It was reported earlier this week that LeBron James was returning to the Lakers on a 2-year, $104 million deal.

Those numbers were always subject to change if needed to help the Lakers avoid the second apron and it looks like James is doing just that.

Shams Charnia of The Athletic reported that his contract has now been adjusted to two years at $101.355 million.

@ShamsCharania: LeBron James' final two-year deal total, per sources: $101.355 million – almost $3M less than his $104M max, placing Lakers below second apron.

Charania also mentioned that the deal includes a player option and a no-trade clause; James' contract also includes a 15 percent trade kicker.

@ShamsCharania: While this discount may seem minimal, it gives the Lakers flexibility to make some deals moving forward.

Adding LeBron's contract puts the Lakers at just under the $188.9 million second apron.

If vice president of basketball operations Rob Pelinka can execute a deal that clears up some salaries, he can create two roster spots and have the flexibility to use the $5.2 million taxpayer midlevel exception.

That kind of money could bring a productive guard or a backup big on the roster to improve the Lakers in marginal but not insignificant ways.

James deserves some credit here for sacrificing and helping the Lakers.

At 39 years old, with the Lakers striking out on players like Klay Thompson and DeMar DeRozan, he could've easily taken the maximum and just played out his contract.

He's thinking of the team first and doing things to help the Lakers compete in the Western Conference. James' end has to be near and instead of squeezing every dollar out of the game, he's taking less to make room for more talent.

The question now becomes, will that sacrifice be worthwhile?

Can Pelinka and the Lakers front office use that flexibility and bring in an impactful player so LeBron and Anthony Davis can have one more legitimate shot at a title?

It's not an easy position to be in, but heavy lies the crown and with the King giving you some room to work with, it's time for Pelinka to get on the phone and cook.

By Edwin Garcia

The Los Angeles Lakers have signed center Colin Castleton and forwards Blake Hinson and Armel Traore to two-way contracts, it was announced by Vice President of Basketball Operations and General Manager Rob Pelinka.

Castleton returns for a second season with the Lakers after originally going undrafted and signing a two-way contract out of Florida in 2023. He told us he was hoping to return to the Lakers to continue his development, and now he gets that chance.

The 24-year-old appeared in 16 contests for the Lakers last season, averaging 1.5 points in 3.7 minutes per game. Castleton also played in 12 regular season G League games, averaging 14.1 points, 9.8 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.6 blocks in 28.6 minutes with the South Bay Lakers.

Hinson and Traore were both undrafted free agents this year that quickly landed with the Lakers on two-way deals.

Hinson averaged 18.5 points per game in 33 outings for the University of Pittsburgh last season, shooting an ACC-best 42.1% from 3-point range. He earned All-ACC First Team honors, ranking second in the conference in 3-point field goals made and third in points per game.

Traore averaged 10.8 points, 7.3 rebounds and 1.5 assists in 33 games (28 starts) last season for ADA Blois of the LNB Élite in his home country of France. He previously played for Metropolitans 92 in 2022-23 and was a teammate of San Antonio Spurs Rookie of the Year Victor Wembanyama.

Castleton, Hinson and Traore all played for the Lakers in their Summer League opener on Saturday afternoon, flashing their talent despite the loss to the Sacramento Kings.

Lakers’ Colin Castleton working on 3-point shot?

When Colin Castleton spoke with Lakers Nation about what he has been working on this offseason, he specifically mentioned looking to improve his shooting from outside after not being a threat from beyond the arc so far in his career.

“Yeah, every day. That’s the focal point this summer, that’s the No. 1 thing,” Castleton said. “I feel like I’ve gotten more shots up than I have my whole life, to be honest. Just every single day, working on my shot in the gym with multiple coaches and some of the guys in the front office helping me as well.

“So, just being able to focus on that going into Summer League cause it’s something that we want to do and I want to be able to do in Summer League to be able to showcase that ability that I worked on throughout the whole summer. So, that’s the No. 1 focal point this summer, that and my defense, just little tendencies. But for the most part, that’s the biggest focus I have this whole entire summer.”

By Danial Starkand

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HOSTS: Andy and Brian Kamenetzky

SEGMENT 1: LeBron agrees to a new deal.

SEGMENT 2: Was Team James negotiating in good faith, when it comes to his offer to take less?

SEGMENT 3: Bronny gets a contract. More nepotism?

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The inevitable happened on Wednesday, as the Lakers and LeBron James agreed to a two year contract for max (or near max -- getting to that in a moment) money, about $104 million. The second year? A player option. So there's a good chance LeBron and the Lakers are right back here next year.

It means, first and foremost, that the window LeBron opened by offering to take less money in year one so the Lakers could improve the team by acquiring a higher cost player that might require the full midlevel exception, for example, has likely closed. Well, the Lakers haven't been able to make that happen and don't appear to be in position to make it happen before the end of the free agent moratorium on Saturday.

So was LeBron serious when he made the offer? Was it done in good faith? Was it done only with a mind to PR, and trying to manage the fallout of an offseason where, to say the least, the optics could tell a story of a star player getting A LOT of things he wanted? (His preferred coach, his kid on the team, etc.)

Are these things mutually exclusive?

Now the Lakers must go forward with a very constrained roster, one that will be difficult to manipulate without finding trade partners. Which is a tricky thing given the roster construction. They're also full, which gets to the roster spot taken by Bronny James, who signed his deal today. It is, in most ways, similar to the contracts given to most second rounders at this point, save a more generous buyout for Year 3 than some other players have received. On the other hand, the Lakers, realizing the roster crunch they'd be facing, still gave him a guaranteed deal, rather than a 2-way contract. Not all late second round picks would be afforded that luxury. (Many, yes. All, no.)

It's just one reason why the chatter around Bronny isn't likely to dissipate fast, especially if he struggles in Summer League, which kicks off this weekend.

LOS ANGELES -- Bronny James signed a four-year, $7.9 million contract with the Lakers on Wednesday, a league source told ESPN, reaching his rookie deal on the same day LeBron James agreed to an extension with the team and ensured the first father-son duo in NBA history will play for the purple and gold next season.

Bronny James' contract begins at $1,157,143 in 2024-25 and progresses to $1,955,377 the following year, $2,296,271 in 2026-27 and $2,486,955 for a team option in 2027-28, sources told ESPN.

The Lakers announced Wednesday that they had signed Bronny James and Dalton Knecht, the No. 17 pick in this year's draft, without disclosing terms.

James averaged 4.8 points on 36.6% shooting (26.7% from 3), 2.8 rebounds and 2.1 assists in 19.3 minutes at USC after undergoing a heart procedure last summer. He said the nearly five-month layoff because of the medical issue affected his development.

Lakers vice president of basketball operations and general manager Rob Pelinka praised James' mindset and potential as a point-of-attack defender, and new Lakers coach JJ Redick said James, whom Los Angeles selected with the No. 55 pick last week, will be a top priority with the team's revamped player development program.

“We view Bronny as [a] Case Study One because [of] his base level of feel, athleticism, point-of-attack defender, shooting, passing,” Redick said. “There's a lot to like about his game, and as we build out our player development program holistically, he's going to have a great opportunity to become an excellent NBA player.”

James and Knecht will make their summer league debuts Saturday in San Francisco against the Sacramento Kings in the California Classic.

The Lakers' roster now stands at 15, the maximum number of players an NBA team can carry.

By Dave McMenamin

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The Lakers finally landed some assistant coaches with head coaching experience, bringing in Nate McMillan and Scott Brooks.

The Lakers have finally begun adding coaches to their bench. Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN reports that Nate McMillain and Scott Brooks will be joining JJ Redick’s staff as top assistants.

ESPN Sources: The Los Angeles Lakers are hiring Nate McMillan and Scott Brooks as top assistant coaches on JJ Redick’s new staff. Redick gets two longtime head coaches with a combined 1,189 victories to surround him. -@wojespn

Redick and vice president of basketball operations Rob Pelinka have been “completely aligned” with adding former head coaches to the staff and these acquisitions accomplish that.

Brooks has been rumored as a potential assistant coach option for the Lakers since early June and it appears that the Lakers were able to land one of their top targets.

With the addition of Brooks, the Lakers add plenty of coaching experience to Redick’s bench.

He was the head coach of the Oklahoma City Thunder from 2008-15 and the Washington Wizards from 2016-21. He was previously the assistant with the Portland Trail Blazers, working as an assistant there for three years.

McMillan also has extensive head coaching experience. He had three stints as a head coach, first with the Seattle Supersonics from 2000-05, then the Indiana Pacers from 2016-20 and lastly with the Atlanta Hawks from 2021-23.

Adding these previous head coaches should relieve Lakers fans who have been nervous about the lack of activity in filling out the staff.

It was starting to look like previous head coaches had little interest in joining Redick. That noise only got louder when Dwane Casey reportedly removed his name from consideration for the Lakers coaching job.

Now, the Lakers have two coaches who match the criteria they mentioned they wanted and suddenly, the staff fills out nicely.

With the Lakers expected to be “more involved” with assistant coach hires and financially investing in the staff, more moves are undoubtedly on the horizon.

Other coaches, such as Sam Cassell, Jared Dudley and former Laker Rajon Rando, have been connected to the Lakers and could join Redick’s staff.

If Los Angeles can add a few of these candidates to the organization, Redick will suddenly have one of the most experienced and esteemed benches in the NBA to help him navigate his first year as an NBA coach.

By Edwin Garcia

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This summer has been more about who isn't coming to the Lakers than who is.

Dan Hurley reportedly turned down the Lakers' head coaching offer, Klay Thompson picked Dallas over Los Angeles and now, Dwane Casey is reportedly withdrawing his name from consideration as part of JJ Redick's staff.

Casey has been coaching in the NBA for over 30 years and was the head coach of the Detroit Pistons from 2018-23.

His coaching pedigree perfectly matched what vice president of basketball operations Rob Pelinka and Redick mentioned as their ideal assistant during Redick's introductory press conference.

Another potential assistant is also off the board, with Terry Stotts reportedly coaching with the Golden State Warriors next year. It's starting to look harder and harder for the Lakers to fulfill their promise of head coaching experience on the bench.

This has to be concerning, given that Redick is currently the only coach on the Lakers' staff and the number of coaches available for hire is getting smaller by the day.

The offseason may be long, but building out the staff quickly is crucial. Free agents want to know who they will be playing for besides Redick and the Lakers already have Summer League basketball looming, making it that much harder to coach the young guys and build out the staff.

Redick confirmed on Tuesday that Dane Johnson would be the head coach of the Lakers during Summer League action and that Bronny James and Dalton Knecht will play in both the California Classic and Las Vegas Summer League.

With the Lakers reportedly willing to financially invest in assistants, it begs the question, why are coaches choosing not to come here?

If the Lakers fail to hire the caliber of assistants they mentioned, it will appear that this is not an alluring job or franchise to be associated with at the moment.

That might seem unfair or exaggerated, but perception quickly becomes reality in the NBA.

For Pelinka and the Lakers' sake, they need to start landing some of the personnel they've been seeking.

By Edwin Garcia

James will have a player option next summer and a no-trade clause as part of his new two-year, $104M maximum deal with the Lakers, sources said.

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Christie — 35th pick in the 2022 draft — has shown promise as a future LA rotation player.

Ahead of signing likely his last contract in the NBA, LeBron James looks set to really help out the Lakers. After LeBron opted out of his contract earlier on Saturday, his agent, Rich Paul, spoke to Dave McMenamin of ESPN and revealed that he is open to taking a discount on his next deal to open up the full mid-level exception for the Lakers.

If LA cannot find an impact player to sign for the full MLE that would be created by James taking a paycut, James will seek the max.

 There can only be so much patience on James' part: Team USA camp begins a week from today in Las Vegas and he needs a deal before taking the court https://t.co/lSkfup7YQJ
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) June 29, 2024 

In his article, McMenamin elaborated that players who fit this archetype would be quality veterans with something to prove, like Jonas Valančiūnas or a shooter like Klay Thompson, who appears to be on his way out of Golden State.

  The type of player that James would be willing to make a financial sacrifice for would be an established veteran playmaker like James Harden or Klay Thompson, or an established big man to play alongside Anthony Davis — like Jonas Valančiūnas, sources told ESPN.

LeBron has consistently taken the max throughout his career, except on his first contract with the Miami Heat in 2010. Since then, he’s taken the max and no team associated with the King has ever blinked. Even now, the Lakers were reportedly eager to re-sign LeBron at the max.

If he takes less money, however, it opens up the chance to sign a player on the full mid-level exception, which is approximately $12.9 million.

That kind of salary could land a quality starter and put the Lakers back into contention in the Western Conference.

This is the kind of scenario that was unfathomable just a week ago, when it seemed inevitable that LeBron would take the max and the Lakers wouldn’t have the cap space to acquire any potential free agents on the market.

LeBron is more than willing to take the max and with the Team USA camp and his son likely playing in Summer League, if he’s still a free agent, he’ll have to deal with a media circus and this contract situation will undoubtedly create tension.

There’s no need for that if he wants to remain a Laker.

So, if vice president of basketball operations Rob Pelinka has a deal he can get done, then now is the time to do it and show that he can help build a contender here in Los Angeles.

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So, the Lakers still have a coaching vacancy. But, who would want this ridiculous game of musical chairs?

First of all, you have a meddling, incompetent ownership group to deal with who will probably get you on the cheap because they like to spend/blow all their money on aging superstars. Next, is kowtowing, accommodating and acquiescing to the whims and ego of that aging superstar or find yourself gone before your tenure is up. Then, there’s the flawed lineup: no, established backup center, a weak bench and no third reliable scoring option in your starting five. Finally, you can forget about developing young, promising talent because they’ll be gone before you know it.

Um … sounds like a “great“ Job opportunity.

....along with Kurt Rambis if not already done. Laker management messed up when they broke up the bubble roster and the team has never recovered. The coaching carousel is likely to continue until Lebron retires and likely beyond.

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