LOS ANGELES (AP) — If LeBron James wants to keep playing professional basketball, the Los Angeles Lakers want it to be with them.
General manager Rob Pelinka and coach JJ Redick affirmed their desire to keep James in a Lakers uniform on Tuesday. James' eighth season with the club ended Monday night with a heartbreaking 115-110 loss and a second-round sweep at the hands of the powerhouse champion Oklahoma City Thunder
.The 41-year-old James just completed
his unprecedented 23rd NBA season, and he says he doesn't know whether he'll keep going.
"Any team, including ours, would love to have LeBron James on their roster,” Pelinka said. “That’s a blessing in itself, just with what he does.”
The top scorer in league history is an unrestricted free agent this offseason, so James can choose his destination if he postpones retirement for another year — although not every team has the payroll flexibility to pay him something near his worth. The Lakers have significant salary cap room and many decisions to make, but they're hoping James will choose to remain a part of their attempt to build a championship-contending roster around Luka Doncic.
“He’s given so much to his teammates, to this organization, and the thing we want to do more than anything else is honor him back," Pelinka said.
Pelinka spoke repeatedly of his desire to “honor” James' decision process. That means waiting until James tells them what's happening, and the Lakers appear to be content to wait for weeks to come.
“The first order of business there is allowing him to spend the time he needs to decide what his next steps are,” Pelinka said. “Does he want to play another year in the NBA? That’ll be (determined through) family time, I think, time with his inner circle, and we just want to honor that for him.”
James is eight seasons into his longest continuous stint with one team, and his family is happily settled in Los Angeles, where he has won a championship and set multiple NBA career records. What's more, his 21-year-old son, Bronny, is two seasons into a career as a backup guard with the Lakers, allowing LeBron to play alongside his son — most notably in several significant stretches together in these playoffs.
James missed 22 games this season because of injuries, and he scored a career-low 20.9 points per game while frequently serving as the Lakers' third offensive option behind Doncic and Austin Reaves — filling that role for the first time in his basketball life, he said with a laugh. But James seemed to thrive in that secondary playmaking role, particularly when Los Angeles was playing its best basketball in March.
The Lakers won 53 games and the Pacific Division title despite losing Doncic for the season and Reaves for nearly a month to injuries in the same game April 2. While the season ended with a four-game sweep at the hands of the strong favorites to win the NBA title, the Lakers are headed into the offseason with optimism about their ability to get even better next season — particularly if James sticks around.
But Pelinka also made it clear that the Lakers are building around the 27-year-old Doncic, who won the NBA scoring title and appeared to be ramping up for a formidable playoff run before a hamstring strain sidelined him.
“The archetype of the roster that we want is going to be retrofitted around Luka and the things he needs,” Pelinka said. ”Clearly he’s that leader and player for the future that we want to build the right way around.”
The Lakers' largest offseason transaction is likely to be a new contract for Reaves, the former undrafted free agent who has become one of the NBA's most prolific scorers in five seasons with Los Angeles. Reaves is expected to decline his player option for next season, and Pelinka confirmed that both sides expect the guard to sign a massive deal to stay with the Lakers.
“He started his journey here as a Laker and has made it very clear to us that he wants his journey to continue as a Laker, and we feel the same way,” Pelinka said. “We want his odyssey to continue to unfold in the purple and gold. Both sides have made it abundantly clear that we want to work something out.”
The Lakers' other unrestricted free agents including forward Rui Hachimura, who likely earned a big payday with his strong postseason play after long stretches of offensive passivity in the regular season; shooting guard Luke Kennard, a late-season trade pickup who made big contributions while Reaves was injured; and backup center Jaxson Hayes.
Starting center Deandre Ayton has an $8.1 million player option, and he said Monday that he hasn't even begun to think about whether to pick it up. Marcus Smart, another big-time playoff contributor, has a $5.4 million player option that he seems likely to decline for a bigger deal.
“Being here in LA, the crowd and everybody has been amazing,” Ayton said. “I wouldn't change it for nothing, to be honest.”
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