LeBron James is now eligible to sign an extension with the Los Angeles Lakers but the question arises as to whether he will be willing to sign on that dotted line. The Lakers would definitely love to have him around, but with the dysfunction that exists in the organization as a whole, there has been some doubt on if he would want to stay.
The King can either sign a 1-year extension worth $47 million or a 2-year extension worth $97 million and Jalen Rose believes that he will sign up, and that the Lakers know that too, not because he has trust in them, but because of his family that is now settled in Los Angeles.
(starts at 3:22 mark):
“They know he ain’t leaving now. So it don’t even matter what happens with the contract. They know he got that house out here, the wife out here, they know the kids out here. We always think about it as LeBron James the superstar, not always LeBron James the father, the dad, the human being. I don’t think he’s gonna necessarily wanna uproot his family to go play somewhere else.”
Rose rightfully mentions there that family will play a part here as well. They are all well-settled in Los Angeles now and uprooting them won’t be ideal. Joe Vardon of The Athletic had also stated that family weighs in too heavily here and that the easiest move for LeBron was to stay.
LeBron had decided to make the move to the Lakers despite them being a mess at the top and while he and Anthony Davis did manage to win a title in 2020, another triumph does seem unlikely as things stand. Still, no one would be foolish enough to completely count out James as he has defied expectations on countless occasions over the years.
