for the first time since 2006.

And-Ones: NBA Schedule, Scoring Record, Bronny James

August 17th, 2022 at 9:50pm CST by Arthur Hill

The process of creating the NBA schedule, which was released earlier today, begins in earnest in early July, Gene Li, the NBA’s Senior Director, National Broadcast Lead, tells Katie Heindl of Uproxx. The league starts collecting open arena dates from teams in the fall, but the process of putting games on the board doesn’t get underway until after the draft and the early days of free agency.

An emphasis in recent years has been reducing the amount of air travel that teams have to endure. In total, there are 50,000 fewer travel miles in this year’s schedule and there are 88 instances with no travel, where road teams either play the same opponent twice in a row or they stay in the same city and face the Knicks and Nets or Lakers and Clippers.

“In the past we actually had reservations about doing those,” Li said. “We weren’t sure how the teams would feel, both competitively and having the same opponent visit your market for two nights, but with these past two seasons and the small sample size, we’ve seen that there really isn’t a downside from a competitive standpoint. So we’ll keep monitoring that for the seasons to come, but we’re glad it’s working out, that the teams like it and that it’s had that positive impact on travel.”

There’s more news from around the basketball world:

The ESPN staff picked out highlights from this season’s schedule, including Ben Simmons‘ return to Philadelphia on November 22 and Rudy Gobert‘s return to Utah on December 9. Zach Harper of The Athletic also includes those matchups on his list of the most anticipated games of 2022/23.
One of the NBA’s most hallowed records is likely to fall this season as LeBron James is on pace to overtake Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the league’s all-time scoring leader. An ESPN story examines the timeline for James, who is 1,325 points behind and will need 49 games if he maintains his career scoring average of 27.1 PPG. L.A.’s 49th game is January 25 against the Spurs, but ESPN notes that injuries prevented James from reaching the 49-game mark until the Lakers’ 67th contest of last season. That will take place March 10 against the Raptors.
James took to social media to dispute a report that Oregon has “emerged as the front-runner to land a commitment” from his son, Bronny James, writes Geoffrey C. Arnold of The Oregonian. Bronny will be a senior at Sierra Canyon High School in Chatsworth, California, and LeBron has expressed a desire to play on the same team with him in the NBA. “He hasn’t taken 1 visit yet and has only had a few calls with coaches and universities,” James tweeted. “When Bronny makes his choice you’ll hear it from him.”

Woj: Lakers Willing To Trade Two First-Round Picks

August 17th, 2022 at 8:40pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Lakers remain active in trade talks and would part with their 2027 and 2029 first-round picks in the right deal, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski said in an appearance on Sports Center (video link).

Those picks “have a lot of value in the marketplace” if they’re unprotected, Wojnarowski states. He adds that L.A. would be willing to give them up in a trade for Kyrie Irving, but the Nets haven’t been interested.

The Lakers have also engaged in “on and off again” talks with the Pacers about Myles Turner and Buddy Hield, sources tell Wojnarowski, but L.A. wouldn’t trade both future first-rounders in that deal.

Russell Westbrook would have to be included in either trade with Brooklyn or Indiana to help match salaries.

The Lakers are hoping to add outside shooting and size before the regular season begins in October, per Wojnarowski. However, holding on to their draft picks gives them the ability to do something later in the season if a better opportunity arises.

Woj also addresses LeBron James‘ decision to accept a contract extension, saying it eases the pressure on the front office to make a trade right away. He adds that James decided to take the extension after examining the free agent market in 2023 and not seeing a scenario he prefers to staying with the Lakers.

And-Ones: Bronny, Ataman, Teodosic, Instagram

August 13th, 2022 at 11:45am CST by Dana Gauruder

A lot of high-profile college programs are pursuing Bronny James, the son of LeBron James, according to ESPN national recruiting director Paul Biancardi (Insider link).

There’s a “strong feeling” that Bronny James will go the college route next year, according to Biancardi, with UCLA, USC, Michigan, Oregon and Ohio State among the teams recruiting him. LeBron has said his dream is to finish his NBA career playing with his son, who will be draft-eligible in 2024.

We have more from around the international basketball world:

The EuroLeague’s reigning coach of the year Ergin Ataman says it’s unlikely he’ll wind up as an NBA head coach, he indicated an interview with Turkish digital channel VOLE (hat tip to Eurohoops.net). “My goal to go to the NBA has decreasing chances because I see that the NBA is a different world,” he said. “… Their perspective of basketball head coaches in Europe is very different. No European coach has ever gone from Europe to the NBA as a head coach. There is no NBA history, zero.”
Former NBA guard Milos Teodosic had an agreement in place with Serbia’s Crvena Zvevda but it was nixed by Virtus Bologna, according to Sportando. Crvena Zvezda president Nebojsa Covic made that assertion in a Pink TV interview. “I’ve spoken at length with Teodosic and we agreed on pretty much everything about him joining us,” he said. “It was Virtus who said no, because it would have made things difficult for the club and because their supporters are fond of Teodosic.”
In the Instagram world, the NBA is much more popular than any other U.S. professional league. The NBA officially surpassed 70 million followers on Instagram, making it a top-10 most-followed brand on the platform, according to Alex Kennedy of Basketball News. The NBA has more followers than all the other major American sports leagues combined — the NFL (25 million), MLB (8.9 million) and NHL (5.5 million).

Pacific Notes: James, Spencer, Kings, Jones

August 12th, 2022 at 8:39pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

As the Lakers regroup from a miserable 2021/22 season, Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer wonders if aging superstar forward LeBron James would benefit from taking a page out of Kevin Durant‘s book and requesting a trade away from Los Angeles on his current expiring deal.

O’Connor writes that, if the Lakers are unable to trade for James’s old running mate Kyrie Irving, the team could consider trying to trade for Pacers veterans Myles Turner and Buddy Hield or Jazz guards Patrick Beverley and Jordan Clarkson. O’Connor opines that James should wait to sign an extension with Los Angeles until next summer, after seeing what moves Los Angeles makes to try to return to title contention.

Later, O’Connor reviews potential landing destinations for James should he (hypothetically) demand to be traded, including the Suns, the Knicks, the Trail Blazers, and a few familiar locales.

There’s more from the Pacific Division:

In an interview with Connor Letourneau of the San Francisco Chronicle, Warriors training camp invitee Pat Spencer discussed his decision to move on from a decorated four-year lacrosse career at Loyola University Maryland. The 6’3″ guard subsequently played a season of NCAA basketball as a graduate-transfer student at Northwestern for the 2019/20 season. Following his tenure as a Wildcat, Spencer played in Germany and with the Wizards’ NBAGL affiliate the Capital City Go-Go. “I can’t really articulate what I love so much about basketball,” Spencer said. “It’s always been my first love, with lacrosse a close second.”
Sleep Train Arena, the former home court of the Kings for 28 seasons, is being demolished to make way for a new 730,000-square foot hospital, plus 3,000 new residences, a theater, shops and trails, per Ryan Lillis of the Sacramento Bee. Sacramento moved to the newly-constructed Golden 1 Center in 2016, as a condition of the club’s sale to majority owner Vivek Ranadive in 2013.
The specter of a possible Suns trade for Kevin Durant could linger through the start of the regular season. Greg Moore of the Arizona Republic thinks Phoenix president James Jones should determine a definitive deadline when he will stop considering a trade for Durant, to avoid having that uncertainty linger for several more months.

Pacific Notes: Kings, Suns, Saric, LeBron

August 11th, 2022 at 5:57pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

In taking stock of the Kings‘ entire 2022/23 roster, Chris Biderman of the Sacramento Bee finds some reasons for optimism.

Biderman cites the two-way upside and on-court fit of rookie Keegan Murray, the Summer League MVP and No. 4 overall draft pick this year, as a key part of the sunny outlook for Sacramento this season.

As Biderman notes, star point guard De’Aaron Fox struggled to connect consistently from long range for the bulk of the season, but made 38% of his triples across his final 16 contests, following the team’s trade for center Domantas Sabonis. Biderman considers Murray, Fox, Sabonis and second-year guard Davion Mitchell, the ninth pick in 2021 out of Baylor, to be the club’s core moving forward.

Biderman also expresses enthusiasm for the three-point shooting help that should be provided by new additions Kevin Huerter and Malik Monk.

There’s more out of the Pacific Division:

The Suns may be able to build on their continuity after two relatively successful seasons, but Bobby Marks of ESPN (YouTube video link) wonders how newly re-signed center Deandre Ayton will fit in following a tense postseason and summer. Marks ultimately projects a repeat of the team’s regular-season dominance in 2021/22. ESPN’s Brian Windhorst opines that the Suns could look to move veteran starting power forward Jae Crowder, a free agent in 2023, by the season’s trade deadline.
After missing 2021/22 with a torn ACL in his right knee, Suns big man Dario Saric talked about returning to game action for Croatia this summer, writes Johnny Askounis of Eurohoops. “The feeling of being back is fantastic,” Saric said. “After the end of the NBA season, I trained there until mid-July. I was preparing to be as fit as possible. I feel good.”
Discussing LeBron James‘ contract situation, Tim Bontemps of ESPN (Twitter video link) opines that it might behoove the Lakers‘ All-Star forward to follow the example set by Sixers guard James Harden. Harden opted out of the final year of his deal this summer before ultimately taking a pay cut so that Philadelphia management could add more quality depth around Harden and Joel Embiid than would have otherwise been possible. If James takes the same route, it could potentially open up a maximum-salary slot for L.A. next summer, Bontemps observes.

Lakers Rumors: LeBron, Ham, Davis, Westbrook

August 9th, 2022 at 10:53pm CST by Luke Adams

When LeBron James and agent Rich Paul met last week with Lakers head of basketball operations Rob Pelinka and coach Darvin Ham, a possible contract extension for James was only one of many topics of conversation, according to Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports.

As Haynes details, most of the hour-long meeting was spent discussing strategies and expressing opinions about how to ensure that the 2022/23 season won’t be a repeat of the Lakers’ disappointing ’21/22 campaign.

Sources tell Yahoo Sports that LeBron “drilled home the importance of consistent competitiveness and cohesion.” James wants to be sure that this season’s team competes and gives itself a chance to win every night, which wasn’t the case last year.

According to Haynes, Ham agreed with James’ assessment and vowed to hold players accountable and “foster an atmosphere of selflessness.” The Lakers’ new head coach wants to see the team recommit to playing strong defense and suggested that any players who are hesitant to play the roles asked of them will run the risk of being removed from the game, sources tell Yahoo Sports.

Here’s more on the Lakers from Haynes:

Ham wants to run Los Angeles’ offense through Anthony Davis, and James is on board with that plan. The club likes what it has seen from Davis this summer and believes he’s well positioned to take on a significant workload and stay healthy in 2022/23, Haynes notes.
Pelinka plans to exercise patience when it comes to roster moves, preferring to assess how the current group performs before doing anything drastic, Haynes says. Of course, I suspect the club would still be willing to move Russell Westbrook before the season if a favorable deal arises.
Speaking of Westbrook, Haynes indicates the Lakers are hopeful that he’ll be able to increase his three-point percentage from the corners in 2022/23.
In an effort to build rapport with his teammates, James will decide on a destination to hold the Lakers’ annual mini-camp prior to training camp, with San Diego emerging as the most likely landing spot, according to Haynes.
During last week’s meeting, Pelinka made it clear he wants to see LeBron retire as a Laker and vowed he’ll provide the resources necessary for James to compete for titles for as long as the future Hall of Famer remains in L.A., per Haynes.

Lakers Notes: James, Westbrook, Trade Options, Randle, Horton-Tucker, Walker

August 6th, 2022 at 8:34am CST by Dana Gauruder

LeBron James became eligible on Thursday to sign a one- or two-year contract extension. While the Lakers and James have next June 30 — the day before James would become an unrestricted free agent — to reach an agreement, ESPN’s Dave McMenamin indicated on NBA Today that there’s mutual interest in getting an extension done (video link).

“All signs point toward both sides looking to extend their partnership together,” McMenamin said, adding “Overall, both sides recognize they can help one another get to their mutual goal, which is to compete at a high level and stay relevant.”

James and his representative, Rich Paul of Klutch Sports, met with Lakers GM Rob Pelinka and head coach Darvin Ham at the team’s practice facility on Thursday. Paul told McMenamin that they were “productive talks” and he “expects them to continue.”

We have more on the Lakers:

The start of training camp could be a soft deadline to trade Russell Westbrook, according to Jovan Buha of The Athletic. Buha says both sides would like to avoid the massive off-court distraction of a media circus constantly speculating about Westbrook’s future.
In the same mailbag piece, Buha indicates that, for now at least, the Pacers seem more willing to get a Westbrook deal done than the Nets or another other possible suitor.
Despite issues of spacing and long-term contract concerns, Julius Randle would still be a better fit with James and Anthony Davis than Westbrook as a third star, Buha argues. However, Westbrook is mainly a fallback option for the Knicks if they’re unable to acquire Donovan Mitchell.
Talen Horton-Tucker isn’t likely to be a regular member of the team’s rotation due to his skill set, in Buha’s view. His primary strengths are ballhandling and shot creation and the team already has plenty of players who can provide that.
Free agent acquisition Lonnie Walker will fill Malik Monk‘s former role of instant offense off the bench, Buha adds. Walker is a streaky shooter but shot selection and defense are concerns.