puis dans la liste qui s’affiche, cliquez sur AdBlock
Par Joël Pütz | Journaliste sportif
If LeBron James wants to fight for the title one last time, he might have to make a big financial push to help the Lakers. That’s the idea Rachel Nichols recently suggested, as the Chosen One nears retirement.
Ultimately, the Lakers didn’t last long in the 2024-25 playoffs, having been eliminated in the first round. The loss to the Timberwolves clearly showed that the current roster needed some changes, to be built more around Luka Doncic than a 40-year-old LeBron James, who doesn’t have much longer to play. Except that for that, you need money…
The problem is that the Purple and Gold don’t have much financial room to sign free agents this summer. How could they overcome that sizeable hurdle? According to Rachel Nichols, the simplest solution would simply be for the King to take a big pay cut, since he’s already a billionaire. The analyst spoke on The Herd:
Should LeBron drastically lower his salary?
I think he should take a minimum… LeBron has felt for a long time that he is, at large, big picture, underpaid. That is why, ever since his first contract in Miami, he has wanted the maximum amount of money. And he is absolutely right. There is no amount of money that the NBA, at large, or any team he plays for, could pay him to compensate for what he has brought to the NBA. So he is always going to be ‘underpaid’.
If I were LeBron, the thing you cannot buy with whatever amount of money you get in that contract is championship rings.
It would certainly be a huge change for the Chosen One, but it’s clear that it would be in his interest… and the same for the Lakers, in addition to the financial help it would provide the franchise.
As a reminder, LBJ would receive no less than $52 million if he activates his player option for next season. A substantial sum that could help recruit players to strengthen the Purple and Gold, just in time to launch one last time into the title race. Especially since such sacrifices have already paid off in the past within American sports, as Nichols explained shortly after on X:
Rachel Nichols : LeBron will never be paid enough to compensate for what he’s done for the NBA, so I get wanting to *at least* get max deals. But Tom Brady took pay cuts to stack his teams, and it paid off in rings. Worth considering now that Luka changes the math on LA’s future title chances.
